Italy has played international rugby since 1929, and for years was considered one of the best European teams outside the Five Nations Championship. Since 2000, Italy has contested annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In 2013, they were holders of the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy which is played yearly between Italy and France. Italy is ranked 14th in the world by the IRB as of 30 September 2019. Italy has competed at every Rugby World Cup since the first tournament in 1987, where Italy played the inaugural game against New Zealand, but is yet to progress beyond the first round. The team has settled a reputation for being a steady middle player at the tournament. Italy's results since the inception of a new group stage formula in 2003 have constantly followed a pattern of two wins against Tier 2 teams and two losses against Tier 1 ones; in 2019 however, the game against New Zealand was negated due to typhoon Hagibis.
