La Squadra Azzurra in search of recognition
Italy has been making constant progress since it began playing in the Six Nations six years ago. RWC2007 will mark Italy’s fifth Rugby World Cup and with it the Team would like to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
Although the success of the Italian football Team may seem a little ambitious for the Rugby Team, the Italian XV may allow themselves to aim to achieve more than ever before at Rugby World Cup 2007 and to take the oval ball out of the shadow of the round one. The 2006 Six Nations Tournament did end in the Italians taking home the wooden spoon but not without first making their opponents feel their force. Like Argentina, Italy has a number of players involved in the Top 14 in France who are gaining some good experience from European Cup matches with their French Teams. Unlike the Pumas, the Azzurri will be able to count on their tifosi to come to Marseille or Saint-Etienne to offer their support.
The shock against Scotland will make the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium tremble. In pool C, the top spot may be reserved for New Zealand - as fate would have it Italy has faced the All Blacks in every pool stage in 1987, 1991, 1999 and 2003 - but second place is wide open and the fight will be on in 2007. To go through in second place to the quarter finals for the first time in the history of Italian rugby, the men trained by the Frenchman Pierre Berbizier - who will be on home ground - need to do better than in 1987 (victory over Fiji), in 1991 (USA), in 1995 (Argentina) and in 2003 (Canada and Tonga) to beat a major team at a World Cup.
Colours: |
Sky blue shirt, white shorts, sky blue socks |
Emblem: |
Laurel wreath (from the triumps of Ancient Rome) |
National anthem: |
Fratelli d'Italia (Il Canto degli Italiani) |
Official IRB World Ranking (10/2006): |
12th |
Rugby World Cup record: |
Elimination in the pool phases: 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003
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Head Coach: |
Pierre Berbizier |
Squad Member List: |
Matias Aguero, Robert Barbieri, Mauro Bergamasco, Mirco Bergamasco, Valerio Bernabo, Marco Bortolami (captain), David Bortolussi, Gonzalo Canale, Pablo Canavosio, Martin Castrogiovanni, Roland De Marigny, Carlo Antonio Del Fava, Santiago Dellape, Carlo Festuccia, Ezio Galon, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Paul Griffen, Andrea Lo Cicero, Andrea Masi, Carlos Nieto, Fabio Ongaro, Luciano Orquera, Sergio Parisse, Salvatore Perugini, Ramiro Pez, Matteo Pratichetti, Kaine Robertson, Josh Sole, Marko Stanojevic, Alessandro Troncon, Maurizio Zaffiri, Alessandro Zanni. |
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