Italians may be forced to leave Rome

Rugby: Rome must agree to enlarge the 24,000-seater Stadio Flaminio or the Six Nations will go elsewhere, the head of the Italian…

Rugby:Rome must agree to enlarge the 24,000-seater Stadio Flaminio or the Six Nations will go elsewhere, the head of the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) has said.

"The tournament committee have told us either to expand the Flaminio to 40,000 seats or choose another venue or they'll do without us," FIR president Giancarlo Dondi was quoted as saying in Wednesday's La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We have a plan ready to extend it to 42,000 and it would not take long to do but it depends on the Rome City Council.

"If they give us guarantees, the work will be completed for the 2012 edition, then maybe they'll let us play at the Flaminio in 2011. Otherwise we will stage the 2011 Six Nations somewhere else."