Last open-door training session for the Azzurri on Friday before leaving for the Pacific tour. ‘Marcoriccio’ returns to its origins
TERAMO – Saracens London prop, Marco Riccioni from Teramo, will be the ‘host’ of the Italian national rugby team gathering which will be held at the Fattori dell’Aquila from 19th to 21st June, in preparation for the friendly tour in the Pacific in the Summer Tour 2024. ‘Marcoriccio’, so affectionately called by his fans, will go back with memories to the beginning of his career, when this glorious facility – theater of epic exploits of the black-green team from L’Aquila – saw him take his first steps, launched by the red-and-white youth team of Teramo Rugby.
The 33 Italian players called up by Quesada will be in the Abruzzo capital from Wednesday, and the last training session on Friday, at 10am, will be open to the public. The Fattori gates will be open from 9am and at noon, the leaders of the Rugby Federation and the regional sports councilor Mario Quaglieri will hold a press point to present new initiatives of which the Fir and the Abruzzo Region will be joint promoters.
Riccioni and the other Italrugby players will leave for Auckland, the capital of New Zealand chosen as the base for the triptych of friendlies in the Southern Hemisphere of the world, on Saturday 22 June. After the first two test matches scheduled against Samoa in Apia and against Tonga in Nuku’Alofa on 5 and 12 July respectively, the Azzurri will fly from Auckland to Tokyo on 14 July, where they will begin the march towards the third and final round of Sapporo, Sunday 21 July, against the hosts Japan.
