When Ross Vintcent made his Italy debut last year he already had an interesting back story, delivering Domino’s pizzas while studying at Exeter University before exploding into the Premiership with Exeter Chiefs.
However, Vintcent is also the first player to benefit from a system set up by the Italian Rugby Federation [FIR] to scout for players in South Africa with Italian heritage, who could then move north to become part of the country’s national academy.
Vintcent, who qualifies through his maternal grandfather, found himself at a crossroads following the end of his time in schools rugby at Bishops in Cape Town. He made contact with the FIR and was soon training with the Under-20s.
The back-row was such a success that a previously unofficial arrangement between the FIR and Tom Negri, Vintcent’s agent, turned into a formalised program in 2023. If Negri’s name sounds familiar that is because his younger brother, Sebastian, has been one of Italy’s best players for the past decade.
Negri works for a sports agency called Octagon and the FIR are now one of their clients, with Negri scouring South Africa for young players with Italian ancestry before recommending them. These are not potential project players looking to qualify on residency – they only deal with those who have Italian parents or grandparents. And even once a player is put forward by Negri, they must undergo an FIR vetting process to ensure they have the right profile.
Two players have recently followed in Vintcent’s footsteps; Patrick de Villiers, a centre from Pietermaritzburg who has represented Italy Under-20s and Under-23s, and prop Luca Veronesi from Durban who played for the Under-19s. Unfortunately, Veronesi has since picked up a serious back injury which could end his career.
“If you look at South Africa, there are about 50,000 Italians here, so it’s quite a big population,” Negri tells Telegraph Sport. “I saw it as a chance to offer another option for boys who might not get the right opportunity here in South Africa, because there is such a big talent pool. It was just presenting them with another avenue to ultimately achieve their goals of wanting to become professional players and on the international stage.
“The trust from the Italians came from my background and Seb being his own success story with the national team. My Italian heritage through my father and grandfather also means I have a big passion for the country and would like to help wherever possible.”
For Negri, the talent identification work starts at Under-16 level. Grant Khomo week, the Under-16 provincial tournament featuring South Africa’s best players in that age group, “is when a lot of the top junior players are signed up”.
This is stating the obvious, but the level of schools rugby is far superior in South Africa compared to Italy. The build-up to the local schools derby in Paarl – between Paarl Boys’ High and Paarl Gimnasium – starts on the Wednesday and attracts crowds of 25,000 on the Saturday. Rugby’s popularity in Italy is increasing but it still lags far behind football, emphasising the need to put the best structures in place at academy level.
The national system is set for another revamp this summer. Stephen Aboud, the highly-regarded head of technical performance, is set to return to the FIR after two years as Canada’s high performance director. During Aboud’s first stint, a national academy was established for players between the ages of 16 and 20, with an Under-20 squad of around 40 players then competing in Serie A, the Italian domestic second tier.
Taking players at the age of 16 to join one of the four academies in Rome, Prato, Milan and Treviso, who could then only play for the national academy, was not universally popular with the clubs who helped to develop them at youth level. But, the national side benefited.
Aboud’s departure coincided with a move to a different model, with more flexibility meaning players were instead signed to academy contracts with Benetton Treviso and Zebre, the two pro teams, and could also turn out for clubs in the second tier. The return of Aboud will mean reverting to the previous national model, with Italy’s best Under-20 prospects living, training and playing together. Negri sees this as a positive.
“Stephen coming back from Canada is fantastic. The last few years there has still been a very competitive Under-20 side, but in terms of the union not having full control of the players because they’re in franchise academies, that hasn’t quite helped with the players’ development after finishing with Italy Under-20,” Negri explains.
“If Italy are going to continue to have success and move up the world rankings they have to keep thinking outside the box and have the right people at youth level, because they are going to compete against some big team sports. Rugby is the fifth-most popular team sport in Italy, so they have a constant battle.”
One or two quality players sent every year
The objective now for Negri is to try and send over “one or two quality players every year into the system” from South Africa. Those players may have visited family in Italy beforehand but tend to have no grasp of the language, going straight into Italian classes.
“They could be finishing school here and don’t have the right opportunity to stay in South Africa from a rugby or studying perspective and want to go and have that experience, or might be someone who has tried the South African academy system and it hasn’t worked out. Or they could be 20 or 21, Italian qualified, have now graduated from university and maybe were not ready at 18.”
Obviously there are potential benefits for the Azzurri in the long run adding talented players into the national side, but one overlooked factor is the impact of those young players with experience of South Africa’s elite schoolboy rugby on their new peers in the Italian system.
“[South Africa is] probably the best in terms of schoolboy rugby – it is unbelievable in terms of talent and how competitive it is here,” adds Negri. “I think Italy have obviously noticed that and now with Ross and Patrick, have seen that the players coming over have had a good first stage of development in South Africa. These players are coming over and both having an impact in the Italian system and assisting Italian players in the same age group.”
Vintcent may have been the first success story from the new pipeline between South Africa and Italy, but he should not be the last.
