David Alexander Sharp Sisi (born 5 February 1993) is a German-born Italian professional

rugby union player 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 ...

who primarily plays lock for Zebre Parma of the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

. He has also represented

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 ...

at international level, having made his test debut against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

during the

2019 Six Nations Championship The 2019 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland ...

. Sisi has previously played for clubs such as

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

, London Scottish,

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, and

Leeds Tykes Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 1. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when it j ...

in the past.

Early life

Sisi is of Italian descent, and qualifies to play for Italy through his paternal grandparents and his father Carlo. His mother, Barbara, is English. He has a younger brother, Adam. As a youngster he swam representing his county. Rugby was introduced to him at secondary school, aged 11. He joined local club, Tottonians and was picked by Hampshire RFU. At 16, he was offered a place on the

AASE scheme; joining the London Irish academy and completing his schooling part time at St. Paul’s college, and afterwards accepting a full time contract with London Irish; at the time becoming their youngest player to represent their first team. With the England under 20 team, David won both the 6 Nations twice and a first Junior World Cup for England at the time.

Professional career

Sisi moved to

where over the course of 4 years he also spent loan periods to Yorkshire Carnegie (formally Leeds Carnegie), London Scottish and back to London Irish. On 31 July 2017, Sisi signed for Italian club

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 the ...

in the Pro14 from the 2017-18 season. In 2012 and 2013, Sisi was named in the England Under 20 squad, but in 2019 he opted for

and on 18 August 2019, he was named in the final 31-man squad for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

References

External links

*
Dave Sisi
at European Professional Club Rugby
Dave Sisi
at

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in the c ...

Dave Sisi
at Zebre Parma {{DEFAULTSORT:Sisi, David English rugby union players Italian rugby union players Bath Rugby players Living people 1993 births Italian British rugby union players People from Rinteln Rugby union players from Southampton Italy international rugby union players London Irish players London Scottish F.C. players Leeds Tykes players Zebre Parma players Rugby union flankers