Sergio Savaro Giovanni Lanfranchi (

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, ...

, 27 September 1925 –

Barjols Barjols (; ) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. At the gateway to Haute Provence and the hills of Var, near the Verdon gorges and the Lake of St. Croix, the town is set on a li ...

, 22 January 2000) was 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 ...

player and coach, active in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

for most of his career as flanker, number 8 and lock. He won two national championship titles, one in Italy for Parma and one in France for

FC Grenoble The Football Club de Grenoble Rugby (FCG) is a French rugby union club based in Grenoble and founded in 1892. FCG was champion of France in 1953–54 French Rugby Union Championship, 1954 and runner-up in 1992–93 French Rugby Union Championshi ...

and has the third longest international career 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 ...

(between 1949 and 1964), after Mauro Bergamasco and

Sergio Parisse Sergio Francesco Parisse (; born 12 September 1983) is an Italian-Argentine former rugby union player. He is currently the lineout coach for French club Toulon. He played for the Italy national team from 2002 until the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Pari ...

. Two sports facilities in his hometown,

are named after him.

Biography

Orphaned of both parents, after school he was a combatant in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

for the

Italian Resistance The Italian Resistance ( ), or simply ''La'' , consisted of all the Italy, Italian Resistance during World War II, resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic ...

and, returning to Parma after the war, he started to work and play rugby union for the local team in 1946. With

, he collected 101 caps and won the title of Italian champion in 1950. After winning the

scudetto The ''scudetto'' (; Italian for 'little shield') is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous ...

, he moved to

and established himself in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

, becoming part of the local team which never had won a championship. Having learned to play in all the forward positions and, sometimes as fly-half and centre, he was between the most important players who led Grenoble to the 1953-54 French Rugby Union Championship played in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

against Cognac, thanks to a try scored by Lanfranchi 20 minutes before the end of the match. His international career covered 15 years, from 27 March 1949; when he debuted in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

against

, until 29 March 1964 in

, also against France, with an average of 21 matches, most of them against France, who were unbeaten. He played for

until he was 38 years old and for

until he was 40, when he moved to

Montceau-les-Mines Montceau-les-Mines () is a Communes of France, commune in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is the second-largest commune of the metropolitan C ...

as player-coach, alternating his career at Montchanin; it is not clear if his career ended in 1971 at age 46 or in 1973 at age 48 due to discordant sources, however, it was in Montchanin that he definitively established; in 1978 he had a brief experience in Italy as coach for

L'Aquila Rugby L'Aquila Rugby 1936 was an Italy, Italian rugby union club based in L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo. The official colours of the club were black and green, the colours of the city of L'Aquila. The club went into liquidation and disbanded in 2018. ...

, which soon terminated due to a lack of synchrony with the rugby environment of his home country. Lafranchi died in

, in the Var, on 22 January 2000, at 74 years. In his honour, the municipal stadium in Parma located at Via Piacenza was named after him. The stadium was demolished in 2008 to be replaced by the new Stadio 25 Aprile in Moletolo, which was also named after him by the

city hall in 2015; the stadium is the home field of

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 ...

Pro14 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 ...

References

External links

Sergio Lanfranchi international stats
at

ESPN Scrum ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Communica ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanfranchi, Sergio 1925 births 2000 deaths Italy international rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union number eights Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Parma Italian rugby union players Italian rugby union coaches FC Grenoble Rugby players Crociati Parma Rugby FC players Italian expatriate rugby union players in France