ITALY: HOUSE MARTELL
Martell’s people aren’t of the same appearance to others in Westeros, with a more olive complexion as opposed to some of the paler skins of the more northern territories. In other words, it gets hotter down there.
Their stoic motto reads: “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.”, which is similar to the Azzurri, who despite significant setbacks and losses down the years, always come back and compete for the thrown each and every season.
However, both have offered heavy losses in recent seasons.
SCOTLAND: HOUSE STARK
Scotland was very much the flavour of the month at the start of 2017, earning the respect of the Six Nations masses and encouraging early talk of a possible triumph. However, they were knocked off their perch by a dominant England (House Lannister) when away from home at Twickenham (Kings Landing),
The same could be said for House Stark in the GoT series, where Sean Bean did a fine job of bringing us into deep appreciation for the small outfit who reigned from Winterfell before his beheading (spoiler alert).
Despite their size, though, the Starks’ relationship with other powers – recruiting players from foreign lands, led them to becoming powerful when fighting in their own territory, similar to Scotland. They are also both very NORTHERN.
Murrayfield has also become a difficult place to travel these days, and the Starks’ wolf sigil, significant of an animal that copes better in a cohesive unit, also shares some similarities with Gregor Townsend’s stratagem.