1973 Italy rugby union tour of Rhodesia and South Africa

The1973 Italy rugby union tour of South Africa and Rhodesia was a series of matches played between June and 1973 in South Africa and Rhodesia by Italy national rugby union team.

1973 Italy rugby union tour of Rhodesia and South Africa
ManagerAmos Du Plooy
Tour captain(s)Mauro Bollesan
Summary
P W D L
Total
9[1] 01 00 06
Test match
01 00 00 01
Opponent
P W D L
 Rhodesia
1 0 0 1

It was the second time that the "Azzurri" toured outside Europe, after a short tour in Madagascar in 1973.

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
Rhodesia44216 June 1973Salisbury
Western Transvaal63220 June 1973Potchefstroom
Border122523 June 1973East London
North East Cape123127 June 1973Cradock
Natal32330 June 1973Kings Park, Durban
Eastern Transvaal12394 July 1973Witbank
Leopards2447 July 1973Port Elizabeth
Northern Free State11129 July 1973Welkom
Transvaal XV242811 July 1973Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Bibliography
  • (in Italian) Valerio Vecchiarelli, Francesco Volpe, 2000, Italia in meta, GS editore, 2000.

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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