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Guest Comment: Tom Home
Last chance saloon for the Azzuri? Perhaps one of the most hotly debated topics surrounding the Six Nations this year has been whether or not it is time to bid farewell to Italy and offer another nation the opportunity to throw their hat in the ring. Italy's last win in the tournament was a 19-22 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield in February 2015. Between then and now, the Azzuri have failed to win any of their 20+ fixtures in the competition and have already suffered two nilled defeats in their opening three matches of this year's Six Nations.Currently 14th in the Men's World Rugby rankings and with the likes of Samoa, Uruguay and the United States all closing the gap year by year, Italy is in real danger of falling further afield and dropping below their lowest ever ranking of 15th. Not only is this Italian freefall detrimental to the integrity of the Six Nations, but it also is 02
not a pleasant spectacle for the fans or anyone else associated with the team. These are increasingly worrying times for the Italian Rugby Federation who, now more than ever, are facing serious questions surrounding their country's future status in the Six Nations. One nation that always seems to be mentioned as worthy replacements is Georgia, who are currently ranked two places above Italy and performed strongly in the 2020 Rugby Europe Championship - as they do every year. Played between European national teams outside of the Six Nations sphere, the Rugby Europe Championship provides countries with opportunities to showcase their skills, abilities and, most importantly, desire to improve. Prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, which has seen the Rugby Europe Championship placed on hold, Georgia were sitting atop the table having won one hundred per cent of their opening four fixtures and accumulating a staggering points difference of +128. Not for one moment am I suggesting that the teams Georgia were up against posed the same sorts of competitive threats as the likes of England, Ireland and France, however, surely Italy have been given more than enough chances to show that they can compete at Europe's highest level, yet have proved time and time again that they're just not up to par at the moment. One scenario that has been tabled on several occasions is implementing some form of promotion and relegation stipulation between the Rugby Europe Championship and the Six Nations. Do I think this would be a positive change? Absolutely.
