Italy head into Saturday’s Six Nations 2026 match against England feeling they have a realistic chance of beating their championship rivals for the very first time.

It’s not too long ago, however, that you’d have got extremely long odds on an Azzurri victory, as Rugby World discovered in it’s latest Six Nations Legends issue.

Former England captain and World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio recalls an early ’90s trip to watch an Italian game, in conversation with Neil Squires.

“I had an offer from Italy, so I went to watch Milan against L’Aquila,” he says in the latest issue of Rugby World. “David Campese was playing and I think he touched the ball once – by mistake. It was absolute chaos, more akin to murderball than rugby.”

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Unwanted records

Italy joined the Six Nations in 2000, and announced their arrival with a shock 34-20 win over defending tournament champions Scotland. However, the Italians subsequently went on a 14-match losing run, including an 80-23 defeat to England in 2001 that remains the biggest losing margin in Six Nations history.

During their time in the championship the Azzurri have “won” the Wooden Spoon in 18 out of 26 seasons (that’s a 70% spoon rate), and didn’t win a single Six Nations match between 2015 and 2022. (That record-breaking, 36-match losing streak is so long that Wales can’t surpass it until 2031.)

There were also repeated calls for the tournament to introduce relegation and give Italy’s spot to Georgia.

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7 into 9 doesn’t go

There have been numerous moments the Azzurri would rather forget during their Six Nations years, but few stick in the mind like the infamous day in 2009 when Italy played Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half against England.

Bergamasco was undoubtedly one of the standout players in that Italian side, but – crucially – a flanker by trade.

“Only three scrum-halves were qualified to play for the Azzurri and they all got injured,” recalls then-head coach Nick Mallett told Alex Spink.

“I was between a rock and a hard place. I didn’t have another option. I even tried to talk Alessandro Tronco [assistant coach] into putting the jersey on again. He said, ‘No way, not fit enough’.

“Under pressure your instinct is to go back to thinking like a flanker,” says Bergamasco of that February afternoon.

“In the heat of the moment, it’s not easy to decide which part of your brain to listen to first.

“About 50% of the team didn’t agree with the decision to move me to number 9. One team-mate said, ‘What are you f**king doing? Why did you say yes?’”

Sergio Parisse was a world class player in a struggling Italian team (David Rogers/Getty Images)

Captain fantastic

But even during Italy’s darkest days in the championship there were glimmers of hope. Indeed, talismanic captain and number 8 Sergio Parisse would have found his way into many fans’ World XVs, thanks to his world-class performances in a struggling side.

He remains the sixth most capped men’s player of all time, though he does boast the unfortunate record of having lost more international matches than anyone else in history.

“Every time I lost, as a captain it was important for me to never give up and show the team that we could go again,” he explains to Mark Palmer.

“I never lived those setbacks as a victim but rather as an opportunity to improve.”

And even though he retired too early to be part of Italy’s recent renaissance – his last match in the famous blue shirt came at the 2019 World Cup in Japan – he’s happy with the direction the team is going, with star names like Tommaso Menoncello and Ange Capuozzo ensuring the Azzurri can give a game to most sides on the planet.

“I’m very positive about the future of Italian rugby,” Parisse says. “Italy have gained the credibility of a team capable of playing at a high level.”

Interviews bu 

To read the full interviews with Dallaglio, Bergamasco and Parisse, be sure to buy issue 321 of Rugby World or subscribe for as little as £5 for your first three issues.

For the latest subscription offers and single issue purchases, visit Magazines direct here.