Andrea Scanavacca (born 23 July 1973 in

Rovigo Rovigo (, ; egl, Ruig) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of Northeast Italy, the capital of the eponymous province. Geography Rovigo stands on the low ground known as Polesine, by rail southwest of Venice and south-southwest of P ...

) is a former

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer. His usual position was as a

fly half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. He spent most of his club career (15 out of 17 seasons as senior player) with

which he entered at the age of 6. He also spent one season each with Rugby Roma in 2000–2001 and

Calvisano Calvisano (Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the Italy, Italian province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is the manufacturing base of Lones Spa, manufacturer of Fly Flot shoes. Agritech is a known fiberglass silos company. Sport Its rugby union team, ...

in 2006–2007. Scanavacca won his first cap for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on August 1999 against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Since then he played 11 full international games until 2007 but never took part to a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. In 2007 it seemed likely that he would be included in the squad that would take part to the

, but head coach

Pierre Berbizier Pierre Berbizier (born 17 June 1958) is a French former rugby union footballer and a current coach. His usual position was at scrum-half. He played 56 times for France. Biography Berbizier was born in Saint-Gaudens. He made his international deb ...

dropped him in June, well before the summer session of test matches that led to the tournament. Scanavacca was "disappointed". Just some months before his dismissal, during the

2007 Six Nations Championship The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen mat ...

, Scanavacca scored 22 points against Scotland in a performance that included an interception try and 7 converted kicks. Italy won 37-17. He also scored the whole amount for his team (a try and a conversion) at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

(that defeated Italy 20–7). The Azzurri went on to claim 4th place for the first time in the history of the tournament. In autumn 2007 he agreed to play another season, his last, with

and in June 2008 he eventually announced his retirement at 34. "Since I joined Rovigo at 6 I have always thought I had to be the first to get on the training pitch and the last to leave, and that's what I have made ever since. But lately I was no longer feeling that way so I understand that this is time to change. I am satisfied of my career because I have always played the way I liked; I have always been proud to wear the red and blue ( Rovigo's) jersey though I am aware that playing elsewhere I could have possibly won some titles", he said. He went on saying "I have no regrets, except for not having been able to show my skill in the National team. Not so many people there believed in me, maybe it was my fault, too. Not to mention injuries that did not help". Having scored 3,368 points in his whole club career (2,945 with Rovigo, 225 with Rugby Roma and 198 with Calvisano), Andrea Scanavacca is, as of 2010, the alltime top scorer of the Italian premiership; in spite of such record he never won any title with the club he played for. Currently he works for

Rugby Rovigo stadium, 200px Rugby Rovigo Delta, formerly known until 2010 as Rugby Rovigo, is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in the Top10. They are based in Rovigo, in Veneto. The club was founded in 1935 by medical student Dino Lanzoni, wh ...

as team and sport manager.

References

External links

6 Nations profileAndrea Scanavacca
on ercrugby.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scanavacca, Andrea 1973 births Living people Italian rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby Calvisano players Rugby Roma Olimpic players Italy international rugby union players People from Rovigo Rugby Rovigo Delta players Sportspeople from the Province of Rovigo Rugby union players from Veneto