Forza azzuri!

[Mr Mwenda]

I'll have to watch this now. Must be brilliant for their fans

[WaspInWales]

Complimenti!

[fivepointer]

Fantastic result for Italy today. Just what they needed.

[rowan]

Well done, Italy! They've finally justified their tier 1 status.

[Lizard]

Damn. Guess which "dead cert" was the only major match this weekend I didn't record? Anyone know where to find a full replay?

[WaspInWales]

Damn. Guess which "dead cert" was the only major match this weekend I didn't record? Anyone know where to find a full replay?

[BBvideo=560,315] [/BBvideo]

It's also on Across the Tasman.

[rowan]

Much like Japan's, Italy's historic win over the Boks is beginning to look more and more like a blip on the radar. Italian national teams have won 1/23 matches this year: 0/7 with the men's team, 0/2 with the emerging, 1/9 with the u20, 0/5 with the women

[Lizard]

And don't forget, just under a year ago, Georgia won in Suva

[rowan]

Good point! In fact, the Lelos beat both Fiji & Tonga on that tour and drew with Samoa.

[rowan]

They'll need more than a sense of fashion to improve on their woeful form of late, but this does look pretty danged stylish

[rowan]

Italy ponders whether to take part in 2017-18 Continental Shield with two regional sides, one involving players from clubs around Venice and the other from Lombardy: http://www.onrugby.it/2017/07/19/eccell ... n-pentola/

[Adder]

They'll need more than a sense of fashion to improve on their woeful form of late, but this does look pretty danged stylish

Nice shirt .

[rowan]

Indeed.

[rowan]

Zebre withdrew from Pro 12 !!

[rowan]

Augurs well for the future, surely. Perhaps an Italian slam is not too far in the distance future

Watching Benetton and Zebre delivering positive results in the Guinness PRO14 this season has been a great lift for Italian rugby, however, scoreboards don’t always tell you the full story.

When I look at the wider picture for Italian rugby I think back to a meal I shared with Steve Hansen, head coach of New Zealand, before we played the All Blacks last November. Reflecting on his time in charge of Wales, Steve said: “All you do is what’s best for the future of the country, make a difference.”

Steve left Wales in 2004 having lost more games than he won, but he capped more than half a dozen players who would play a part in their Grand Slam not long afterwards. Now I’m certainly not predicting Italian title wins just yet, but it just shows you that success doesn’t arrive overnight.

We’re focused on laying the foundations and not merely papering over the cracks, because building a team, a squad and a national system takes time. It’s a journey of constant growth and although not everyone stays on until the finish, everyone can have an impact on where you end up.

To see the performances of Benetton and Zebre reflected in their results during the first six rounds of the Guinness PRO14 is no surprise to us. Already their combined tally of five wins is much greater than at this point last season where they had scored just one victory between them.

Those performances have resulted in, despite some injuries to big name players, some tough selection calls for the Italian national squad for our November Tests with Fiji, Argentina and South Africa. No coach enjoys telling a guy he’s been left out, but selection headaches are natural when the players raise the standards required to make the squad.


Read more at https://www.pro14rugby.org/2017/10/18/o ... m6yKQvk.99

[rowan]

Italian derby in the Continental Shield:

[rowan]

The Italian national team may be battling, but their club teams and age-grade sides seem to be improving, at least, which obviously augurs well for the future. The U20s beat Scotland 45-24 (HT 24-14) in Bari today. It was their second win in the tournament, following a 7-20 victory @ Wales in the previous round. Earlier they had run both England (17-27) & Ireland (38-34) close, but were taken apart by a rampant French outfit (78-12):

[tigran]

We are so nice. ...

[tigran]

If we lose this game..

[rowan]

3 straight tournaments without a win and only one in the last 5 years. What's going on with the Italian national side? They began with a hiss and a roar and averaged a win a season for the first decade or so, beating all-comers bar England, and picking up the odd victory on the road as well. & it's not as if the competition has got any tougher, given the sliding fortunes of England & France.