Rugby Rovigo Delta
Italian rugby union club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rugby Rovigo Delta, formerly known until 2010 as Rugby Rovigo, is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in the Serie A Élite. They are based in Rovigo, in Veneto.
| Full name | Rugby Rovigo Delta S.r.l. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Italian Rugby Federation | ||
| Founded | 1935 | ||
| Location | Rovigo, Italy | ||
| Ground | Stadio Mario Battaglini (Capacity: 5,500) | ||
| President | Francesco Zambelli | ||
| Coach | Davide Giazzon | ||
| Captain | Facundo Diederich Ferrario | ||
| League | Serie A Élite | ||
| |||
| Official website | |||
| www | |||
Overview
The club was founded in 1935 by medical student Dino Lanzoni, who discovered rugby at university in Padua.
They quickly became one of the strongest Italian sides and won 15 titles between 1951 and 2025. They have never been relegated from the top flight of Italian rugby union. They are the current Italian champion.
Former Rovigo players include Elio De Anna, Stefano Bettarello, Stefano Bordon, Alessandro Moscardi, Carlo Orlandi, Carlo Checchinato, Mirco Bergamasco, Manuel Contepomi, AJ Venter, Gert Smal, Viliami Ofahengaue and Naas Botha.
Honours
- Italian championship
- Champions (15): 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1975–76, 1978–79, 1987–88, 1989–90, 2015–16, 2020–21, 2022–23. 2024–25
- Runners-up (7): 1988–89, 1991–92, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2021−22
- Coppa Italia/Excellence Trophy
- Champions (2): 2019–20, 2024–25
- Runners-up (3): 1997–98, 2005–06, 2013−14
- Italian Super Cup:
- Champions (1):2025
Current squad
The Rovigo Delta senior squad for 2025–26 is:
_03.jpg)
| Rovigo Delta squad | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Props
Hookers
Locks
|
Back row
Scrum-halves
Fly-halves
|
Centres
Wings
Fullbacks |
| (c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players. * denotes players qualified to play for Italy on residency or dual nationality. Players and their allocated positions from the Rovigo Delta website.[3][4] |
Selected former players
Italian players
Former players who have played for Rovigo and have caps for Italy:
Matías Agüero- Andrea Bacchetti
- Mario Battaglini
- Enzo Bellinazzo
- Mirko Belloni
- Arturo Bergamasco
- Mirco Bergamasco
- Ottorino Bettarello
- Romano Bettarello
- Stefano Bettarello
- Flaviano Brizzante
- Massimo Brunello
- Stefano Bordon
- Giancarlo Busson
- Pablo Canavosio
- Carlo Checchinato
- David Dal Maso
- Elio De Anna
- Gianluca Faliva
- Simone Favaro
- Matteo Ferro
– Julian Gardner- Massimo Giovanelli
- Andrea Lo Cicero
- Tito Lupini
- Giancarlo Malosti
- Matteo Mazzantini
- Alessandro Moscardi
- Giancarlo Navarrini
- Giacomo Nicotera
- Carlo Orlandi
- Alberto Osti
- Antonio Pavanello
- Gert Peens
- Isidoro Quaglio
- Nicola Quaglio
- Graziano Ravanelli
- Pietro Reale
- Leonardo Sarto
- Andrea Scanavacca
- Fabrizio Sintich
- Pietro Stievano
- Iliesa Ratuva Tavuyara
- Edgardo Venturi
- Angelo Visentin
- Narciso Zanella
Overseas players
Former players who have played for Rovigo and have caps for their respective country:
- Peter FitzSimons
- Viliami Ofahengaue
Alejandro Abadie- Lautaro Bazan Velez
- Manuel Contepomi
- Juan Cruz Legora
- Leandro Lobrauco
- Serafín Dengra
- Juan Pablo Orlandi
–
Christian Stewart
Akvsenti Giorgadze- Ilia Zedginidze
Gheorghe Gajion
Ron Cribb
Alexandru Penciu- Cristian Săuan
- Nick Mallett
- Stefan Basson
- Schalk van der Merwe
- Schalk Burger Sr.
- Hendro Scholtz
- Naas Botha
- Gert Smal
- AJ Venter
Silao Leaega- Elvis Seveali'i
Luke Gross
Bernard Thomas
Presidents
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Bibliography
- Gioli, Paolo (1976). Rugby come Rovigo: alè bersaglieri! (in Italian). Rovigo.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Ravagnani, Luciano; Colosetti, Gianni (1987). Una città in mischia - Mezzo secolo di rugby a Rovigo (in Italian). Rovigo: Istituto Padano di Arti Grafiche.
- Ravagnani, Vason Andriolli Miotto (1979). Rugby Rovigo Capitale (in Italian). Rovigo: La Guida.
- Zanirato, Caterina (2016). Il cuore sotto la maglia. Rugby Rovigo, ottant'anni di sogni da Lanzoni a Zambelli (in Italian). ISBN 978-88-99479-08-4.
- Guerrini, Alberto; Nalio, Andrea (2025). La partita. La grande storia di Rovigo-Petrarca, il derby d'Italia del rugby (in Italian). ISBN 978-88-9278-437-6.
- Guerrini, Alberto (2022). Li chiamarono Bersaglieri. I ragazzi che inventarono il rugby a Rovigo e dintorni (in Italian). ISBN 88-6341-273-1.
