Ivan Francescato (10 February 1967 – 19 January 1999) was an Italian

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 ...

player. Francescato began his career in his native city,

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

, like his five elder siblings before him, all of whom played the game at high levels; three (besides him) made the Italian National team,

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and

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. He got his technical and athletic training in the youth development teams at A.S. Ruggers Tarvisium 69. He made his debut in the Italian Championship on 14 September 1986, as a centre, against A.S.R. Milano in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. He remained faithful to Benetton Treviso throughout his life. Francescato also played as a scrum half. Francescato made his International debut on 7 October 1990 against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. His last appearance for the Azzurri was on 8 November 1997 against

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. Perhaps his most famous moment in an Italian shirt was scoring one of the tries of the tournament in the 1991 World Cup in the game against the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, in which he stepped and feinted past several American defenders before touching down between the posts. Ivan Francescato died suddenly of a heart attack at 3 a.m. at his home in Treviso. The Benetton Treviso rugby board decided to retire the number 13 shirt for the season.

Italian team statistics

* 38 appearances * 77 points scored * 16 tries * 2 Rugby World Cups Contested: 1991, 1995. * Italian National Championships: 4 (1989, 1992, 1997, 1998 with ''Benetton Treviso'')

External links

Ivan Francescato International Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Francescato, Ivan 1967 births 1999 deaths Rugby union players from Treviso Italian rugby union players Italy international rugby union players Benetton Rugby players 1991 Rugby World Cup players 1995 Rugby World Cup players