Italy national rugby union team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Italy women's national rugby union team. For the men's rugby sevens side, see Italy national rugby sevens team.
Not to be confused with Italy national rugby league team.

Italy
Shirt badge/Association crest
NicknamesGli Azzurri (The Blues)
Italrugby
UnionItalian Rugby Federation
Head coachGonzalo Quesada
CaptainMichele Lamaro
Most capsSergio Parisse (142)
Top scorerDiego Domínguez (983)
Top try scorerMarcello Cuttitta (26)
Home stadiumStadio Olimpico
First colours
Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current8 (as of 15 July 2024)
Highest8 (2007, 2024)
Lowest15 (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)
First international
 Spain 9–0 Italy 
(Barcelona, Spain; 20 May 1929)
Biggest win
 Italy 104–8 Czech Republic 
(Viadana, Italy, 18 May 1994)
Biggest defeat
 South Africa 101–0 Italy 
(Durban, South Africa, 19 June 1999)
World Cup
Appearances10 (First in 1987)
Best resultPool stage (1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023)
Websitefederugby.it

The Italy national rugby union team (Italian: nazionale di rugby a 15 dell'Italia) represents the Italian Rugby Federation in men's international rugby union. The team is known as gli Azzurri (the light-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 8th in the world by the IRB as of the 15th of July 2024.

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,[1] also defeating Ireland 22–15.[2] Until 19 March 2022, Italy had not won a Six Nations game since beating Scotland in 2015. However Edoardo Padovani scored a last minute try against Wales, to earn Italy their first win in 36 games, as well as their first away win against Wales and third away win in the tournament.

Italy have competed at every Rugby World Cup since the first tournament in 1987, where Italy played the inaugural game against New Zealand, but they are yet to progress beyond the first round. The team has developed a reputation for being a consistent middle man 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 (although in 2019, the match against New Zealand was cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis and a draw was awarded as result). The current head coach is Gonzalo Quesada and the captain is currently Michele Lamaro.[3]

  1. ^ "Rugby Union – ESPN Scrum – Italy v France at Rome". ESPN scrum.
  2. ^ "Rugby Union – ESPN Scrum – Italy v Ireland at Rome". ESPN scrum.
  3. ^ "Rugby Union – Italy – List of captains". ESPN scrum.