The future of Italian Rugby

[Canalina Profile]

Italia Emergenti (best of Eccellenza's italian players) v Heriot's (scottish Premiership champion) 50-33

A little satisfaction for italian rugby
Next week the return match in Edimburgh

[jservuk Profile]

Looks like another full house at Stadio Olimpico for the AB match. What would it be like if Italy were any good? People who call for Italy to be replaced in 6N have to acknowledge that 70,000+ crowds for AI matches in Rome would not be happening if they had not been in the 6N.

I fear Italy might get a AB backlash from last weeks result, but let's hope the Italians can put on a good show.

[Bruce_ma_goose Profile]

The blacklash is well under way!

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

I didn't think Italian rugby could get any worse. The All Blacks are going to whip them by 70 points, they are terrible. It's 28-3 after 25 mins.

[victorsra Profile Website]

What is incredible about Italian rugby is the kind of attendance. They always lose, they always disappoint and in Rome they always have 60k+ people. It proves that they have an immense potential, wasted by what looks like to me FIR's ridiculous development project.

I really can't understand WHY Rome wasn't selected to have a PRO12 side.

[Buffalo Profile]

Italia Emergenti (best of Eccellenza's italian players) v Heriot's (scottish Premiership champion) 50-33

A little satisfaction for italian rugby
Next week the return match in Edimburgh

They should change their name to Eccellenza Barbari and have green, Red and white hoop jerseys

[m.map Profile]

What is incredible about Italian rugby is the kind of attendance. They always lose, they always disappoint and in Rome they always have 60k+ people. It proves that they have an immense potential, wasted by what looks like to me FIR's ridiculous development project.

I really can't understand WHY Rome wasn't selected to have a PRO12 side.

I totally agree with you!

[tryman Profile]

What was the official attendance of the match? The All Blacks always sell well and it's the only November test in Rome this year but great crowd again. At the end if the day Rome is always a fantastic place to visit.

[sammo Profile]

Eurosport just picked up the rights to show PRO12 in Italy starting November 25th;

http://www.pro12rugby.com/2016/11/16/eu ... ess-pro12/

[dropkick Profile]

Eurosport just picked up the rights to show PRO12 in Italy starting November 25th;

http://www.pro12rugby.com/2016/11/16/eu ... ess-pro12/

Available in 40 countries across Europe and Asia also.

[jservuk Profile]

What was the official attendance of the match? The All Blacks always sell well and it's the only November test in Rome this year but great crowd again. At the end if the day Rome is always a fantastic place to visit.

I don't know the official attendance, but on TV it looked >90% full, so easily over 60,000.

Impressive.

[victorsra Profile Website]

60.693 the official attendance.

During the 6N they had 70k against England, 67k against Scotland.

[dropkick Profile]

Eurosport just picked up the rights to show PRO12 in Italy starting November 25th;

http://www.pro12rugby.com/2016/11/16/eu ... ess-pro12/

If they are going to expand into Europe, having matches on eurosport is a good start.

[dropkick Profile]

What was the official attendance of the match? The All Blacks always sell well and it's the only November test in Rome this year but great crowd again. At the end if the day Rome is always a fantastic place to visit.

I don't know the official attendance, but on TV it looked >90% full, so easily over 60,000.

Impressive.

It shows the potential in Italy but they won't keep coming if Italy are losing every match.

[victorsra Profile Website]

That is the point. They are losing for a decade and the supporters are still there.

[Sables4EVA Profile]

Italians can be the best and the worst sports fans. They will come out in droves to support their teams, make lots of noise to encourage the players and back them to the hilt. A respectable loss will be accepted. An unexpected loss will be greeted with derision and criticism. But they will still come and fill the stadium at the next game and support with just as much enthusiasm.

Too many bad losses though and you have woken up an angry giant. I wonder how long Italian rugby fans will accept these sort of results.

[ihateblazers Profile]

The 6 Nations is an event. A large percentage of the people in the stands aren't die hard rugby fans and just go there for the experience and day out. There's no danger of the Italian crowds lowering there. Autumn internationals i'm not so sure since besides England the other nations don't tend to sell out their stadiums, the Italian's take their games around the country as they don't have a national stadium and seem to attract reasonable crowds. The Allblacks will attract a large crowd anywhere in the world. It's a shame this kind of interest can't be replicated at club level.

[Figaro Profile]

Italy 20-18 RSA

SA have been poor but I don't think anyone saw tt coming. Fist ever victory over a southern Hemisphere big 3?

[dropkick Profile]

Great result. Well done Italy!

[tryman Profile]

Well well well... What a result for Italy. Doesn't matter how strong the SA team were Italy got over the line which they failed to do so often before.

There's been loads of Italian media attention devoted to the victory. There's still massive potential for rugby in Italy and this win will help that.

O'Shea will be dining on this victory for quite a well, there's talk he's having dinner with the Pope this week

[Wendigo7 Profile]

So pleased for you guys, especially Parisse who's been on the rear end of that many times in his career.

I'm pretty sure it's more to do with SA being that bad currently than Italy being particularly handy, however, if the defence tightens more and the confidence grows, it should make Italy more competitive again in the 6Ns.

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

Credit where credit is due, well done Italia. I've given Italian rugby a lot of crap over the last few years because they've never reached their potential, and whilst there is still a hell of a lot to do hopefully this victory over the Boks will start to change things.

[sk 88 Profile Website]

So pleased for you guys, especially Parisse who's been on the rear end of that many times in his career.

I'm pretty sure it's more to do with SA being that bad currently than Italy being particularly handy, however, if the defence tightens more and the confidence grows, it should make Italy more competitive again in the 6Ns.

Historic win for Italy and will hopefully give them more confidence in the future. The young scrum half was good, especially as it was his second cap.

However the win was mainly due to a woeful and arrogant SA. They turned down a lot of easy kicks out of what I can only call arrogance and their general play was terrible. Italy must take credit for causing that though.

[NedRugby Profile]

It shows the potential in Italy but they won't keep coming if Italy are losing every match.

Problem solved?

[Bolaroid Profile]

A shot in the arm for Italian rugby, good to see.

Imperative now that they back it up with a win against Tonga.

Six Nations fixtures look kind, there is a possibility of a win in 4 of the 5 matches:

Home to Wales
Home to Ireland
Away to England
Home to France
Away to Scotland