Jun 27, 2000: Fijians are natural rugby players while Italians have to be made into them, Italy's national coach Brad Johnstone has told Fiji's Daily Post
Jun 25, 2000: French clubs made a mockery on Saturday of an Italian protest about fielding players who refused to turn out on national squad duty
Jun 23, 2000: Narbonne skipper Cristian Stoica has been appointed as Italy's new captain after Alessandro Troncon decided not to tour Samoa and Fiji to stay in France with his club Montferrand
Jun 23, 2000: Allied Dunbar Premiership Two side Worcester have signed the Samoan utility back Earl Va'a from L'Aquila
Jun 21, 2000: Italy's captain Alessandro Troncon (Montferrand), lock Mark Giacheri (Brive) and young scrum half Ezio Galon (Bourgoin) have decided to honour their commitment to their French clubs and have pulled out of the national squad for the forthcoming tour
Jun 20, 2000: French rugby union coach Bernard Laporte, impressed by the standard of play during a recent visit to the southern hemisphere, will launch a "French Revolution" to keep the national side in contention at world level
Jun 19, 2000: In the wake of another disputed decision in international rugby, fomer Wales international and British Lion John Taylor has attacked the IRB for "failing to cover every possibility in their adoption of new law"
Jun 18, 2000: RDS Rome won the Italian rugby union championship here on Saturday beating Aquila 35-17 before a crowd of 15,000 fans - becoming the third side from the Italian capital to win a national title this season
Jun 15, 2000: The 6 Nations dates have been confirmed by the IRB and are as follows: Sat 03.02.01 Italy v Ireland - 14:30 Wales v England - 16:00 Sun 04.02.01 France v Scotland - 14:00 Sat 17.02.01 Scotland v Wales - 14:00 Ireland v France - 16:00 England v Italy
Jun 13, 2000: Fir (Italian Rugby Federation) are at loggerheads with Alessandro Troncon as the Italian captain doesn't want to tour to South Pacific, writes Gian Luca Barca Troncon, Italy's captain since last January, might be facinga long suspension by the
Jun 9, 2000: European champions Northampton on Friday completed the signing of Italian centre Luca Martin from French side Begles Bordeaux
Jun 3, 2000: Former Italy captain and 1987 RWC team coach Marco Bollesan has been named national squad manager for the Italian Tour to the South Pacific scheduled from June 24 to July 20
Jun 1, 2000: FIR president Giancarlo Dondi said that at present no changes have been considered to the Italian Tour to Samoa and Fiji despite the political riots in Suva
May 26, 2000: Italy's coach Brad Johnstone has named the 32 man squad to tour Samoa and Fiji at the beginning of July
May 16, 2000: Former Ireland open-side flanker Derek McGrath, 40, will succeed Roger Pickering as tournament director of European Rugby Cup in July.
May 12, 2000: French rugby chiefs will have to wait until May 24 to see if their idea of shortening the Six Nations schedule will be accepted after Scotland, Wales and Ireland rejected their demands at a meeting in Paris on Thursday
May 9, 2000: Munster and Northampton have still got the biggest match in their histories to come - but for others the countdown to the Heineken Cup tournament of 2000/2001 has already begun
May 3, 2000: The Welsh Rugby Union and Scottish Rugby Union have avoided fines over the sport's so-called `grannygate' saga escaping with a reprimand
Apr 29, 2000: The long running dispute in the Italian Championship has finally been settled and Viadana's 29-27 victory over Rovigo confirmed
Apr 17, 2000: Welsh Rugby Union secretary Dennis Gethin has called for all players to be banned form betting on games
