Andrea Benatti (; born 8 November 1979) is an Italian rugby union player who last played for

Aironi Aironi Rugby (, "herons") was an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the Pro12 and the Heineken Cup, representing the Italian regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. It lost its status as a regional side at the end of the 2011–12 ...

in the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

in Italy. Once considered a star prospect, Benatti sat out several games for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in reserve for Mauro Bergamasco. A strong tackler with good ball-carrying skills, he has won five caps for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Personal life

On 2 December 2017, the two Benatti's children, Kim (aged 2) and Leonardo Zeus (aged 5) were murdered by his wife Antonella Barbieri.

References

1979 births Living people Italy international rugby union players Sportspeople from the Province of Mantua Rugby union players from Lombardy Rugby union flankers 2003 Rugby World Cup players Rugby Viadana players {{Italy-rugbyunion-bio-stub