Six Nations of excitement for the Italian national team, the masters of England defeated after 35 years of attempts. Italian rugby definitively enters a new dimension.
Now we can say it out loud: nothing is barred to the Italian national rugby team. No result, not even the idea that in the not too distant future we could really play to win the Six Nations. The English wall also fell. March 7, 2026, the Olympic Stadium in Rome: the day and place of ItalRugby’s first, historic, victory against England, who had never lost to the Azzurri and who had often given us sound lessons.
It ended 23 to 18 with an exciting crescendo in the second half. The English team, who had finished the first half ahead (10-12) and who had gone ahead by putting a risk on the match, slowly fell apart. Bent in spirit, in tactics and also in body: forced into a double numerical inferiority in the moment that marked the match even if the apotheosis goal arrived in numerical parity. The Azzurri had worked for a long time on the flanks of the masters who finally gave in.
A historic feat, which takes Italian rugby into a new dimension. It has been understood for some time that coach Gonzalo Quesada’s group is a candidate to become the strongest ever in the history of Italian oval ball, but the growth in the last two seasons has been impetuous. There is a group of young people who now regularly frequent the best European championships, have talent and love for the shirt, know rhythms and hardness that until a few years ago were considered prohibitive in our latitudes.
Since 1996, Italy has tried to beat England, always being rejected and often with losses. A total of 32 unsuccessful attempts before the joy of the Olimpico and the lost faces of His Majesty’s national teams: Italy is now sitting at the table of rugby’s nobles and losing in Rome should not be experienced as a humiliation. The first time, however, is never forgotten.
