Hartpury College has long been established as one of England’s rugby treasured institutions but of late it has taken on an Italian flavour. Sebastian Negri, the Zimbabwe-born flanker, made his Italy debut in 2016 when studying for a BA in sports business management in Gloucestershire and he will make his first international start on Sunday, against another of the college’s alumni, Jonny May.
Negri, who lines up at blindside flanker, was joined in Italy’s training group for the Six Nations by Gloucester’s Jake Polledri, also a Hartpury old boy, but it is the current Benetton Treviso back-row who has been selected in Conor O’Shea’s side to face England. It is quite a rise for the 23-year-old, whose family were forced to flee their Zimbabwe home when he was a child but who has progressed to the international stage, via National League One and the BUCS university competition.
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Indeed, during his time at Hartpury Negri would often play for the university side on a Wednesday and the league team on a Saturday and, considering they won both competitions last season, his influence cannot be overstated. A move to Treviso followed in the summer, having been encouraged by O’Shea to join one of Italy’s Pro14 sides, and his form has been rewarded with a return to the international fold, having made two replacement appearances, against Canada and the USA, a little over 18 months ago.
“I wanted to go down the route of getting a degree and continuing my rugby afterwards,” says Negri. “I really enjoyed my time at Hartpury and during my second season there during the summer I got a call from Conor to join the national squad. It was surreal to get the call-up when I was still at university.”
If Negri’s name rings a bell it is because he was on the receiving end of Mathieu Bastareaud’s homophobic slur during Treviso’s Champions Cup defeat by Toulon last month. Negri provided a statement at Bastareaud’s disciplinary hearing but said that he considered the incident minor and had accepted the Frenchman’s apology. It came in the penultimate minute of the 36-0 defeat by Toulon – a sour end to a promising European campaign for Treviso and Negri.
“[Moving to Treviso] was a bit of a culture shock, I had never been in Italy for a long time,” adds Negri. “It has been a big adjustment but one that I have really grabbed hold of. This year has gone really well with Treviso and I’ve performed in some big games.”
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Negri qualifies for the Azzurri through his Italian father and has followed a similar path to Scotland’s David Denton, another back-row who also moved to South Africa amid the upheaval in his native Zimbabwe. Indeed, Denton is Negri’s mother’s godson.
“He’s always been someone I’ve looked up to. Zimbabwe is always in my heart but I’m very happy and blessed to be able to pull on the Italian shirt,” adds Negri. “My family went through a bit of a difficult time with the land reforms, we lost our farms, we moved down to South Africa and I continued my studies. It was a difficult time for all of us. It’s never nice to have to leave your home. My parents are my role models and I’ve got great respect with how they dealt with everything. [My siblings and I] all have Italian passports so I knew it was the route I was going to take.”
Negri is one of seven players making their Six Nations debuts in a youthful Italy lineup with the highly rated Renato Giammarioli winning his second cap at openside flanker. Matteo Minozzi, another promising youngster, starts at fullback and Tommaso Allan is preferred at fly-half. Sergio Parisse captains the side and Alessandro Zanni, normally a flanker, wins his 100th cap at lock, nearly two years after his last appearance.