Tickets will be on sale until 15 December for the two rugby matches to be played in Italy in the Six Nations Cup competition, which is played every year between England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy. The two matches on the 11 February against England and on 18 March against Scotland will be held at the Flaminia Stadium in Rome. Tickets for just one match will go on sale on 9 January, if there are any left.

Hopes for the Italian side are riding high this year: it has a new coach, Pierre Berbizier, who played 56 matches in the French national team. Between 1981 and 1987 he was in the French team that won what was then the Five Nations Cup, six times. Under Berbizier, Italy has already played two successful games this season, beating Tonga 48 0 and Fiji 23 8, and suffered a respectable 22 - 39 defeat against a strong Argentina side. For information see www.federugby.it.