Rugby Viadana

Union

Federazione Italiana Rugby

Founded

1970

Location

Viadana, Italy

Ground(s)

Stadio Luigi Zaffanella (Capacity: 6,000)

Chairman

Davide Tizzi

Coach(es)

Regan Sue

Captain(s)

Roberto Santamaria

League(s)

National Championship of Excellence

2013/2014

4th (Excellence)

1st kit

2nd kit

Official website

www.rugbyviadana.it

Rugby Viadana is an Italian rugby union club based in Viadana (province of Mantua, Lombardy). The club was established in 1970, and has since won the Italian championship in 2002, and the Coppa Italia three times. They also compete in European rugby competitions and were runners-up in the European Shield in 2004. Viadana plays in yellow and black. The club did not compete professionally between 2010-2012 as they focused their efforts on Aironi. Aironi was based at Viadana's home ground and represented a number of regional teams in the multi-national Celtic League. The FIR withdrew Aironi's licence to play at the end of the 2012 so Viadana reformed as a professional team. Former Aironi Coach Rowland Phillips is now Viadana Head Coach. They will be playing in 2013/14 Amlin Challenge Cup. They will be playing in Pool 4 along with Bayonne, Grenoble and London Wasps.

The reformed professional Viadana club will play in Italy's top division in 2012-13, the National Championship of Excellence.

History

They were founded in 1970 as a rugby sector in the Vitellianense Cebogas Multisports Club by some ex-Rugby Parma players. They started in the lowest possible league, Serie D.

In 1980-1981 Viadana won Serie B but after three years the team were relegated back to Serie C. But they bounced back the following year and won promotion back to Serie B. 1986-1987 they won promotion to Serie A2 and finished sixth in their first year. However they were relegated back the following year and didn't return for three years.

They finally won promotion to Serie A in 1998-1999. In their first season Viadana won the Italian Cup and made it to the semi-final of the play-offs. In 2000-2001 they finished third in the league but again lost in the semi-final play-offs to Benetton Treviso.

In 2002 the Italian championship was reformed with the birth of Super 10 (now National Championship of Excellence). During this season Viadana finished first and beat favourites Benetton Treviso in the play-offs to win the title for the first time. They were the first team from outside a provincial capital to do so. They won the Italian Cup a second time in 2003.

In 2004 they became the first (and so far only) Italian team to have made the final of a European competition when they lost the European Shield final 19-25 to Montpellier. In 2007 they defeated Cammi Calvisano to win their third Coppa Italia. In 2008, despite their relatively experienced team, Viadana were beaten in the semi-finals by Benetton Treviso and subsequently lost out on a lucrative Heineken Cup place.

Viadana were the largest shareholders in Aironi, a new team that competed in the 2010/11 and 2012/12 Magners League. Many of the club's top players joined Aironi on its formation. As of June 2010 it was announced that will the impending establishment of Aironi the club would no longer compete as a professional club. The senior and U-20 teams would be merged with GranDucato Parma Rugby. Viadana would continue as an independent club but only below U-20 level.^[1] The club would maintain a senior team but only an amateur one. Any promising players would be diverted to GranDucato, and ultimately Aironi and the national team.

At the end of the 2012 Aironi's licence to play in the Magners League was withdrawn by the FIR. Viadana was then reformed as a professional team, with a number of Aironi's players joining them. Aironi's place in the Centic League was taken by newly formed Zebre, a team based in Parma. Many Aironi players joined Zebre on its formation.^[2]

Current squad

2014-15:

^[3] Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player	Position	Union
Antonio Denti	Hooker	Italy
Giovanni Scalvi	Hooker	Italy
Roberto Santamaria (c)	Hooker	Italy
Cherif Traoré	Prop	Italy
German Araoz	Prop	Argentina
Riccardo Cagna	Prop	Italy
Giulio Cenedese	Prop	Italy
Alberto Cavallero	Prop	Italy
Otis Lombardi	Prop	Italy
Luca Marchini	Prop	Italy
Filippo Gerosa	Lock	Italy
Federico Ruzza	Lock	Italy
Liviu Pascu	Lock	Italy
Nick Civetta	Lock	United States
Andrea Barbieri	Flanker	Italy
Andrea Denti	Flanker	Italy
Federico Manuini	Flanker	Italy
Pietro Moreschi	Flanker	Italy
Chris Du Plessis	Flanker	Italy
Mirko Monfrino	Number 8	Italy
Jacob Muriaina Whitaker	Number 8	New Zealand

Player	Position	Union
Pietro Travagli	Scrum-half	Italy
Davide Righi Riva	Scrum-half	Italy
Khyam Apperley	Scrum-half	Italy
Ian McKinley	Fly-half	Ireland
Keanu Apperley	Fly-half	Italy
Gilberto Pavan	Centre	Italy
Roberto Quartaroli	Centre	Italy
Giorgio Tizzi	Centre	Italy
Gabriele Manganiello	Centre	Italy
Andrea Buondonno	Wing	Italy
Abou Souaré	Wing	Italy
Gianmarco Amadasi	Wing	Italy
Marco Antonio Gennari	Fullback	Italy
Elia Biasuzzi	Fullback	Italy

Internationally capped players in Bold

Honours

National Championship of Excellence:
- Champions: 2002
Coppa Italia:
- Champions: 2000, 2003, 2007, 2013, 2016 (Trofeo Eccellenza)
National Championship Under 20:
- Champions: 2013
European Shield:
- Runners-up: 2004
Division 2:
- Promoted: 1998-99
Division 3:
- Promoted: 1986-87, 1992–93
Division 4:
- Promoted: 1980-81, 1984–85
Division 5:
- Promoted: 1971-72

Notable former players

Statistics

European Challenge Cup

Season	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
2000-01	4	0	0	4	78	147
2001-02	6	2	0	4	120	210
(Shield) 2003-04	7	5	0	2	250	166
2003-04	2	1	0	1	41	61
2004-05	4	3	0	1	184	50
2005-06	6	0	0	6	81	244
2006-07	6	2	0	4	114	145
2008-09	6	3	0	3	120	126
2013-14	6	0	1	5	86	356

Heineken Cup

Season	Played	Lost	For	Against
2002-03	6	6	128	348
2007-08	6	6	106	208
2009-10	6	6	83	295

References

External links

Official site

National Championship of Excellence

2016/17 Teams	Calvisano Fiamme Oro Lazio Mogliano Lyons Piacenza Petrarca Reggio Emilia Rovigo San Donà Viadana

Serie A (1929-1960)	1929 • 1929–30 • 1930–31 • 1931–32 • 1932–33 • 1933–34 • 1934–35 • 1935–36 • 1936–37 • 1937–38 • 1938–39 • 1939–40 • 1940–41 • 1941–42 • 1942–43 1945–46 • 1946–47 • 1947–48 • 1948–49 • 1949–50 • 1950–51 • 1951–52 • 1952–53 • 1953–54 • 1954–55 • 1955–56 • 1956–57 • 1957–58 • 1958–59 • 1959–60

"Eccellenza" (1960-65)	1960–61 • 1961–62 • 1962–63 • 1963–64 • 1964–65

"Serie A" (1965-86)	1965–66 • 1966–67 • 1967–68 • 1968–69 • 1969–70 • 1970–71 • 1971–72 • 1972–73 • 1973–74 • 1974–75 • 1975–76 • 1976–77 • 1977–78 • 1978–79 • 1979–80 • 1980–81 • 1981–82 • 1982–83 • 1983–84 • 1984–85 • 1985–86

Serie A1 (1986–01)	1986–87 • 1987–88 • 1988–89 ;• 1989–90 • 1990–91 • 1991–92 • 1992–93 • 1993–94 • 1994–95 • 1995–96 • 1996–97 • 1997–98 • 1998–99 • 1999–00 • 2000–01

Super 10 (2001-10)	2001–02 • 2002–03 • 2003–04 • 2004–05 • 2005–06 • 2006–07 • 2007–08 • 2008–09 • 2009–10

Eccellenza (2010-…)	2010–11 • 2011–12 • 2012–13 • 2013–14 • 2014–15 • 2015–16 • 2016–17

Rugby union in Italy

Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR)

National teams

Women's	Italy 7's

Men's	Italy A 7's U-20 U-18

League competitions

Men's	Pro12 Excellence Serie A Serie B Serie C

Cup competitions

Men's	European Rugby Champions Cup European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition Excellence Trophy

Clubs
Players
Coaches
Referees
Venues

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