# Rugby Rovigo Delta

Rugby Rovigo Delta, formerly known until 2010 as Rugby Rovigo, is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in the Serie A Élite. They are based in Rovigo, in Veneto.

## Overview

The club was founded in 1935 by medical student Dino Lanzoni, who discovered rugby at university.
They quickly became one of the strongest Italian sides and won 14 titles between 1951 and 2023. They have never been relegated from the top flight of Italian rugby union. They are the current Italian champion.
Current and former Rovigo players include Elio De Anna, Stefano Bettarello, Stefano Bordon, Alessandro Moscardi, Carlo Orlandi, Carlo Checchinato, Mirco Bergamasco, Manuel Contepomi, AJ Venter, Gert Smal, Viliami Ofahengaue and Naas Botha.

## Honours

* Italian championship
** Champions (14): 1950–51, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1975–76, 1978–79, 1987–88, 1989–90, 2015–16, 2020–21, 2022-23
** Runners-up (7): 1988–89, 1991–92, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2021−22
* Coppa Italia/Excellence Trophy
** Champions (1): 2019-20
** Runners-up (3): 1997–98, 2005–06, 2013−14

## Current squad

The Rovigo Delta senior squad for 2024–25 is:
| Rovigo Delta squad |
| Props Nicola Bolognini Andrea Della Sala Emanuele Leccioli Stefano Lugato Nicola Pomaro Alessio Sanavia Entienne Swanepoel Antonio Tripodo Mitchell Walsh Hookers Filippo Cadorini Lapo Frangini Enrico Giulian Locks Eliseo Fourcade Samuele Ortis Paolo Steolo Alfonso Zottola* | Back row Carlos Berlese Lautaro Casado Sandri* Duccio Cosi Matteo Ferro(c) Edoardo Lubian Matteo Meggiato Riccardo Paganin Edoardo Rossoni Stefano Sironi Scrum-halves Jacopo Boscolo Alberto Chillon Andrea Visentin Fly-halves Francesco Krsul Sebastian Poet Nicolò Teneggi Brandon Thomson | Centres Lorenzo Elettri Facundo Diederich Ferrario* Ethan Fisher Rafael Andrès Lertora Castro* Matteo Moscardi Paolo Uncini Wings Francesco Bini Paolo Pio Vaccari Tobias Williams Fullbacks Mirko Belloni Luca Sperandio |
| (c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players. $^*$ denotes players qualified to play for Italy on residency or dual nationality. Players and their allocated positions from the Rovigo Delta website. |

## Selected former players
### Italian players

Former players who have played for Rovigo and have caps for Italy:
* Matías Agüero
* Andrea Bacchetti
* Mario Battaglini
* Enzo Bellinazzo
* Arturo Bergamasco
* Mirco Bergamasco
* Ottorino Bettarello
* Romano Bettarello
* Stefano Bettarello
* Flaviano Brizzante
* Massimo Brunello
* Stefano Bordon
* Giancarlo Busson
* Pablo Canavosio
* Carlo Checchinato
* David Dal Maso
* Elio De Anna
* Gianluca Faliva
* Simone Favaro
* – Julian Gardner
* Massimo Giovanelli
* Andrea Lo Cicero
* Tito Lupini
* Giancarlo Malosti
* Matteo Mazzantini
* Alessandro Moscardi
* Giancarlo Navarrini
* Giacomo Nicotera
* Carlo Orlandi
* Alberto Osti
* Antonio Pavanello
* Gert Peens
* Isidoro Quaglio
* Nicola Quaglio
* Graziano Ravanelli
* Pietro Reale
* Leonardo Sarto
* Andrea Scanavacca
* Fabrizio Sintich
* Pietro Stievano
* Iliesa Ratuva Tavuyara
* Edgardo Venturi
* Angelo Visentin
* Narciso Zanella

### Overseas players

Former players who have played for Rovigo and have caps for their respective country:
* Peter FitzSimons
* Viliami Ofahengaue
* Alejandro Abadie
* Lautaro Bazan Velez
* Manuel Contepomi
* Juan Cruz Legora
* Leandro Lobrauco
* Serafín Dengra
* Juan Pablo Orlandi
* – Christian Stewart
* Akvsenti Giorgadze
* Ilia Zedginidze
* Gheorghe Gajion
* Ron Cribb
* Alexandru Penciu
* Cristian Săuan
* Nick Mallett
* Stefan Basson
* Schalk van der Merwe
* Schalk Burger Sr.
* Hendro Scholtz
* Naas Botha
* Gert Smal
* AJ Venter
* Silao Leaega
* Elvis Seveali'i
* Luke Gross
* Bernard Thomas