Jake Polledri (born 8 November 1995) is an English-born

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 ...

retired player. He played for the

Italy national rugby union team The Italy national rugby union team (Italian: ''Squadra nazionale italiana di rugby'') represents Italy in men's international rugby union. The team is known as ''gli Azzurri'' (the light-blues). Savoy blue is the common colour of the national ...

in 20 occasions with 4 tries.

Early life

Polledri attended The

Downs Preparatory School Downland, Downs, or The Downs may refer to: Places Topography In the 'hill' context, the word 'down' derives from Celtic (Gaelic or Welsh) ''dun'' "hill, hill fort". *Downland, a geographical feature Australia *Darling Downs, Queensland, a farm ...

, Bristol until the age of 13. Whilst at The Downs Polledri was a member of the 2009 National Schools 7's winning side, beating Bedford School to become National Champions. After leaving The Downs Preparatory School in 2009, Polledri enrolled at

Colston's School Collegiate School (formerly known as Colston's Collegiate School and Colston’s School) is an independent day school in Bristol, England, and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. It is currently in a period of transiti ...

, Bristol. Afterwards Polledri moved to

Filton College Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church d ...

, Bristol. He represented Filton College and Dings Crusaders, in addition to turning out in the Aviva Premiership A League for

Bristol Rugby Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

since 2014. He played junior rugby for St Mary's Old Boys.

Club career

He then joined Hartpury RFC during the 2015–16 season where at senior level, during the 2016–17 season, he had a breakthrough campaign as he has played his part in a season for the leaders in

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

, where he helped them earn promotion to the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

. On 2 March 2017, Polledri signed his first professional contract with

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby, as well as in the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was formed i ...

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

; a three-year deal ahead of the 2017–18 season. In December 2017, he was awarded Try of the week for his try in Round 10 against

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 ...

. He also won Gloucester Rugby's Young Player of the Season Award for the 2017–18 season and the Player of the Season for the 2019–20 season. After suffering a knee ligament injury that led Polledri out of action for nearly 18 months, he has signed a contract extension to stay with Gloucester for the 2022–23 season. In March 2023, Gloucester Rugby confirmed that Polledri would depart the club at the end of the 2023–24 season to join

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 ...

. He made his debut in Round 1 of the 2023–24 season of

EPCR Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

against the . He played with Zebre until March 2024.

International career

Polledri qualified for Italy through Italian grandparents and represented Italy U20s during the

2014 IRB Junior World Championship The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internation ...

. On 17 March 2018, Polledri made his international debut 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 ...

, losing 27–29 against Scotland in their final match of the

2018 Six Nations Championship The 2018 Six Nations Championship (known as the Natwest 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 19th Six Nations Championship, the annual international rugby union tournament for the six major European rugby union nations. The championship wa ...

. On 16 June 2018, Polledri scored his first international try for Italy in a game against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

which the Italians won 25–22.

References

External links

*
Gloucester Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polledri, Jake Living people 1995 births Rugby union players from Bristol Gloucester Rugby players Italian rugby union players Italy international rugby union players Rugby union flankers Hartpury University R.F.C. players Zebre Parma players 2019 Rugby World Cup players English people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent