City of Salford Construction on a new 20,000 seat £35 million pound stadium was complete in 2012. Now named the AJ Bell stadium it is home to Salford Red Devils and Sale Sharks rugby union team. Swinton Lions were founded in 1866 and play in the Championship at heywood road sale. They won the Rugby Football League Championship six times between 1927 and 1964, before it was superseded by Super League. They have also won the Challenge Cup three times between 1900 and 1928. Broughton Rangers were founded in 1877 and won the Rugby League Challenge Cup in the 1901–02 and 1910–11 seasons.
Italy national rugby union team in time for the 2012 Six Nations so all of Italy's home Six Nations games were moved to the Stadio Olimpico, also in Rome. The expansion of the Stadio Flaminio was originally promised to be complete by 2014. It was planned that upon completion of the renovation, the Italian team will move back to the Stadio Flaminio, however little was achieved and as of September 2016 the stadium was still in a state of abandoned disrepair. More Italians are coming to watch rugby union games and whereas before most of the fans at the Stadio Flaminio were away fans, now