Rugby Viadana 1970 is an Italian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club based in Viadana (

province of Mantua The province of Mantua (; Emilian language#Dialects, Mantuan, Emilian language#Dialects, Lower Mantuan: ; Emilian language#Dialects, Upper Mantuan: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of M ...

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

). The club was established in 1970, and has since won the Italian championship in 2002, and the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

three times. They also compete in European rugby competitions and were runners-up in the European Shield in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. Viadana plays in

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and

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

. The club did not compete professionally between 2010 and 2012 as they focused their efforts on

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 ...

. Aironi was based at Viadana's home ground and represented a number of regional teams in the multi-national

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

. The

FIR Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

withdrew Aironi's licence to play at the end of the 2012, so Viadana reformed as a professional team will play in Italy's top division, the National championship of Excellence, from the 2012–13 season and currently in the

Top12 The Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2 ...

History

They were founded in 1970 as a rugby sector in the Vitellianense Cebogas Multisports Club by some ex Rugby Parma F.C. players. They started in the lowest possible league, Serie D. In 1980–81 Viadana won Serie B but after three years the team were relegated back to Serie C. But they bounced back the following year and won promotion back to Serie B. 1986–87 they won promotion to Serie A2 and finished sixth in their first year. However they were relegated back the following year and didn't return for three years. They finally won promotion to Serie A in 1998–99. In their first season Arix Viadana won the

and made it to the semifinal of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. In 2000–01 they finished third in the league but again lost in the semifinal playoffs to Benetton Treviso. In 2002 the Italian championship was reformed with the birth of Super 10 (now

). During this season Arix Viadana finished first and beat favourites Benetton Treviso, in the playoffs, and Calvisano, in the final, to win the title of Italian champion for the first time. They were the first team from outside a provincial capital to do so. They won the

a second time in 2003. In

they became the first

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

team to have made the final of a

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an competition when they lost the European Shield final 19–25 to

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. In 2007 they defeated Cammi Calvisano to win their third

. In 2008, despite their relatively experienced team, Viadana were beaten in the semifinals by Benetton Treviso and subsequently lost out on a lucrative

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

place. In the 2008–09 and 2009–10

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, ...

seasons Montepaschi Viadana reaches the final championship, losing both times against Benetton Treviso. Viadana were the largest shareholders in

, a new team that competed in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

and 2012–12

. Many of the club's top players joined Aironi on its formation. As of June 2010 it was announced that will the impending establishment of Aironi the club would no longer compete as a professional club. The Senior and Under 20 teams would be merged with GranDucato Parma Rugby. Viadana would continue as an independent club but only below Under 20 level. At the end of the 2012 Aironi's licence to play 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 ...

was withdrawn by the

. Aironi's place in the Pro12 was taken by newly formed

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning " Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by t ...

, a team based in

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. Many Aironi players joined Zebre on its formation. Viadana was then reformed as a semi-professional team for the 2012–13 season of the National championship of Excellence, the reformed Italian championship from 2010, with a number of Aironi's players joining them, as well as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Rowland Phillips. They won three titles of the Excellence Trophy in the 2012–13, 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons. The 2012–13 was the last season of Silvano Melegari, and of the Arix Group, as president of the club, after 20 years of history. In the summer of 2014, a new company is at the helm of the team, the Rugby Viadana 1970 S.r.l., founded to keep the club at the highest national level, despite economic difficulties. They currently compete in

Honours

* Italian championship ** Champions (1): 2001–02 ** ''Runners-up (5)'': 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2023–24, 2024–25 *

** Champions (3): 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2006–07 ** ''Runners-up (2)'': 2003–04, 2004–05 * Excellence Trophy ** Champions (3): 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17 * Italian Super Cup: ** Champions (1) * European Shield ** ''Runners-up (1)'': 2003–04

Current squad

The Viadana squad for 2024–25:

Selected former players

Italian players

Former players who have played for Viadana and have caps for Italy: *

Matías Agüero Matías Agüero (born 13 February 1981 in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, San Nicolás) is an Italian Argentine rugby union player who plays as a Prop (rugby union), prop for Leicester Tigers. Agüero was also part of the team that played in the 20 ...

* Andrea Benatti * Cristian Bezzi *

Luca Bigi Luca Bigi (; born 19 April 1991) is an Italian professional rugby union player who primarily plays hooker for Valorugby Emilia of the Italian Seria A Elite. He has also represented Italy at international level, having made his test debut agai ...

* Ignacio Brex * Giorgio Bronzini * Pablo Canavosio * Sandro Ceppolino * Carlo Del Fava * Santiago Dellapè * Jaco Erasmus *

Ignacio Fernández Rouyet Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet (born 22 October 1978 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentina-born Italian rugby union player. Rouyet, who is a prop, played for Rugby Viadana before signing for Benetton Treviso in 2009. He made his debut for Italy against ...

* Joshua Furno * Quintin Geldenhuys * Andrea Masi *

Matteo Mazzantini Matteo Mazzantini (born Livorno, 24 October 1976)Matteo Mazzantini player profile
Scrum.co ...

* Ian McKinley * Andrea Moretti * Carlos Nieto *

Corrado Pilat Corrado Pilat (born 24 September 1974 in Belluno) is a former Italian international rugby union player and a current coach. He played as a fullback and as a fly-half. He played professionally for Benetton Treviso, from 1998/99 to 200/01, where ...

* Samuele Pace * Gilberto Pavan * Riccardo Pavan * Roberto Pedrazzi * Aaron Persico * Matthew Phillips * Matteo Pratichetti * Roberto Quartaroli * Juan Manuel Queirolo * Kaine Robertson * Lorenzo Romano * Federico Ruzza * Diego Saccà * Mario Savi * Stefano Saviozzi * Michele Sepe * Josh Sole * Cherif Traorè *

Pietro Travagli Pietro Travagli (born 28 April 1981) is an Italian rugby union player. He plays as a scrum-half. He plays for Petrarca Padova Rugby, Petrarca in the Top12. He was called up to the Italy national rugby union team, Italy squad for the 2008 Six Na ...

Overseas players

Former players who have played for Viadana and have caps for their respective country: * Germán Araoz * Julio-César García * Juan Cruz Guillemaín * Javier Rojas * Tom Bowman * Lloyd Johansson *

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American politician, diplomat, and financier serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since 2018. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was elected governor i ...

Tom Beim Tom Beim (born 11 December 1975 in Frimley, England) is a former professional rugby union footballer, who played on the wing for Sale, Gloucester, Viadana, Pertemps Bees, the Barbarians and England. He is now a professional polo player for L ...

* Isoa Neivua * – Luca Tramontin * Dion Waller * Mark Finlay * Brett Harvey * Sean Hohneck * Sam Harding *

Tana Umaga Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa Umaga (; ; born 27 May 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. He is head coach of Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugby competition. He was granted ...

* Daniel Farani * Dominic Fe'aunati * Ali Koko *

Siaosi Vaili Siaosi Vaili (born 7 September 1977) is a Samoan former rugby union player. He played as a flanker. Career Vaili was born in Apia, Western Samoa. He moved to New Zealand playing for the provincial teams of Counties Manukau and Hawke's Bay. In ...

* Stuart Moffat *

Inoke Afeaki Inoke Afeaki (born 12 July 1973 in Tofoa, Tongatapu) is a Tongan former rugby union footballer, coach and administrator. He has played professionally in New Zealand, Japan, Wales, France and Tonga, and coached in France, New Zealand and Singapor ...

* Pierre Hola * Dave Tiueti * Nick Civetta * Adrian Durston * Sonny Parker

Statistics

European Challenge Cup (1996–2014)

European Shield

Heineken Cup (1995–2014)

References

External links

Official site
{{Rugby union in Italy Rugby union teams in Italy Rugby clubs established in 1970 1970 establishments in Italy Sport in Lombardy