Some of the youngest Italian rugby fans simply wouldn’t have remembered the last time Italy won a match at the Six Nations. You had to go all the way back to 2015, to a 22-19 win over Scotland at Murrayfield, to find the last time Italy knew the sweet taste of victory.
Now, those young fans have a story of their own to tell. After seven years of hurt, which featured calls from some quarters to replace Italy in the Six Nations, the Azzurri finally got back to winning ways, ending their 2022 Six Nations campaign on the perfect note by beating Wales 22-21 in Cardiff.
It’s fair to say that this is not the same Wales team that won the Grand Slam last year, but that should not take away from the scale of Italy’s achievement. To go so long without a win, it can be difficult to keep believing, but head coach Kieran Crowley managed to oversee a result that defied the odds on Betdaq.
The nature of the win makes it all the more impressive. With just minutes left on the clock, Wales led 21-15 and looked for all the world as though they were going to see out victory. They even had a try disallowed by the TMO which would have put the result beyond all doubt.
Then, with less than two minutes to go, the ball landed in the hands of young full-back Ange Capuozzo, who embarked on the kind of solo run that dreams are made of. The tiring Welsh legs couldn’t catch him, and as he approached the try-line, he offloaded the ball to Edoardo Padovani, who had the simple task of grounding the ball between the posts to ensure the easy conversion Italy needed.
Paolo Garbisi scored the all-important two extra points, and with the game having edged over 80 minutes, referee Andrew Brace blew the full-time whistle to spark pandemonium amongst the Italian players and fans. Garbisi collapsed to the turf, so overcome was he with the magnitude of the achievement, whilst the rest of the team converged upon Capuozzo, whose moment of inspiration had won them the match.
In a touch of class, man-of-the-match winner Josh Adams handed over his award to Capuozzo, and no one could deny that the young Italian had earned it with his magical solo run.
“They’ve got to enjoy this because they’re a young crew and they’ve got to learn how to win,” Crowley said after the match. “If we want to become a top team we must do this sort of thing. A result like this gives us the confidence what we are doing is working. Players have got to have confidence and belief.”
Indeed, the goal will be for Italy to get to a place where a win does not spark such scenes of celebration, but it still feels as though that is a long way off given the gulf between the Italians and the other Six Nations sides.
For now, Italian fans can take joy in the rare treat of seeing their team win a game of international rugby. The years of agony have come to an end, and a Six Nations campaign that seemed to hold nothing but further misery has ended on a beautiful note.