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Italy, France and Romania did not participate, in order to privilege other appointments. Italy and France were not interested to continue to participate in the FIRA senior competitions. Really, the two teams had to play the final of the previous trophy. Due to the great number of matches, also for the European competitions reserved to clubs, they could play the final only on 23 March 1997, after this tournament was started.
The tournament had a new formula. Twelwe teams were divided into four pools of 3 teams. After a round robin, they were ranked in 3 groups to define the ranking, also valid to divide the Teams for the second round qualification to 1999 Rugby World Cup.
Template:It icon Francesco Volpe, Valerio Vecchiarelli (2000), 2000 Italia in Meta, Storia della nazionale italiana di rugby dagli albori al Sei Nazioni, GS Editore (2000) ISBN 88-87374-40-6.
Template:It icon Francesco Volpe, Paolo Pacitti (Author), Rugby 2000, GTE Gruppo Editorale (1999).