Rugby Viadana

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Viadana Rugby
Founded	1970
Union	Federazione Italiana Rugby
Location	Viadana, Italy
Ground	Stadio Luigi Zaffanella
Capacity	3,000
Coach	Jim Love
Captain	Cristian Bezzi
League	Super 10
2005-06	?
Home colours		Away colours

Viadana Rugby is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in Super 10. They are based in Viadana (province Mantua, region Lombardy).

[edit] History

They were founded in 1970 by some ex-Rugby Parma players. They started in the lowest possible league Seria D, the lower category.

In 1980-1981 Viadana won Seria B but after three years the team were relegated back to Seria C. But they bounced back the following year and won promotion back to Seria B. 1986-1987 they won promotion to Seria 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 Seria A in 1998-1999. In their first season Viadana won the Italian Cup and made it to the semi-final of the play-offs. In 2000-2001 they finished third in the league but again lost in the semi-final play-offs to Benetton Treviso.

In 2002 the Italian championship was reformed with the birth of Super 10. During this season Viadana finished first and beat favourites Benetton Treviso in the play-offs to win the title for the first time. They were the first team from outside a provincial capital to do so. They won the Italian Cup a second time in 2003.

In 2004 they became the first (and so far only) Italian team to have made the final of a European competition when they lost the European Shield final 19-25 to Montpellier.

[edit] Club Honours

• Italian championship
  • Champions: 2002
• Italian Cup
  • Champions: 2000, 2003

[edit] External links

• Official site
• European Rugby Cup: Viadana