Andrea Marcato (born 17 April 1983) is an Italian rugby union coach and former international player. He won 16 caps for Italy and played in the 2008 and 2009 Six Nations Championships. After the end of his playing career he began coaching as the head coach of Petrarca Rugby, a position held from 2017 to 2024; since then Marcato has been assistant coach of the U-20 Italian national team.
 Marcato in 2006 at Stadio Flaminio, Rome | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Andrea Marcato | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 17 April 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Padua, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg (181 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University of Padua | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mainly a fly-half,[1] Marcato also used to play fullback.[1]
As a player Marcato won 4 Italian championships with Benetton Treviso and also appeared for them in the Celtic League and the Heineken Cup; in 2011 he came back to Italy to newly promoted Calvisano, with which he won the 2011-12 title, his 5th personal Scudetto and 3rd for the club.
As coach, he won 3 scudetto (2018, 2022 and 2024) and one Coppa Italia (2022), all with Petrarca Padova. Since June 2024 he is also assistant coach of the Italy U-20 national team.
Youth
editBorn in Padua, Andrea Marcato grew up in the small borough of Selvazzano, near Padua, where he started playing rugby at the age of eight[2] encouraged by his father and his uncle who were former rugby union player themselves and coached the team;[2] at 15 he entered the Petrarca Rugby youth academy, and at 19 he won the U-21 Italian Championship.
Playing career
editMarcato debuted in Super 10 (then first tier of Italy's rugby championships) in 2002 and went on playing for Petrarca until 2005, when he left because of problems with the club's French coach Sauton.[2] He then signed a contract with Benetton Treviso where he won the Italian Championship at the first attempt.
After his first national title the National team's head coach Pierre Berbizier called Marcato in the squad and made his debut against Japan in July 2006: Marcato scored 2 penalties in his test debut. That, apart from another test match against Portugal later in October, was the only match Marcato played for the next one and half years.
Marcato had a comeback in 2008 when the new head coach Nick Mallett included him in the squad for the Six Nations; in the last match of the tournament against Scotland Marcato scored a drop goal that gave Italy the win 23-20[3] and prevented the squad from recording a Whitewash. Later in June in Córdoba, Argentina, he converted a late try that allowed Italy to get past the Pumas 13–12.[4] He also took part to the 2009 Six Nations where he played his 16th and last International match, against France at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome.
Marcato went on playing club rugby for Benetton Treviso until 2010, then returned to Petrarca; in early 2011 he was loaned back to Benetton as replacement in Celtic League; at the end of the 2010–11 season he came back to the Italian championship and signed with Calvisano[5] which had just been promoted to the Eccellenza (the first tier championship).
Marcato helped Calvisano to become the first Italian club to win the top tier a year after winning promotion from the second division (2012);[6] having won previously 4 titles with Benetton Treviso, the latter was his 5th personal Scudetto.
In 2013 he returned to the club of his birthplace, Petrarca Padua, where he ended his career as a player in 2017.
Coaching
editIn 2018, at the age of 34, he became Petrarca's youngest head coach since 1984,[7] and in his first season as head coach led Petrarca to its 13th Italian title, the first for the club since 2011, and established himself as the youngest coach ever to win the Italian championship in the play-offs era (1987-88 onward) and the second youngest overall.[8] In 2022 Marcato led the club to the Italian Cup and, later, its 14th Italian title.[9]
On 3 June 2024, after leading Petrarca to a further scudetto, Marcato announced his depart from the club[10] to assume the position of assistant coach of the U-20 national team and supervisor of the recruitment from the U-23 Academy of Benetton Treviso,[11]
Honours
editPlayer
edit- Benetton Treviso
- 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009-10 Italian Premiership
- 2009-10 Italian Cup
- 2006, 2009 Italian Supercup
- Calvisano
- 2011-12 Italian Premiership
- 2001-12 Italian Cup
Coach
edit- Petrarca
- 2017-18, 2021-22, 2023-24 Italian Premiership
- 2021-22 Italian Cup
References
edit- ^ a b "Mallett rings changes in Italy side". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- ^ a b c "Intervista ad Andrea Marcato, eroe per un giorno. "Grazie Mallett, con il Sei Nazioni sono cresciuto"" [Interview to Andrea Marcato, hero for one day: "Thank you Mallett, with the Six Nations I improved a lot"]. Corriere del Veneto (in Italian). Venice. 19 March 2008. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- ^ "Italy 23-20 Scotland". RTÉ. 15 March 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- ^ "Italy stun Pumas at the death". Western Mail. Cardiff. 30 June 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- ^ ""Leoni", partenze illustri" ["Leoni", important farewells]. la Tribuna di Treviso (in Italian). Treviso. 3 July 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- ^ "Calvisano nella storia: scudetto da matricola" [Calvisano make history: Italian champion just after promotion in top tier]. la Repubblica. Rome. 19 May 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- ^ "Andrea Marcato, il coach più giovane dai tempi di Munari" [Andrea Marcato, the youngest coach since Munari]. il Mattino di Padova (in Italian). 7 August 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
- ^ Giacomo Bagnasco (25 May 2018). "Scudetto del rugby al coach esordiente Andrea Marcato" [The debutant coach Andrea Marcato wins the rugby Scudetto]. il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). Archived from the original on 14 December 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
- ^ "Il Petrarca è campione d'Italia. Al Lanfranchi il derby tricolore contro la FEMI-CZ finisce 19 a 6" [Petrarca are the Italian champions. The Tricolore derby vs Rovigo at Lanfranchi Stadium ends 19-6]. federugby.it (in Italian). Italian Rugby Federation. 28 May 2022. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ "Marcato: "La finale dell'anno scorso è stato un incubo, questa rivincita significa tanto per me"" [Marcato: “Last year’s final was a nightmare, this year’s revenge means very much to me”]. Rovigo News. Rovigo. 3 June 2020. Archived from the original on 22 July 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "Andrea Marcato e Alessandro Lodi entrano negli staff tecnici della Federazione" [Andrea Marcato and Alessandro Lodi hired into the national teams' coaching staff] (in Italian). Federazione Italiana Rugby. 10 June 2024. Archived from the original on 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
External links
edit- RBS 6 Nations profile
- Andrea Marcato at ESPNscrum
- Andrea Marcato at the CONI honored athlete website (in Italian)
