Leonardo Ghiraldini

Leonardo Ghiraldini (born 26 December 1984) is an Italian international rugby union player, currently unattached he has played in France's Top 14 for Toulouse and England's Premiership Rugby for Leicester Tigers. Ghiraldini's position of choice is hooker.

Leonardo Ghiraldini

Ghiraldini in 2016
Birth name	Leonardo Lorenzo Ghiraldini
Date of birth	26 December 1984
Place of birth	Padua, Italy
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	103 kg (16 st 3 lb; 227 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2003–2005 2005–2008 2009–2014 2014−2016 2016–2019 2020 Petrarca Calvisano Benetton Treviso Leicester Tigers Toulouse Bordeaux Bègles 19 71 70 29 52 - (5) (15) (20) (0) (20) - Correct as of October 2016 National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2005–2007 2006–2020 Italy A Italy 3 107 (0) (30) Correct as of 18 September 2019

Club career

Ghiraldini began his career with Petrarca Rugby in his home town of Padua before moving to Rugby Calvisano in 2005 where, as captain, he won the Super 10 (now Top12) in 2008 and was a runner-up with them in 2006. In 2009, Ghiraldini moved to Benetton Treviso, which joined the Celtic League in 2010.

On 21 May 2014, Ghiraldini moved to England to join Leicester Tigers in the Aviva Premiership from the 2014-15 season.[1] In December 2015, Ghiraldini joined top French club Toulouse in the Top 14 on a three-year deal.[2]

International career

Ghiraldini played for the Italian U-18, U-19 and U-21 teams before playing for the Italy A Team. He was regarded as one of Italian rugby's stars of the future.

Ghiraldini played his first international game against Japan during Italy's 2006 summer tour. Ghiraldini was in the Italian squad for the 2007 Six Nations Championship and the 2007 Rugby World Cup, he made his World Cup debut against Portugal. He was in the Italy squad for the 2008 Six Nations Championship, playing as starting hooker in all five games of the tournament.[3]

For the 2010 Six Nations Championship, Ghiraldini was named Italian captain after Sergio Parisse was ruled out of the tournament with an injury.[4]

On 18 August 2019, he was named in the final 31-man squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup [5] and he represented Italy on 107 occasions, from 2006 to 2020.[6]

Honours

Calvisano

• Super 10 winner (1): 2008. runner-up (1): 2006

References

1. "Leicester Tigers sign Italy hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini from Benetton Treviso". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
2. "Italy hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini agrees to join Toulouse". Sky Sports. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
3. "Parisse handed Italy captaincy". BBC. 23 January 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
4. "Mallett turns to Ghiraldini". Sky Sports. 29 January 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
5. https://federugby.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13753:italrugby-conor-oshea-annuncia-i-31-giocatori-convocati-per-il-mondiale&catid=252:slide&Itemid=811
6. https://www.federugby.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15061:leonardo-ghiraldini-annuncia-il-ritiro-dal-rugby-internazionale&catid=252:slide&Itemid=811

External links

• RBS 6 Nations profile