On 22 June 1985, the Italian women's national team made their international debut against
France. The match ended 0–0, they played again a year later in
Bardos, with France winning 12–0. Italy scored their first points in their third match against France when the two neighbors met in
Rome in 1987, France won 16–4. In 1988 Italy participated in the first
European championship organized in
Bourg-en-Bresse in
France by the local women's club. In addition to the hosts, the other two participants were
Great Britain and the
Netherlands. Italy finished last with three losses. The inaugural edition of this championship, while significant for being the first competition for women's national teams, was never recognized as official by
FIRA.
Italian Rugby Federation entry In 1991 the management of women's rugby was handed over to the
Italian Rugby Federation. Their first commitment was the selection of the team for the
inaugural edition of the World Cup which was held in April of that same year in
Wales. The Azzurre, after having finished last in their pool, were placed in the Plate quarter-finals. They had their first victory in the tournament after defeating
Sweden 18–0 in the Plate quarter-final but lost to
Canada 6–0 in the Plate semi-final. The progress of the national team was slow. In their first 15 years of existence, up to the end of 2000, they played in only 33 official matches. In 1995 they came third in the
European championship organized at home in
Treviso, a result equaled one year later in
Madrid,
Spain. After a first round elimination with a sixth-place finish at the
1997 European Championship, they finished 12th at the
1998 Women's Rugby World Cup in the
Netherlands. They finished 7th at the
1999 European Championship and 8th in
2001. They won their first Nations Cup title in
Veneto in
2002 ahead of the
Rugby World Cup, in which Italy finished in twelfth place. Italy won the
2005 European Championship which was held in
Hamburg in
Germany. In the
2006 Nations Cup Italy successfully defended their title.
Admission to the Six Nations In December 2006, the executive committee of the
Six Nations decided to align the composition of all competitions of the tournament with the men's, which included England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France and Italy; at the time the only difference with the women's tournament was the presence of Spain, which the committee replaced with Italy starting in 2007. File:Torneo de clasificación WRWC 2014 - Nazionale di rugby a 15 dell'Italia - 01.jpg|Italy women's national rugby union team in 2013. File:2014 W6N - France vs Italy - 5612.jpg|Italy women's national rugby union team in 2014 during 6 nations tournament. ==Records==