Leonardo Ghiraldini
Leonardo Ghiraldini (born 26 December 1984) is an Italian international rugby union player, currently unattached he has played in France's Top 14 for Toulouse and England's Premiership Rugby for Leicester Tigers. Ghiraldini's position of choice is hooker.
 Ghiraldini in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Leonardo Lorenzo Ghiraldini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 26 December 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Padua, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 103 kg (16 st 3 lb; 227 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Club career
Ghiraldini began his career with Petrarca Rugby in his home town of Padua before moving to Rugby Calvisano in 2005 where, as captain, he won the Super 10 (now Top12) in 2008 and was a runner-up with them in 2006. In 2009, Ghiraldini moved to Benetton Treviso, which joined the Celtic League in 2010.
On 21 May 2014, Ghiraldini moved to England to join Leicester Tigers in the Aviva Premiership from the 2014-15 season.[1] In December 2015, Ghiraldini joined top French club Toulouse in the Top 14 on a three-year deal.[2]
International career
Ghiraldini played for the Italian U-18, U-19 and U-21 teams before playing for the Italy A Team. He was regarded as one of Italian rugby's stars of the future.
Ghiraldini played his first international game against Japan during Italy's 2006 summer tour. Ghiraldini was in the Italian squad for the 2007 Six Nations Championship and the 2007 Rugby World Cup, he made his World Cup debut against Portugal. He was in the Italy squad for the 2008 Six Nations Championship, playing as starting hooker in all five games of the tournament.[3]
For the 2010 Six Nations Championship, Ghiraldini was named Italian captain after Sergio Parisse was ruled out of the tournament with an injury.[4]
On 18 August 2019, he was named in the final 31-man squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup [5] and he represented Italy on 107 occasions, from 2006 to 2020.[6]
Honours
Calvisano
- Super 10 winner (1): 2008. runner-up (1): 2006
References
- "Leicester Tigers sign Italy hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini from Benetton Treviso". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- "Italy hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini agrees to join Toulouse". Sky Sports. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- "Parisse handed Italy captaincy". BBC. 23 January 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
- "Mallett turns to Ghiraldini". Sky Sports. 29 January 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- https://federugby.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13753:italrugby-conor-oshea-annuncia-i-31-giocatori-convocati-per-il-mondiale&catid=252:slide&Itemid=811
- https://www.federugby.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15061:leonardo-ghiraldini-annuncia-il-ritiro-dal-rugby-internazionale&catid=252:slide&Itemid=811