At the end of this year, sixteen nations will contest the Rugby League World Cup. Most casual fans would know about Australia, New Zealand and England; but over the coming weeks, we’ll introduce you to some of the other teams.

The history of rugby league in Italy spans more than seventy years. A local competition began in 1951, and an international team played against France that year. In 1960, Australia played two friendly internationals against Italy on their way home from the Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and France.

As rugby league gained popularity in the 1960s, the Italian Rugby Union threatened life bans for players, and the game withered away for almost thirty years.

Rugby league began a comeback in Italy in the 1990s, thanks largely to the work of Italian Australians. Italy participated at the Emerging Nations tournament in 2000, and recorded wins over USA and Canada.

In 2011, Italy, captained by Sydney Roosters fullback Anthony Minichiello played a 19-19 draw with Lebanon which was enough to qualify for the 2013 World Cup. Italy scored an upset win over Wales at the tournament, but bowed out after going down 16-0 to Tonga in the final game of their pool round.

Italy qualified for the 2017 World Cup with a record 76-0 win over Russia, but losses to Ireland and Fiji saw them miss out on progressing past the pool stage. They have since had test wins over South Africa and Spain, but have drawn Australia, Fiji and Scotland at the World Cup, and look unlikely to progress past the first round, despite possible being bolstered by the inclusion of NRL players Daniel Alvaro, Nathan Brown and Jack Johns.