GIOVENTU » London Italian Rugby Football Club
London Italian Rugby Football Club
The 2011 Rugby World Cup
The seventh rugby world cup kicked off in dazzling style on the 9th of September 2011. The quadrennial event is this year hosted in New Zealand and it represents the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand.
The games run over seven weeks, starting on the 9th of September and finishing on the 23rd .
From the beginning of the tournament tickets are seeing sales of almost NZ$1m a day.
The Tournament organisers have already sold more than 1.2 million tickets before the before the games begin.
We met Eduardo Rastelli, general manager and player of the London Italian Rugby Football Club, to talk about this long established Italian rugby club and comment on the Italian performance at the world cup.
The team was originally set up in the 1970's by a group of school friends, it was re-established in 2007 by Marco Attanasio, Lorenzo Belpassi & Eduardo Rastelli.
The London Italian Rugby Football Club trains the week before any fixture, typically on Saturday at Regents Park.
“We are an amateur team, and will be playing in regional divisions in London from September 2012. Over the summer we play in seven tournaments across the South East and also go annually to Italy to play a tournament there, usually in June or July. This year we went to Tortoreto and finished in 3rd position…”
Do you have a sponsor?
We are in the process of negotiating sponsorship but would always be interested to hear from companies/individuals interested in helping this potentially great club.
“Our next game is against Finchley Rugby Club, 3pm Kick Off. The address is: Summers Lane, London, Middlesex, N12 0PD… We welcome all support and players from any ability or experience. My email is eduardo@londonitalianrugby.com – Get in touch!”
What do you think of the Italian team’s performance in the world cup so far?
“They’ve played well, but tougher tests lie ahead and with Ireland beating Australia, it’s blown the group apart”.
Italy have appeared in every Rugby World Cup so far, but they have never made it past the group stages.
The Italian team’s worst rival is New Zealand: the two nations have been drawn in the same pool five times in six World Cups and Italy was defeated on each occasion.
Luckily this time New Zealand is not in the same pool with Italy.
Italy has done pretty well up to now as it posted their first win (after being defeated 36- 6 by Australia) against Russia with an emphatic 53-17 victory.
The match with Russia was a nervous game as Nick Mallett, the Italian coach, commented, because they needed to get five points from this game to make sure to go into the Irish game.
Italian and English newspapers commented positively the team’s performance and have an optimistic attitude towards the future.
World Cup Italian Squad:
Forwards: Robert Julian Barbieri, Mauro Bergamasco, Marco Bortolami, Martin Castrogiovanni, Lorenzo Cittadini, Tommaso D'Apice, Carlo Antonio Del Fava, Paul Derbyshire, Quintin Geldenhuys, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Andrea Lo Cicero, Sergio Parisse, Salvatore Perugini, Fabio Ongaro, Alessandro Zanni, Cornelius Van Zyl.
Backs: Tommaso Benvenuti, Mirco Bergamasco, Riccardo Bocchino, Gonzalo Canale, Pablo Canovosio, Gonzalo Garcia, Edoardo Gori, Andrea Masi, Luke McLean, Luciano Orquera, Andrea Pratichetti, Fabio Semenzato, Alberto Sgarbi, Giulio Toniolatti.
The pools:
Pool A: New Zealand, France, Tonga, Canada, Japan
Pool B: Argentina, England, Scotland, Georgia, Romania
Pool C: Australia, Ireland, Italy, Russia, United States
Pool D: South Africa, Wales, Fiji, Samoa, Namibia
The matches:
9 September
New Zealand v Tonga, Eden Park, Auckland
Result: New Zealand 41-10 Tonga
10 September
Scotland v Romania, Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill
Result: Scotland 34-24 Romania
Fiji v Namibia, Rotorua International Stadium
Result: Fiji 49-25 Namibia
France v Japan, North Harbour Stadium, North Shore
Result: France 47-21 Japan
Argentina v England, Otago Stadium, Dunedin
Result: England 13-9 Argentina
11 September
Australia v Italy, North Harbour Stadium, Auckland
Result: Australia 32-6 Italy
Ireland v United States, Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth
Result: Ireland 22-10 USA
South Africa v Wales, Wellington Regional Stadium
Result: South Africa 17-16 Wales
14 September
Samoa v Namibia, Rotorua International Stadium
Result: Samoa 49-12 Namibia
Tonga v Canada, Northland Events Centre, Whangarei
Result: Tonga 20-25 Canada
Scotland v Georgia, Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill
Result: Scotland 15-6 Georgia
15 September
Russia v United States, Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth
Result: Russia 6-13 United States
16 September:
New Zealand v Japan, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Result: New Zealand 83-7 Japan
17 September
Argentina v Romania, Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill
Result: Argentina 43-8 Romania
South Africa v Fiji, Wellington Regional Stadium
Result: South Africa 49-3 Fiji
Australia v Ireland, Eden Park, Auckland
Result: Australia 6-15 Ireland
18 September
Wales v Samoa, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Result: Wales 17-10 Samoa
England v Georgia, Otago Stadium, Dunedin
Result: England 41-10 Georgia
France v Canada, McLean Park, Napier
Result: France 46-19 Canada
20 September
Italy v Russia, Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Result: Italy 53-17 Russia
21 September
Tonga v Japan, Northland Events Centre, Whangarei
Result: Tonga 31-18 Japan
22 September
South Africa v Namibia, North Harbour Stadium, North Shore
23 September
Australia v United States, Wellington Regional Stadium
24 September
England v Romania, Otago Stadium, Dunedin
New Zealand v France, Eden Park, Auckland
25 September
Fiji v Samoa, Eden Park, Auckland
Ireland v Russia, Rotorua International Stadium
Argentina v Scotland, Wellington Regional Stadium
26 September
Wales v Namibia, Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth
27 September
Canada v Japan, McLean Park, Napier
Italy v United States, Trafalgar Park, Nelson
28 September
Georgia v Romania, Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North
30 September
South Africa v Samoa, North Harbour Stadium, North Shore
1 October
Australia v Russia, Nelson
France v Tonga, Wellington Regional Stadium
England v Scotland, Eden Park, Auckland
2 October
Argentina v Georgia, Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North
New Zealand v Canada, Wellington Regional Stadium
Wales v Fiji, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Ireland v Italy, Otago Stadium, Dunedin
Quarter-final One: 8 October
Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D
Quarter-final Two: 8 October
Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A
Quarter-final Three: 9 October
Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C
Quarter-final Four: 9 October
Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B
Semi-final One: 15 October
Winner QF1 v Winner QF2
Semi-final Two: 16 October
Winner QF3 v Winner QF4
Bronze final: 21 October
Loser SF1 v Loser SF2
Final: 23 October
Winner SF1 v Winner SF2
(Eden Park, Auckland)
Giulia Lombardo
