ROME—The Italian Rugby Federation launched their Six Nations campaign on Monday in the beautiful Salone d’Onore. The group of players, among whom were Sergio Parisse and the debutant Federico Ruzza, seemed in high spirits as they shook hands with former players and the media before the press conference.

 As the press conference began the overriding theme of speeches centred on the great tradition of the Six Nations; and how lucky Italy were to share in it. This is a team that clearly wishes to manage expectation ahead of a tournament in which they are unlikely to win a game but are also proud of the history in which they share.

 Of course, recent history would dictate that Italian fans should approach the Six Nation’s as a spectacle with some of the finest teams in world rugby coming to the Stadio Olimpico to show off their ruthless ability to win matches. As Mike Catt, the Italian assistant coach of the Azzuri mentioned, “everyone wants to play entertaining rugby and everyone also wants to improve the entertainment of the game but at international level it is about winning the big competitions; and I think the likes of England and Ireland, who are very strong now, will want to carry on playing like they’re playing and you have to try and stop it.”

 This siege mindset that the new coaching staff have brought in will be key to any upsets that the Italians will hope to cause during the Six Nations and as Conor O’Shea, the Italian head coach made clear, “the one thing we should never be accused of is lack of effort; this team will be about playing with 100 percent effort for each of the 80 minutes.” The fact remains that Test match rugby, and Six Nations rugby is Test rugby at its most ferocious, will prove a stern test for a team that boasts both extremes of experience and inexperience.

 The vast majority of these players are drawn from struggling club sides that rarely win and the question remains to be answered whether this will affect the players mindset going into games. Of course, the team has enjoyed some recent success, the 21-20 win against South Africa being a key example, but time will tell if this is a blip on the radar or a sign of truly unearthed potential in a side that rarely catch the headlines.

 That is not to say that Italy are completely devoid of quality, Sergio Parisse is a man of extreme stature in the rugby community and Carlo Canna as well as Tomaso Allan are both players who can shape a game at 10. Campagnaro is also in good form coming into the side. However, this is a team still searching for an identity and with a new coach looking to emphasise the technical element of the game it remains to be seen what the results will look like.

 The new bonus point structure may not find many supporters here in Rome, either. In the past, teams have been able to rest players coming to Rome for the more competitive matches later in the tournament but with every score potentially being the difference of being crowned champions we wonder whether chances will still be taken when playing the Italians. It could lead to more one sided matches as teams search for bonus points.

  I think the most telling point came from Catt again, “we’ve got a lot of guys playing at clubs that aren’t very successful and they have to teach themselves international rugby.” In a sport where the turnover of international coaches is not fast we must see this tournament as one of transition. Italy, it seems, are not in any real danger of losing their spot in the Six Nations but must also be aware that improvement is a must if those claims are to be kept at bay. The fact that they could beat South Africa after losing so heavily to New Zealand suggests that this might be a squad that are willing to learn from past experience and improve along the way. Having started last year by breaking the record for most points conceded in a single tournament, they ended it on a high. It remains to be seen what they can achieve this year but this is a new era for Italian rugby and they must aspire and hope to have put their worst form behind them. 

 Italy kick off their campaign against a Welsh side who failed to dazzle during the autumn Internationals but still possess a great deal of quality waiting to step back into top gear.

 In any case most Italian supporter's hopes will be fixed upon the final two weeks of the tournament with home fixtures against France followed by a trip to Murrayfield to play the ever improving Scots.

 If Italy can build a strong base and push teams in the opening three weeks of the tournament, anything is possible against the sides they traditionally get their winning results against.