Michele Lamaro: Italy fans never lost hope to beat England

Italy captain Michele Lamaro received a resounding ovation from his nation's journalists, as he entered the press conference room last night in the Stadio Olimpico. Lamaro captained Italy to a historic first ever win over England in round four of the 2026 Guinness Men's Six Nations, as a 23-18 comeback victory stunned Steve Borthwick's side in Rome.

England lead 18-10 with a quarter of an hour left on the clock, before the sea of Italian fans rallied behind the Azzurri to spark an unforgettable night in the Eternal City. A strong break from Tommaso Menoncello once again split the defence, before Leonardo Marin was played in for the decisive score.

Having previously held firm for a 18-13 triumph over Scotland, back in the torrential rain of Round One, Italy now have back-to-back home victories in the Six Nations. There's a new fortress steadily being built in the Roman city, as this golden generation makes history once again. Following the match, Lamaro spoke to the media about how the Italian fans helped his teammates find that extra gear, and end their 32-match losing streak to England.

"Home games are massive at the moment, because, you can get that extra 5% with the crowd going. One of the main topics his this week, was to get the Stadio Olimpico going, to make it on fire, to get the crowd going and to have that feeling of having them behind us. I'm really proud of the fact that we showed our our best rugby in front of our crowds."

Whilst Italy can't numerically get their hands on the Six Nations title this year, the men who don the famous blue jerseys are adamant to end their Championship on a high. Lamaro leads his men out to Cardiff for their respective clash on 'Super Saturday', in the hopes of bagging a third tournament win to cap of a tremendous competition.

Italy take on Wales next weekend, with Gonzalo Quesada's side hoping to notch their third consecutive victory over Steve Tandy's side. The goal is to hand Wales the wooden spoon once again, yet Lamaro knows that the incoming opponents will fight tooth and nail to avoid the Grand Slam of defeats, having put in a dogged effort in their defeat to Ireland on Friday.

"Now, we've got another massive challenge in Wales. We're very proud of that [beating England], but at the same time, we've got another big challenge. As Gonzalo [Quesada] said, the game Wales played yesterday [against Ireland], was absolutely bravery, and, showed a lot of courage, a lot of positive things.

"They [Wales] don't want to lose the fifth game in this Six Nations, because they probably don't deserve that after the last couple of games. So, I'm pretty sure they will face face up and put in the best performances they can.

"So we have to put the home stadium aside, and go into the legendary Principality [Stadium] that is absolutely amazing. We face a different challenge, and we need to be ready for that."

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