Italy used to play in the European Cup of Nations, also referred to as the "Six Nations B", which is a second-level competition for European national teams below the Six Nations Championship, against countries like Romania, Georgia, Spain and Portugal but consistantly good results plus the occasional win against the major nations meant that they were often talked about as candidates to join the then Five nations championship.
Italy finally joined the Six Nations Championship in 2000 winning their opening game against Scotland. Since then they have struggled to compete against the other nations and their participation was called into question, however they answered their critics by playing a more disciplined game.
2003 has been their best season to date when they beat both Scotland and Wales. With many of their top players also involved in European club competition, the overall standard of play is improving every month but it is likely to be a long time before Italy win their first Six Nations Championship. More and more Italians are coming watch rugby games and where as before most of the fans at the Stadio Flamino were away fans now Italy has a good home crowd.