Italy

The Italy national rugby union team (Italian: Squadra nazionale italiana di rugby) represents Italy in men’s international rugby union. The team is known as gli Azzurri (the Blues). Savoy blue is the common colour of the national teams representing Italy, as it is the traditional colour of the royal House of Savoy which reigned over the Kingdom of Italy from 1860 to 1946.

Italy has played international rugby since 1929, and for decades was considered one of the best European teams outside the Five Nations Championship. Since 2000, Italy has competed annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In 2013, they were holders of the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy which is played annually between Italy and France. Italy is ranked 14th in the world by the IRB as of 19th March 2022.

Italian rugby rose to prominence in 2000 when it was added to the Five Nations, creating the Six Nations. Initially on the receiving end of some heavy defeats, the side grew in competitiveness, recording a fourth-place finish in 2007 and 2013, and one-sided defeats became less frequent. The Azzurri showed respectable results when playing at home in the early 2010s: they defeated France 22–21 in the 2011 Six Nations; and during the 2013 Six Nations, they again beat France 23–18, also defeating Ireland 22–15. Until 19 March 2022, Italy had not won a six nations game since beating Scotland in 2015. However, on 19 March, Edoardo Padovani scored a last minute try against Wales, to earn Italy their first win in 36 games.

Italy has competed at every Rugby World Cup since the first tournament in 1987, where Italy played the inaugural game against New Zealand, but is yet to progress beyond the first round. The team has developed a reputation for being a consistent middle player at the tournament. Italy’s results since the inception of a new group stage formula in 2003 have consistently followed a pattern of two wins against Tier 2 teams and two losses against Tier 1 ones. The current head coach is Kieran Crowley, and the captain is currently Michele Lamaro.