There have been some huge winning margins in Six Nations history and, unfortunately for Italy, their names cropped up on numerous occasions when scouring through the record books.
With the 2022 Six Nations just starting, we have taken a look at the five biggest winning margins in the history of the tournament and there is a familiar feel about the team on the end of most of these thrashings.
4th March 2000 – Ireland 60-13 Italy
In the inaugural Six Nations back in 2000, Ireland put on a tremendous display in round three when they thrashed Italy 60-13 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, a winning margin of 47 points.
Shane Horgan crossed the whitewash twice as the Irish ran in six tries, while Ronan O’Gara sent over six conversions and the same amount of penalties to give the raucous home crowd plenty to cheer about.
18th March 2000 – Italy 12-59 England
Italy were probably still picking themselves up off the floor by the time the round-four clash against England at the Stadio Flaminio, Rome came about in 2000, but the hosts pretty much just stayed down on the ground.
The Red Rose scored just one point less than Ireland, running out 59-12 winners for a 47-point margin win, with the visitors crossing a total of eight times which included a hat-trick for Austin Healey.
England went on to win the Six Nations that year, winning four and losing one of their five matches.
15th March 2014 – Wales 51-3 Scotland
Although Wales only finished third in the 2014 Six Nations, one of their finest performances in their tournament history came in the final match of the competition at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
The Dragons ran in no less than seven tries as they gave Scotland 51-3 hiding – a winning margin of 48 points – to end the tournament on a high and send the Scots back up north battered and bruised.
Greg Laidlaw did send over a penalty in the third minute for Scotland, which had actually given them the lead, but it was all Wales from there on as they piled on the points.
19th March 2016 – Wales 67-14 Italy
Featuring on this list for the second time, Wales produced an emphatic performance at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff in their final match of the 2016 Six Nations against Italy.
A total of nine tries were scored by the Dragons as they dismantled the Azzurri 67-14 to win by a margin on 53 points, although it wasn’t enough to see the Welsh outfit win the tournament as that accolade went to England.
11th February 2017 – Italy 10-63 Ireland
It was another tale of woe for Italy in the 2017 Six Nations when they suffered a 63-10 home hammering at the hands of Ireland, who would end up just missing out on the title to England.
CJ Stander and Craig Gilroy both grabbed hat-tricks for the Irish while Keith Earls finished with a brace and Garry Ringrose crossed once, with Paddy Jackson converting all nine tries.
17th February 2001 – England 80-23 Italy
Not content with their 59-12 win in 2000, England gave Italy an absolute hammering in round two of the 2001 Six Nations as they racked up an 80-23 victory at Twickenham – the biggest winning margin in the tournament’s history.
Jonny Wilkinson finished with a try, nine conversions and four penalties for an individual haul of 35 points – the most by a single player in Six Nations history – while his nine conversions in one game is the joint-highest with Paddy Jackson.
England stuck 10 tries past Italy in total that day, with eight different players getting in on the act, and the Red Rose would end up successfully defending the trophy they won 12 months earlier.