A young and strong Italy in the most beautiful Six Nations

Two wins and a draw in five games. There is no doubt: edition no. 25 of the Six Nations – so called since 2000, when Italy joined the five historic European powers – was the best of the Azzurri. Which on only two other occasions (2007 and 2013) had achieved two successes, but without the addition of a draw. And never mind if, due to the mechanism of additional bonus points (see the ranking below), the team of new coach Gonzalo Quesada only finishes in fifth place, preceded by Scotland who also won two matches, but lost the others Three.

In the meantime, however, the achievement of eighth place in the world ranking shines: it hasn’t happened since 2007. Comparing the ranking with that of the last World Cup, played last autumn, the Azzurri have risen from eleventh to eighth place, overtaking Australia, which remains ninth, Wales, which drops from eighth to tenth place, and Fiji, first tenth and now eleventh.

In short, this is the moment to praise a team that has been able to grow over the course of the tournament. The final test came from the last match, away to Wales. No problems with a full stomach following Lille’s draw with France and the home victory over Scotland. Indeed, if once morest the Scots – following a complicated start – the attack began to grind and the defense did not concede a point for 50 minutes, in Cardiff Wales’ first points even arrived following a full hour of play. When Italy was already at 18-0 and was able to manage the Dragons’ comeback attempt without real worries, arriving three points away (21-24 at the end) but only at the end of the match, definitely out of time to contend really the result.

On the pitch there was a lucid, concentrated and determined blue team, well organized in the two phases of the game and capable of showing off individual pieces of skill several times, whether they were “goal-saving” tackles or very profitable offensive breaks. The synthesis of what was seen during this Six Nations, where the physical and technical condition were also supported by a notable psychological “form”.

Each round brought its own little brick of considerations, regarding Italy and the tournament in general. On the first day, the narrow home defeat once morest England (24-27, with three tries to two for the Azzurri, leading at half-time) did not entirely reflect a gap due in particular to the English’s superiority in the air . Dublin’s clear defeat (36-0) raised questions that might not be answered immediately: proof was needed, not just for Italy. Because, if Ireland seemed capable of immediately detaching itself from all the others, the other matches witnessed “shuffling” of results and values ​​that were not yet well defined. In reality, now that the tournament is over, we can observe that the twists and turns have continued (for example, England beating Italy but then losing to Scotland, subsequently overcome by the Azzurri: and here too lies the charm of the tournament) but Ireland were not absolute dominators, having filled the table with 15 points in the first three matches, to total only 5 in the last two.