Unione Rugby Capitolina is an Italian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

club, based in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

History

The team, initially located in the Acqua Acetosa establishment, was founded in 1996. The initial intent of the team was to focus on the younger rugby players, so the seniores team commenced two years after the foundation of the team, in 1998. Unione Rugby Capitolina won two U.19 national championships: in the 2002–2003 season, winning against the rivals of Lazio-Primavera Rugby in the final held at Stadio Flaminio; and in the 2007–2008 season, drawing 14–14 with Benetton Treviso and winning 2–1 at the shoot-outs in Fontanafredda (PD). The team also won a U.17 national championship in 2006–2007 in an intense final played against

Petrarca Padova Petrarca Rugby is a rugby union club from Padua, Italy, currently competing in the top tier of the Italian rugby union, the Top10. Founded in 1947, the team is the rugby union branch of the Unione Sportiva Petrarca, an omnisport club that inclu ...

. In 2011 the Club won the fourth national championship, this time in the U.16 category, beating

Rugby Rovigo stadium, 200px Rugby Rovigo Delta, formerly known until 2010 as Rugby Rovigo, is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in the Top10. They are based in Rovigo, in Veneto. The club was founded in 1935 by medical student Dino Lanzoni, wh ...

. 1998 is the year in which the Club moves to its own establishment in Via Flaminia and inaugurates the seniores team, mainly composed of friends and newcomers. Capitolina, captained by Stefano Montalto and coached by Luca Santaroni, starts from the serie C2 and manages to immediately obtain the promotion to serie C1, beating all the teams in their league. The year after another coach joins Santaroni: Marco Iscaro, and together the two coaches manage to bring the team to the serie B, after solely two years from the team's existence. In the 2005/6 season Capitolina was promoted to Italy's highest rugby league, the

Super 10 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

, with a perfect winning record of 22 wins and a total of 110 points. They won the playoffs against city rivals Rugby Roma with a 20–9 victory to reach the top Italian rugby league after only ten years of existence. Capitolina had been striving to deliver better results both in the national league and in the various European trophies that were available. Although with limited success, key investments in infrastructure and players started to have an impact. At the end of the 2008/2009 season the Board decided not to proceed with the existing formula of "professional" rugby and withdrew the First XV from the top Italian Championship, thus granting a place in the

to L'Aquila Rugby. The First XV activities were brought forward by a 4th division team composed only of Members of the club, the former "ControProgetto".

Timeline

* 1996 · Foundation of Unione Rugby Capitolina * 1998/99 · Serie C2 (promotion to serie C1) * 1999/2000 · Serie C1 (promotion to serie B) * 2000/01 · Serie B (demotion to serie C1) * 2001/02 · Serie C1 (promotion to serie B) * 2002/03 · Serie B (promotion to serie A) * 2003/04 · Serie A2 * 2004/05 · Serie A1 (loss in the final) * 2005/06 · Serie A1 (promotion to Super 10) * 2006/07 · Super 10 * 2007/08 · Super 10 * 2008/09 · Super 10 * 2009/10 .

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

* 2010/11 . Serie B (selected for Serie A2) * 2011/12 . Serie A2 * 2012/13 · Serie A1 (promotion to Eccellenza) * 2013/14 · 11ª Eccelnza (demotion to serie A) * 2014/15 · Serie A

Notable former players

Riccardo Bocchino Riccardo Bocchino (born 3 March 1988) is an Italian rugby union player. Bocchino, who is a fly-half, plays his club rugby for Aironi. He made his debut for Italy against Ireland on 6 February 2010. Bocchino began his career at Capitolina, with ...

* Matteo Pratichetti * Michele Sepe * Mark Soden * Claudio Tinari *

Giulio Toniolatti Giulio Toniolatti (born 15 January 1984) is an Italian rugby union footballer who plays as a winger. A native of Rome, Toniolatti made his debut for Italy in 2008 against Australia and was part of the Italian squad at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. ...

* Timoti James Manawatu * Maximiliano Bustos *

Alejandro Abadie Alejandro Abadie (born April 13, 1985) is an Argentine rugby union footballer who plays at flank for Rovigo in Italy. He has also represented the Argentina national rugby union team The Argentina national rugby union team (Spanish: ''Selecció ...

* Gaston Llanos

Honours

*Serie A Champions: 2006, 2013 *U. 15 National Championship Runner Up: 2004 *U. 17 National Championship Champions: 2007 *U. 19 National Championship Champions: 2003, 2008 *U. 16 National Championship Champions: 2011

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capitolina Italian rugby union teams Serie A (rugby union) teams Rugby union in Rome Sports clubs in Rome