Michele Campagnaro (; born 13 March 1993) is a former Italian rugby union player. He represented

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 ...

at international level, having made his test debut against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

during the 2013 Autumn Internationals.

Club career

On his debut for Benetton against

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in May 2013, Campagnaro was awarded man of the match. On 19 February 2015, Campagnaro signed for English club

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

on a two-year contract from the 2015–16 season. Campagnaro took a while to find his feet in the Chiefs' first team, scoring his first try for the club against the Cardiff Blues in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. He had a run of games in the number 13 jersey during January 2017 that saw him score six tries in four matches, including a hat-trick against

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

. He was a replacement as Exeter Chiefs defeated

to be crowned champions of the 2016-17 English Premiership. Following his departure from Exeter, he signed for

on a deal until the end of the 2018–19 season. On 19 March 2019, Campagnaro has signed for Harlequins from the 2019–20 season, after the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

. On 6 April 2021, Campagnaro would leave Harlequins as signed a two-year deal with

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

side

Colomiers Colomiers (; ; Languedocien dialect: ''Colomièrs'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitania region in Southwestern France. With a population of 39,968 as of 2019, it is the largest suburb of the city of Toulouse, to which ...

in France from the 2021-22 season.

International career

Campagnaro has caps for

including four appearances in the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

and two in the

. He made his international debut vs

on 23 November 2013. He has captained Italy on one occasion, in a test match played in Chicago against Ireland during the 2018 Autumn test series; on the occasion, Campagnaro also scored the lone try of Italy, in a 54-7 defeat. He has scored nine tries for

including two in the Six Nations match between

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and Italy in 2014 which Wales won 23-15 despite Campagnaro scoring twice. Campagnaro won many plaudits for his

Man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

performance. He was injured for much of the 2015 Six Nations campaign. Campagnaro returned to the Italy team during the 2016 tournament and was one of the team's standout performers, in an otherwise disappointing campaign. In the 2017 Six Nations, Campagnaro came off the bench in the first two games against Wales and Ireland. He started Italy's third test of the championship against England at Twickenham. In the 59th minute of this game, Campagnaro scored a magnificent solo try which saw him evade challenges from both George Ford and Mike Brown.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campagnaro, Michele 1993 births Living people Benetton Rugby players Italian rugby union players Rugby union centres Italy international rugby union players Sportspeople from Mirano Rugby union players from the Metropolitan City of Venice Exeter Chiefs players Wasps RFC players Harlequin F.C. players 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players Italian expatriate rugby union players in England Colomiers Rugby players Italian expatriate rugby union players in France