Six Nations 2019: 20 years of Italy has shown few signs of progress on the pitch despite building off it

Calls for promotion and relegation to be introduced will be louder than ever before if Italy go a fourth straight year without a Six Nations victory - so what does the next 20 years look like for the Azzurri?

It is 20 years since Italy joined the Six Nations but it is no clearer today if they will still be involved in another two decades than it was the day they shocked Scotland in their first game in the Championship.

Progress is a hard thing to pin down. In terms of hard stats, things do not look good for Conor O’Shea’s team going into the latest instalment of European rugby.

Three successive Championship whitewashes since the Irishman took over in 2016 and just 12 wins in 95 games since gaining access to one of sport’s strictest private member’s clubs in 2000 have hardly dimmed the calls for promotion and relegation to be introduced, sooner rather than later.

Italy may have beaten Georgia, the team many believe should be given a chance to prove themselves in European rugby’s elite Test competition, 28-17 at home in November, but 13 wooden spoons in 19 Six Nations tournaments has failed to make a compelling case for permanent inclusion.

The jury on Italy remains firmly out.

Will this year be different? O’Shea’s team open their latest campaign with a visit to Murrayfield next Saturday to face Scotland; the team they should have beaten last year but lost out to a last-gasp Greig Laidlaw penalty on their way to yet another winless campaign.

“Over the past three years with Conor we have started making a lot of changes in Italy, working behind the scenes with the two franchises,” said Italy’s totemic captain Sergio Parisse; a towering presence who at 35 years of age and with 134 Test caps under his belt is surely entering his 15th and final Six Nations tournament.

“Personally I wish we’d made those changes 10 years ago. But it’s better now than to continue doing nothing.

“The past two years we haven’t achieved too many wins. We’ve beaten Georgia, Japan and Fiji (and South Africa). Teams who are around us in the rankings and sometimes people think Georgia are higher than us.

“We put in a good performance last year against Scotland and probably deserved to win but we finished the tournament without any wins. We’ve made a lot of progress in terms of systems and structure but not in terms of results. That’s what we’re looking to change.”

Conor O'Shea and Sergio Parisse had to go on the defensive ahead of the Six Nations (AFP/Getty)

O’Shea has set about instilling new structures, new levels of professionalism and new practices from the grassroots up in Italian rugby and, at a franchise level at least, fruit is beginning to be born with improved performances from Treviso and Zebre in the Pro14 competition.

But it’s at international level, and the Six Nations especially, where the Azzurri crave success. As yet, the brave new world has yet to be delivered on the stage that really matters.

Like it or not, Georgia just will not go away.

“It’s my opinion but people have to respect the history of things,” Parisse said. “Italy didn’t get involved in the Six Nations just by saying ‘hello we’re Italy let us in’. We had to work hard to prove we should be included and beat good teams on the way.

“Italy have made a lot of progress since the beginning of the Six Nations but in the past few years because we haven’t won many games people have started to ask questions about our involvement. People are talking about promotion and relegation because Georgia are doing well. Personally I think people should respect what’s been achieved.

“We’re talking about the Six Nations so I don’t really know why we’re talking about Georgia. They’re doing good things and that’s good for them but I think we showed last November when we played them and beat them that we’re playing at another level.”

O'Shea has made great advancements off the field with Italy but results have not been good enough (EPA)

The progress of Scotland’s two regions Edinburgh and Glasgow, who have both made the knock out stages of the Champions Cup this season, give reason to believe in Italy that a two franchise system can deliver success.

But opening games away to Gregor Townsend’s increasingly confident side and then at home to Warren Gatland’s world number three-ranked Wales do not promise huge riches.

Begin with two defeats and people will begin to fear the worst. Another whitewash year would see the cries for Georgia’s inclusion, or at least some sort of promotion and relegation system, become screams.

Italy, in truth, are desperate for any kind of win.

O'Shea (far left) had to dismiss reports he will be replaced as Italy coach (AFP/Getty)

O’Shea intimated last week he was relaxed about reports the Italian Federation were casting the net around France’s Top 14 to sound out a successor, insisting they were “damned if they did and damned if they didn’t” plan for the future.

Clearly the players are buying into his vision, with Parisse speaking in glowing terms of the former Harlequins director of rugby, while there is obvious progress beneath the national team.

But professional sport is a harsh world where only winning eases pressure.

These are difficult times in Italian rugby. Another winless campaign and who knows what the next 20 years will look like for the Azzurri?