Italy enjoyed their best ever Women’s Six Nations in 2015, winning three matches to finish third – above world champions England – and lead the race for qualification for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017.

We caught up with their new captain Sara Barattin, a scrum-half with 62 caps for her country, to look back on that campaign and the challenges that lie ahead both for the national team and continuing the growth of the sport in Italy.

The last Six Nations was the best tournament we have ever played. 

We wrote a piece of history for both the women’s game and for Italian rugby and we’re proud of that.

For a few years we had brought home one or two victories, this means we’re growing but also that there is a long way to go yet in order to be able to give a good account of ourselves year after year.

We missed out on qualification for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2014, via the Six Nations and the qualifying tournament, and that affected us morally and psychologically. 

We made too many mistakes and this made us miss the main goal. We hope to not make those mistakes again. Did that experience teach us a lesson? I hope so!

This year’s Six Nations is important for us but also for Wales and Scotland who also want to secure one of those two places on offer for WRWC 2017.

I’m sure the Italy team will face the tournament as usual, game by game, step by step.

We know we start with two hard matches, against France and England, but I think it’s for the best because it immediately tests us.

Within the team, there are several young girls set for their first taste of international rugby, it’s a good start to create a base for the coming years. It is a fairly young team that will surely be able to achieve good results in the future.

In Italy, women’s rugby is making good progress, both in terms of numbers and quality. 

There are 17 teams now in the 15s Championship – the highest number ever – and 90 teams playing in regional sevens competitions.

The next challenge will be to transfer those teams that are all playing in the Italian Cup, a regional competition, into 15s rugby – something our women’s section have been working hard for years on.

Then there are all the little girls who are coming into rugby. 

This will drive us all to do better.

Photo credit: Fotosportit