Italian Super 10

L’Aquila Rugby: a club on the mend

L’Aquila Rugby is one of the teams that are going to play in the Italian Super 10 in the upcoming 2010-11 season.

Differently to other Super 10 sides, L’Aquila Rugby is now finds itself in a very bad situation due to a number of factors.

The most important is the earthquake of one year ago (which killed around 300 people). The tragedy meant a lot for the city and of course most of the region’s finances were used to rebuild the cities hit by the earthquake, rather than being spent for the sports.

L’Aquila Rugby found themselves short of sponsors when their top backers, the Ferla firm, decided to withdraw their financial support.

As a result most of the team decided not to get back for another season with the team as their salary would be considerably lower. The players who recently left the team include Rebecchini, Fraser, Llanos, Purdy,Myring, Leonardi, Pietrosanti, Angeloni and Pallotta. Other players, like prop Dario Subrizi, are training to learn new roles and further help the team in these tough times.

The start of the preparation for the 2010-11 season, originally planned for the first half of July, is now set for July 26th.

It’s always sad when a team with good history is facing financial difficulties in the modern world.

L’Aquila Rugby, founded in the 1936, won a total of five Italian titles, the first of them in 1967, then 1969, 1981, 1982 and 1994. Even if the glory days are history now, L’Aquila is one of the most important rugby centers in Italy as they developed a number of good players and their junior teams are usually very good, even if in the last few years the team used less homegrown players than usual.

The most important players of their history are most likely the three stars which contributed most to the two titles of the 80s, team’s legend Massimo Mascioletti, who used to captain the Italian national team, wing Serafino Ghizzoni and full back Luigi Troiani. Mascioletti then won the title with L’Aquila Rugby also as head coach, in the 1993-94 season.

In the last decade L’Aquila didn’t manage to repeat its successes, in spite of having hired one of the best coaches of the world, French Jacque Fouroux, who didn’t even finish the 2004-05 season.

As said, the glory days are now history, and it seems hard that in the forthcoming season L’Aquila can repeat the old successes, but if they keep on investing on their youth like during the old days they have all the chances to rebound back from the terrible earthquake situation.

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2009/10 Italian Super 10: Round 14 Preview

Italy’s premier domestic competition moves into its closing stages this weekend, with the tournament as close as it has ever been, with five teams still in with a chance of winning the title, and breaking Benetton Treviso’s strangle hold on the championship.

Viadana holds top spot, and they have been the form team throughout the competition. The Northern Italian side hasn’t won the Super 10 since 2002, and could break their duck this season.

Bennetton lost to Rovigo last week, showing that the side generally regarded as the giant of Italian rugby is not as invincible as we have seen in previous competitions.

Since 1997 the Treviso based team has won the title nine times, and is still in with a shout, but will be up against it this week against a Futura Park side that always fancies its chances against the competitions historical heavyweights.

But when thinking that Casinò di Venezia and Gran Parma had shock wins last round, it goes to show that the competitiveness and closeness of the Italian rugby scene is certainly increasing.

According to the Italians, the match of the round is Petrarca Padova vs Banca Monte Parma, which will kick off the weekend.

Petrarch currently occupies the fourth position, but has lost their last two matches. Their opponents Banca have suffered a series of defeats in recent games as well, and while the two sides still occupy 4th and 6th on the table respectively, the winner of this match will remain in contention for the title, but the loser will lose too much ground.

Former Italian scrum/fly half Francesco Mazzariol had the following to say.

"After the Derby last Friday, where the team was unable to maintain control of the game throughout the match, we faced a week of work in which we have focused on this aspect, finding the enthusiasm to tackle a delicate game like Padua. We know that we are facing a tough race, which will be played until the last second and we are ready to face it. "

Super 10 fixtures Round 13

Parma Rugby FC 1931 25 - 28 Plusvalore Gran Parma
Futura Park R.Roma 18 - 26 Mps Viadana
Casinò di Venezia R. 24 - 19 Petrarca Padova
Femi CZ Rovigo 34 - 28 Benetton Treviso
Consiag I Cavalieri Prato 19 - 25 Ferla L'Aquila Rugby 1936

Current Super 10 table
(Pts, Pl, W, D, L, PF:PA, Diff)

Mps Viadana       47     13     10     0     3     306:153     153
Benetton Treviso       43     13     8     0     5     329:177     152
Femi CZ Rovigo       39     13     7     2     4     271:241     30
Petrarca Padova         35     13     7     0     6     280:263     17
Consiag I Cavalieri Prato    30     13     7     0     6     261:227     34
Parma Rugby FC 1931   29     13     5     0     8     251:269     -18
Futura Park R.Roma       27     13     6     0     7     258:261     -3
Ferla L\'Aquila Rugby 1936   27     13     6     0     7     266:308     -42
Plusvalore Gran Parma   19     13     4     1     8     213:357     -144
Casinò di Venezia R.   18     13     3     1     9     209:388     -179

Super 10 Fixtures Round 14

Petrarca Padova vs Banca Monte Parma
Benetton Treviso vs Futura Park Rugby Roma
Plusvalore Gran Parma vs Consiag I Cavalieri Prato
MPS Viadana vs Femi-CZ Rovigo
Ferla L'Aquila vs Casino’ Di Venezia

Leading Super 10 points scorers

154 Wakarua (Consiag Knights Meadow)
141 Fraser (Ferla L'Aquila)
120 Mercier (Petrarca Padova)
104 Fresh (Futura Park Rugby Roma)
98 Bustos G. (Femi CZ Rovigo-)
95 Tebaldi (Gran Parma Added values)
88 Irving (Banca Monte Parma)
71 Woodrow (MPS Viadana)
68 Basson (Femi CZ Rovigo-)
67 Pilat (Casino of Venice)
51 Botes (Benetton Treviso)
51 Goosen (Benetton Treviso)
42 Peace (MPS Viadana)

Confirmed teams

Petrarca Padova vs Banca Monte Parma.

Petrarca Padova: 15 Warren Spragg/Stefano Ambrosio, 14 Lorenzo Innocenti, 13 Enrico Patrizio, 12 Roberto Bertetti, 11 Fabio Faggiotto, 10 Ludovic Mercier, 9 Nicola Leonardi, 8 Zane Ansell, 7 Nicola Bezzati, 6 Nicolas Galatro (captain), 5 Douglas Fletcher, 4 Gonzalo Padrò, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Nicola Gatto, 1 Costa-Repetto Replacements: 16 Giovanni Marchetto, 17 Matteo Sclosa, 18 Targa, 19 Mattia Filippini/Barbini Mar, 20 Alessandro Billot, 21 Chillon Ale, 22 Ambrosio/Dal Corso/Borgato, 23 Chris Caporello

Banca Monte Parma: 15 Paul Emerick, 14 Roberto Quartaroli, 13 Tommaso Ianone, 12 Gilberto Pavan, 11 Riccardo Pavan, 10 Barry Irving, 9 James Ireland, 8 Manoa Vosawai (captain), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Antonio Mannato, 5 Ratu Lewaravu, 4 Roberto Mandelli, 3 Ricky Nebbett, 2 Davide Giazzon, 1 Fontana Replacements: 16 Daniele Pompa, 17 Marco Coletti, 18 Alberto De Marchi, 19 Mantvydos Tveraga, 20 Rollo, 21 Pino Patelli, 22 Edd Thrower, 23 Lorenzo Romano

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LE SFIDE DELLE SEMIFINALI DI RITORNO DEL GROUPAMA SUPER 10

Parma, 22 Maggio 2009 – A Viadana e Treviso le ultime fermate prima della finale del “Flaminio”. Il Groupama Super 10, che quest’anno ha visto l’adrenalina salire costantemente nel girone di ritorno vivrà una delle fasi più avvincenti nelle partite in programma sabato 23 allo Zaffanella (ore 20), dove il Montepaschi difenderà la vittoria dell’andata contro la FemiCz Rovigo e domenica 24 alle 20 al Monigo, dove la Benetton proverà a ribaltare la sconfitta subita con il Cammi Calvisano la settimana scorsa.

Super 10 2009-10 Round 11 preview

Italy's premier domestic competition plays its eleventh round this weekend, another round of games just days after resuming the tournament for the New Year. The tenth round, also known as the "Epiphany matches" saw some big upsets despite some matches being cancelled due to the frozen blanket that has descended over Europe.

Prato is newly promoted to the Super 10 after a strong season in the Serie A. They beat L’Aquila to gain their place at Italy’s top table, and sit in the top half of the competition table.

But the Tuscan based club truly shocked the league with an outstanding 30-24 win last round against reigning champions, log leaders and Heineken Cup participants Benetton Treviso – in Treviso.

This victory came after Prato had a shocking start to the year when they were docked competition points for fielding an ineligible player, and are one of many sides that could lift the title this year.

Rugby Roma, five times champions of the Super 10 (last win was in 2000), beat Parma to join them on third position on the log. After a poor showing last season, the Rome based club is looking the part of one of the oldest club in the country.

Round eleven’s matches, played five days after the recent clashes, are still under a cloud, with two of last rounds games called off due to snow.

The reigning champions Treviso travel north to play Padova, in what is one of the great Italian head to head clashes. Even Padova (sitting in seventh position) will be able to put pressure on the ladder leaders.

The match between Prato and Roma will also hold much interest, as both teams are considered by the Italians to be surprise packets of this year’s competition.

Round 10 results

Plusvalore Gran Parma v Petrarca Padova, postponed because of the snow
MPS Viadana v Ferla L'Aquila, postponed because of the snow
Casinò di Venezia vs Femi-CZ Rovigo, 16-12
Futura Park Rugby Roma v Banca Monte Parma, 12-6
Consiag I Cavalieri Prato vs Benetton Treviso , 30-24

Round 11 fixtures

Ferla L'Aquila 1936 vs Plusvalore Gran Parma
Consiag I Cavalieri Prato vs Futura Park Rugby Roma
Petrarca Padova vs Benetton Treviso
Casinò di Venezia vs MPS Viadana
Parma 1931 vs Femi CZ Rovigo

Log after Round 10

1. Benetton Treviso, 35 points, 7 wins, 3 losses, diff +127
2. MPS Viadana, 30 points, 6 wins, 3 losses, diff +103
3. Futura Park Rugby Roma 27 points, 5 wins, 5 losses, diff +43
4. Banca Monte Parma, 27 points, 5 wins, 5 losses, diff +23
5. Consiag I Cavalieri Prato, 25 points, 6 wins, 4 losses, diff +38
6. Femi CZ-Rovigo, 25 points, 4 wins, 2 draws, 4 losses, diff 0
7. Petrarca Padova 24 points, 5 wins, 4 losses, diff -8
8. Ferla L'Aquila 14 points, 3 wins, 6 losses, diff -44
9. Casinò di Venezia 12 points, 2 wins, 1 draw, 7 losses, diff -171
10. Plusvalore Gran Parma 11 points, 2 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses

Leading points scorers: G. Wakarua (Consiag I Cavalieri Prato) 136 points; Fraser (Ferla L'Aquila) 103, Irving (Banca Monte Parma) 73; Fresh (Futura Park Rugby Roma) 72; Mercier (Petrarca Padova) 70; Basson (-Femi CZ Rovigo) 68; Tebaldi (Plusvalore Gran Parma) and Pilat (Casino of Venice) 65; Bustos G. (Femi-CZ Rovigo) 59; Goosen (Benetton Treviso) 51; Botes (Benetton Treviso) 48; Woodrow (MPS Viadana) 35 (Femi CZ Rovigo-) 59; Goosen (Benetton Treviso) 51; Botes (Benetton Treviso) 48, Woodrow (MPS Viadana) 35

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SUPER 10 DESIGNAZIONI ARBITRALI SEMIFINALI DI RITORNO

Parma, 20 Maggio 2009 – Sono state ufficializzate dal CNAr, la Commissione Nazionale Arbitri della FIR, le designazioni arbitrali per le semifinali di ritorno del Groupama Super 10 in programma sabato 23 e domenica 24 maggio 2009.