1973 Italy rugby union tour of Rhodesia and South Africa

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1973 Italy rugby union tour of Rhodesia and South Africa
ManagerAmos Du Plooy
Tour captain(s) Mauro Bollesan
Summary
PWDL
Total
9 [1] 010006
Test match
01000001
Opponent
PWDL
Flag of Rhodesia (1968-1979).svg  Rhodesia
1 0 0 1

The 1973 Italy rugby union tour of South Africa and Rhodesia was a series of matches played between June and July 1973 in South Africa and Rhodesia by Italy national rugby union team.

Contents

It was the second time that the "Azzurri" toured outside Europe, after a short tour in Madagascar in 1970.

The experience signed a turn in the story of Italian rugby: before of that, contact with the bigger union members was almost non-existent, and limited only to confrontations with France (between 1952 and 1967).

The tour was arranged by Italian federation and SARB, that sent coach Amos du Plooy to Italy to prepare the team. It was an historical tour, but the results were very poor: only a victory against the SARF Leopard selection.

The most important player of the last match, against Transvaal XV, was Rocco Caligiuri: the fly-half (but normally play ad full-back) scored three drops. It was the first time that a player scored three drops in an international match in South Africa. A plate was then put on the wall of Ellis Park Stadium.

Results

Scores and results list Italy's points tally first.

Opposing TeamForAgainstDateVenue
Rhodesia 44216 June 1973 Salisbury
Western Transvaal 63220 June 1973 Potchefstroom
Border 122523 June 1973 East London
North East Cape123127 June 1973 Cradock
Natal 32330 June 1973 Kings Park, Durban
Eastern Transvaal 12394 July 1973 Witbank
Leopards2447 July 1973 Port Elizabeth
Northern Free State11129 July 1973 Welkom
Transvaal XV 242811 July 1973 Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Bibliography

Notes

  1. The Italian Rugby Union assigned a cap for every match, despite the fact that no national team plays against the Italian team.

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