LAWN. The regular season of the rugby series A is coming to an end with the Union Cavalieri officially qualified for the playoff semi-finals as the best runner-up in the three groups.
In the other two groups, won respectively by Cus Torino and Verona, two players from Prato stood out among the candidates for the playoffs: Leonardo Della Ratta, second in group A with Biella, and Pietro Innocenti with Milan, currently fighting for the third place in group B with ASR Milano.
Della Ratta in Prato wrote indelible rugby pages first with the Cavalieri Prato with two championship finals and the European cups and then with the Unione Rugby Prato Sesto in Serie A, for years he decided to try an experience away from home to improve his own sporting but above all professional background: «After completing motor sciences I took advantage of my sporting experience to gain experience along the peninsula – explains Leonardo – in Biella I work for the club, in addition to being a player I follow the under 18 category as a trainer and I help the under 16s in the gym. We also keep a gym open to the public where we do functional courses.”
Biella is currently second and next year will be in Serie A1: «It was our seasonal goal and we are very happy to have achieved it, Biella is a serious reality that is constantly growing not only in results on the field». Della Ratta works above all with youth teams: «In the last two years I have gone from following the under 16 to the under 18 category, and on various occasions I have also had the opportunity to interact with the seniors, I am now in my fourth season in Piedmont and I I feel very good, I can play rugby and train for the future, I also manage to do training courses in my time. Lately I’ve been deepening my knowledge of foreign languages because my next professional goal would be to gain experience abroad, I’m sure it would greatly broaden my skills.”
Next year Della Ratta will certainly face his former team, the Cavalieri Union, in Serie A1, a championship which on paper appears much more interesting than the current Serie A: «We are all confident that the next Serie A1 can offer a more interesting championship of the current one and I am very happy that I will find the Cavalieri Union again where many of the boys who I have coached with Gispi Prato in recent years play”.
Meanwhile, moving on to our teams, this Sunday the Union Cavalieri will be involved in the last round of the championship at the Chersoni Stadium in Iolo (match starts at 3.30 pm) against Avezzano, a challenge that will pit two teams who have achieved their respective seasonal objectives, namely qualification for the next A1 series and for the sixth Prato team also confirmation in the promotion play-offs. The match between second and third in group three will therefore be an excellent opportunity to test the Prato sixth form before the double semi-final match with Turin, with matches scheduled for 19 and 26 May.
The Gispi Tigers also take to the field, engaged in the penultimate round of the Serie C promotion round in the derby with the Unione Rugby Firenze. In the event of a victory for the Prato team, the match could mathematically sanction the promotion of the Union Cavalieri cadets to Serie B.
