John Manenti (born 30 March 1971) is an Australian

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 ...

coach who is the head coach of the

San Diego Legion The San Diego Legion are an American professional rugby union team based in San Diego, California, that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team plays its home games at Torero Stadium. The Legion began play in the league's inaugural 2018 ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

(MLR). Manenti achieved coaching success in international

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

, winning the

World Rugby Sevens Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

twice for Australia, firstly with the women's team in 2018, and then with the men's team in 2022.

Career

As a rugby player, Manenti was a prop for Sydney clubs Western Suburbs and

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

in the 1990s. Manenti and Sydney University's former head coach Chris Malone are brothers-in-law. He coached the Wallaroos at the

2010 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limit ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where team won the bronze medal defeating 22–8 in the third place match. He was head coach at Eastwood for their three

Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...

victories in 2011, 2014 and 2015, and also won the Australian Club Championship with Eastwood in 2015. In 2017, Manenti coached the

Greater Sydney Rams The Greater Sydney Rams, originally known as the Western Sydney Rams, is a former rugby union team from Australia that was disbanded in 2018. The Rams won the minor premiership in the 2007 Australian Rugby Championship (ARC), and then competed ...

in the

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

, following the takeover of the franchise by the

Eastwood Rugby Club Eastwood Rugby is the Premier Rugby Club covering North West Sydney and plays in the Sydney Premier Rugby competition. The Eastwood District extends from the Parramatta River at Meadowbank to the Hawkesbury River at Wisemans Ferry. The Club ...

. He later became the director of rugby at Eastwood. After Tim Walsh departed to coach the national men's sevens team in 2018, Manenti was appointed head coach of the national women's sevens team. In 2022 he swapped roles with Walsh and became head coach of the Australian men's sevens team.

Coaching honours

---- Australia men's 7s *

** Winner: 2021–22 Wallaroos *

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

**Bronze medal:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Australia women's 7s *

** Winner: 2017–18 ** Runner-up: 2020 ---- Eastwood * Australian Club Championship ** Winner: 2015 *

** Winner: 2011, 2014 and 2015

Personal life

His sons Ben Manenti and

Harry Manenti Harry John Manenti (born 5 October 2000) is an Italian-Australian cricketer who plays for Adelaide Strikers and the Italy national cricket team. He made his Big Bash League debut on 15 January 2025 against Sydney Sixers. Career Described as ...

are both cricketers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manenti, John Living people Australian rugby union coaches Australian rugby union players Sydney University Football Club players Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent 1971 births Major League Rugby coaches