Early history: 1911–1934 The first match played by an Italian XV was in 1911 between US Milanese and Voiron of France. On 25 July of the same year the "Propaganda Committee" was formed which in 1928 became the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) (
Italian Rugby Federation). In May 1929, Italy played their first international losing 0–9 against
Spain in Barcelona. In 1934, Italy was one of the founder members of
FIRA, today's
Rugby Europe; the others were
France,
Spain,
Belgium,
Portugal,
Catalonia,
Romania,
Holland and
Germany.
1945–1985 , 1975 World War II meant a hiatus for Italian rugby union, as it did in other rugby-playing nations. Post-war, there was a desire to return to normal and Italian
rugby union entered a new dimension thanks to the help of Allied troops in Italy. In the 1970s and 1980s rugby union made enormous progress thanks to great foreign players (
John Kirwan,
Naas Botha,
David Campese,
Michael Lynagh) and coaches (Julien Saby, Roy Bish, Greenwood,
Nelie Smith) in the
Italian championship. Even foreign coaches were and continue to be chosen for the national team, like Bertrande Fourcade and Georges Coste. In 1973, the national team went on a tour of
South Africa, coached by ex-Springbok prop Amos Du Plooey. Tours of England and Scotland followed, as well as games against Australia and New Zealand, the masters of their day. In 1978, Italy first played Argentina at Rovigo, winning 19–6.
1986–1999 From the mid-1980s, Italy had been pursuing the ambition of playing in an expanded
Five Nations Championship. Consistently winning against nations that now play in the
European Nations Cup (
Romania,
Spain,
Georgia, etc.), and good results against the major nations such as France, Scotland, Wales and Ireland meant that they were often talked as strong candidates. In 1986, Italy hosted an England XV squad in Rome, drawing 15–15. The Azzurri took part in the first-ever Rugby World Cup match against New Zealand on 22 May 1987. The match proved a one-sided affair with New Zealand convincing 70–6 winners against a young Italy side.
John Kirwan, later to become the Italy national coach, scored one of the tournament's greatest-ever tries for the
All Blacks. Italy beat
Fiji but lost to Argentina and finished third in their pool, failing to make the finals. In 1988, they played
Ireland for the first time. At the
1991 World Cup, Italy were grouped in a tough pool with England and the All Blacks. They lost both of these games but beat the
United States. Italy first played
Wales in 1994. At the
1995 World Cup in South Africa, Italy came close to beating England; losing 20–27, but recovered to beat Argentina. They finished third in their pool again below England and
Western Samoa, but above the Argentines. The late 1990s saw the Italians build a formidable side and record Test victories over Five Nations opposition. In 1996, a deal between
British Sky Broadcasting and the
Rugby Football Union meant that England home games were exclusively shown on Sky. England were threatened with being expelled from the Five Nations to be replaced by Italy. This threat was never carried out as a deal was worked out. In 1996, Italy toured England, Wales and for the first time Scotland, losing all matches. The team recorded two consecutive victories over Ireland in 1997; 37–29 on 4 January, at
Lansdowne Road, and 37–22 on 20 December, in
Bologna. On 22 March 1997 they recorded their first win over France, 40–32, (in
Grenoble). In January 1998, Scotland were the victims with Italy winning 25–21 (in
Treviso); in the same year in the Rugby World Cup Qualifiers, they narrowly lost 15–23 against England at
Huddersfield, but they argued for a try by
Alessandro Troncon disallowed by the referee. At the
1999 World Cup, Italy were drawn with New Zealand for the third time and lost again. They did not win a single pool match and exited the tournament at the pool stage.
Six Nations era: 2000–present at the
San Siro with a record 80,000 sellout crowd, November 2009 Italy finally joined the
Six Nations Championship in 2000 but their admission coincided with the departure of some of their best players. Nevertheless, they won their opening game against the reigning champions
Scotland 34–20. Thereafter they struggled to compete against the other nations and their participation was called into question. The 2001 and 2002 tournaments were particularly disappointing as they did not win a single game. Coach
Brad Johnstone was sacked in 2002 after an alleged show of 'player power'.
John Kirwan was then appointed coach. They managed to win their second Six Nations game in 2003, a 30–22 victory over
Wales, thus avoiding the
wooden spoon. They followed up by winning two games at the World Cup, another first. The tournament was, however, ultimately disappointing as the Welsh gained revenge with a 27–15 success. This, coupled with defeat against New Zealand, meant that Italy were the only Six Nations country not to advance to the knock-out stage. Their third Six Nations win came against Scotland in 2004. Italy, along with other nations, had made good use of IRB rules which allowed them to select foreign-born players if they had Italian ancestry or had lived in Italy for a qualifying period of three years. From 2004, they announced that they would only pick three such 'non-Italians' per team in order to develop their own domestic players. In the
2005 Six Nations Italy finished bottom of the table again and failed to win a single game. Kirwan was sacked and replaced with
Pierre Berbizier. Italy then went on a tour of Argentina where they surprised many by beating the
Pumas 30–29 and drawing the series 1–1 (the only 2005 victory of a Northern Hemisphere team visiting a Southern Hemisphere team). However, the Pumas had their revenge when they visited
Genoa and beat Italy 39–22. during the
2012 Six Nations In the
2006 Six Nations Championship Italy performed strongly against every team, leading against both
England and France in the first half, but lost their first three games. They did, however, get a creditable 18–18 draw away to Wales, their first away point in the tournament, and were unlucky not to draw with Scotland in Rome in the final game, losing 10–13 courtesy of a late Scottish penalty. In the
2007 Six Nations Championship, Italy started poorly, losing to France 3–39. However, Italy's performance improved, and they held England to a 20–7 result at Twickenham. Italy followed with a stunning start to their match at
Murrayfield against Scotland, scoring three quick tries to give Italy a 21–0 lead after seven minutes, and the
Azzurri went on to a 37–17 victory; their first-ever away win in the Six Nations. Italy's next match was against Wales in Rome, with Italy winning 23–20, for their first consecutive victories in the competition and help them achieve their highest-ever position in the competition. The domestic interest in rugby reached new heights with Italy's new success front page media coverage and the sport being held up as a model of fair play. Media and public interest in the national team was very high during the side's newfound success and on the final day a win could have seen them win their first ever six nations tournament. They needed a large win over ireland and other results to go their way. Italy were only 1 point behind at half time before they fell away in the 2nd half eventually losing 24–43. In the summer tests they lost to South Africa but again managed to surprise 3rd ranked Argentina with a 13–12 victory. At the 2008 end of year tour Italy pushed the Wallabies in their clash in Padova, but the Australians eventually went on to win 30–20. A week later Italy were defeated by Argentina, 14–22. Italy's
2009 Six Nations campaign was ill-fated almost from the beginning, with both scrum-halves ruled out of the competition before a ball was kicked, and a third alternative ruled out of the opener at England due to injury. Head coach Nick Mallett tried flanker
Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half. Mallett's gamble failed in epic fashion, with Bergamasco's mistakes leading to three England tries before he was replaced at half-time; England went on to win 36–11. In week two Italy also put in a poor performance against Ireland losing 9–38. The two poor performances were followed by another loss to Scotland. The Azzurri were competitive in their 15–20 loss at the Flaminio to a Wales side resting many of its key players for the championship decider against Ireland the next week. Italy finished in last place for the second straight year after losing to France on the final weekend of the tournament. In the
2010 Six Nations Championship, Italy were well beaten by Ireland 11–29 before narrowly losing to England and defeating Scotland. Italy were defeated in their last two matches against France and Wales. Italy finished the
2011 Six Nations with a 1–4 record. In the opening match of the 2011 Six Nations, Italy was beaten by Ireland 11–13 at home, with Ireland scoring a drop goal less than two minutes before the final whistle. The Azzurri claimed a 22–21 home victory over the reigning Six Nations champions, France, gaining Italy's first win over France in a
Six Nations game. At the final whistle, the English language commentator declared it the greatest win in Italian rugby history thus far. Italy finished the
2012 Six Nations in fifth place with a 1–4 record, following a 13–6 win over Scotland before over 72,000 fans at the
Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Italy's 15–19 loss to England was their
smallest margin of defeat. The championship also saw Italy lose to Wales,
Ireland and
France. Italy played three matches in the 2012 November internationals, losing two and winning one. Italy lost to
New Zealand and
Australia 19–22, with Italian fly half
Luciano Orquera missing a penalty in the last minute which would have secured Italy's first draw against
Australia. Italy did manage a win in the series, beating
Tonga 28–23. Italy gained their second
Six Nations win over France when they beat them 23–18 on their opening match of the
2013 Six Nations Championship. Three defeats by Scotland, Wales and England followed. On their final game of the championship Italy won against
Ireland 22–15 for the first time in a Six Nations match in front of 75,000 fans at the
Stadio Olimpico. Overall Italy finished fourth, behind Scotland in third on points difference, to make it one of their most successful Six Nations. In November 2013, Italy hosted Australia at Turin for a 20–50 loss, then defeated Fiji 37–31 at Cremona and was defeated by Argentina 14–19 at Rome. Italy were whitewashed at the
2014 Six Nations Championship, including a 20–21 home loss to Scotland, a 7–46 loss to Ireland and an 11–52 loss to England. In June the team made an
Asia-Pacific tour, where they were defeated by Fiji, Japan and Samoa. In November they scored a home win to Samoa, a two-point loss to Argentina and another loss to South Africa. In the
2015 Six Nations Championship, Italy took a 22–19 away win over Scotland to avoid the wooden spoon, but suffered heavy home losses to France and Wales. At the
2015 Rugby World Cup, they defeated Romania and Canada but lost to Ireland and France, repeating their performance of the previous three editions. After another poor performance in 2016, losing all their Six Nations matches, Italy hired former Ireland international and
Harlequin F.C. coach
Conor O'Shea to coach the team; with him they also hired IRFU developmental director
Stephen Aboud to direct youth programs aimed at strengthening the level of rugby in the country. In June, Italy lost to Argentina and won over the United States and Canada. On 19 November, Italy achieved a famous upset victory by defeating
South Africa 20–18 which was Italy's first win against the Springboks in 13 attempts at
Stadio Artemio Franchi in
Florence. This victory also marked their first win over one of the three big Southern Hemisphere nations (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa). before their
Test match against
Australia in 2017 Italy lost all their matches in the
2017,
2018,
2019,
2020 and
2021 Six Nations tournaments. clash with
Argentina In their final match of the
2022 Six Nations Championship, Italy earned a historic victory over Wales, snapping a 36 match losing streak. They scored a try in the 80th minute with the conversion being the final act in the match as
Gli Azzurri went on to win by a single point (22–21), at the
Principality Stadium on 19 March 2022. Italy narrowly missed out on victory when
Paolo Garbisi's penalty hit the post after the ball had accidentally fallen off the kicking tee. This was Italy's first victory against Scotland in nine years and 12 years after their last victory on Italian soil against a British side. The 2024 campaign was Italy's best performance since the
2013 tournament during which they won two matches, against the French and then the Irish. These feats are all the more impressive given that Italy were pummelled by France at the last World Cup, and narrowly missed out on beating England in their opening match (24–27 defeat in
Rome). Italy rounded off their tournament with a last-gasp victory over
Wales (24–21), as they did 2 years ago, and for the first time since
2015 avoided last place. The win also represents the Italians' 4th away victory in the history of the competition, the 2nd time at
Cardiff's
Millennium Stadium, but above all it gives
Gonzalo Quesada's men their best result since the integration of Italy 24 years earlier (2 wins and a draw for only 2 defeats). The
2025 Six Nations Championship was more complicated for Italy, who won just one match, at home to
Wales (22–15), and lost every other game, including a very heavy home defeat to
France, winners of the competition (24–73), the heaviest defeat in their history at home to
Les Bleus. Nonetheless, the home win over the
Red Dragons enabled
Gli Azzurri to avoid last place in the standings and the wooden spoon for the 2nd year running, at the expense of the Welsh. The
2026 Six Nations Championship saw Italy match its best-ever finishes from
2007 and
2013 by finishing in 4th place, thanks to two home wins against
Scotland in the opener (18-15) and, most notably, against
England (23-18) on the penultimate matchday, an opponent against whom they had always lost in previous encounters. However, the
Squadra Azzurra failed to build on this historic victory and secure a third consecutive win in the tournament for the first time in its history, suffering a heavy defeat on the final matchday in
Wales following a disappointing performance (31-17). ==Wins against 'tier-one' teams==