A WHITE WIN.

Well, I wrote it on last nights post that I hoped Italy would win today and they did 23-18. It was a white win for the Italian side and what I loved about today's match was that in the Stadio Olympico (Olympic Stadium to me & thee) there were 400 ex players that had won caps for playing for Italy. Each cap with the number of the order that the caps were awarded, it was an amazing sight to see them join in with the Italian National Anthem.

I was quite amazed and due to my relative ignorance I've googled the competitions history. I was amazed to read that the competition started between our four "nations" in 1882. France then joined in 1910 to make it five nations and the Italians were very late comers in the year 2000. Hence it now the RBS 6 Nations, supported by RBS, The Royal Bank of Scotland. What I didn't realise until today was that Italy have been playing rugby for so long and as I've written above have at least 400 caps to their team. I think that the presence of those 400 today, helped spur Italy on to win as they did today. I had other commitments today, so missed the match, but thanks to the power of the internet, have finally caught up with the salient points of the match and all I can say is well done Italy.

(just don't beat us when it's our turn to play you. not that I'm nationalistic you understand) Well O.K just a wee bit (a lot). But I also like to see the underdog come up trumps.

Of course I would like to see Wales go back to the heydays of the 70's when we had some very memorable players but ... whoever plays best on the day is the deserved winner.

And that is one of the things I love about Rugby. it is a game mostly for men, not prima donnas, unlike football. Our lads are tough and take the knocks. Here's to the rest of the Six Nations tournament!We've a while to go yet.  And with that folks ... I shall say ... goodnight.