The curtain has fallen, the stage has been deserted, and the keys to Rome’s Stadio Olimpico have been handed back to A.S. Roma until the next time the Federazione Italiana Rugby come calling. As the dust settles on the 2014 Six Nations, the post-tournament analysis will begin, and for Italy, it will not make for pleasant reading. This year marks the 10th time in 14 years since the tournament’s inclusion of the Italians in 2000 in which they have ended up on the bottom of the pile.
This year there were, at least to begin with, promising signs. Last year’s winners, Wales, hosted Italy at the Millennium Stadium in the first round and were somewhat fortunate to record a 23-15 win. That game marked the emergence of 21 year-old Treviso outside-centre Michele Campagnaro, who scored two tries and collected the Man of the Match award, despite being on the losing side. That was followed by another tough away game against France, but again Italy were competitive for all but 12 minutes in the second half, during which the French scored 21 points which ended the game as a competition and led to an eventual final score of 30-10. The third round was without a doubt the one that the Italians had circled in their diaries. Scotland’s visit to Rome marked one of the few times in which Italy had been billed as pre-match favourites.