On Friday 24 May the curtain will rise on the eleventh edition of the “Town of Rovato Tournament”, the most important sporting event organized by Rugby Rovato.
This is a prestigious event which represents a great sports celebration for the many children and young people who, like every year, will cross the threshold of the local playing fields and for three days will have fun together with hundreds of their peers. The very young mini rugby athletes will be the protagonists – from under 6 to under 12 – as well as the under 14 category. The “Giulio e Silvio Pagani” Stadium, in addition to the awards ceremony and the closing ceremony, will host the under 14 tournament which traditionally and number of participating teams represents the highlight of the event. Furthermore, on Friday and Saturday the Rovato Rugby facility will close its doors late for the playing of the “seven” tournaments (seven-player rugby) which will act as a corollary to the official event and will guarantee a show of excellent technical level, considering the participation of qualified under 18 and under 16 teams. As always, the large number of teams registered at the “Città di Rovato” required the use of other sports facilities such as the ASO Stadium in Ospitaletto, the Municipal Sports Center of Erbusco, the Campo Unitas Coccaglio Sports Center and the Cazzago S. Martino Sports Center.
We are at the final details necessary to finalize the organization of an event to the realization of which every year the General Director of the Club, Giuseppe Lanzi, and his collaborators dedicate careful planning and months of work. A meticulousness that does not want to leave anything to chance is the key to a success demonstrated every year by the many requests for participation – registrations have been full for weeks – and by the unanimous consensus received. The numbers give a more precise idea of the great commitment made: 32 clubs represented, more than 100 teams involved on the various playing fields on Saturday and Sunday for a total of at least 1500 athletes. But there are well over 2000 people involved if we consider the technical support figures (coaches, companions, referees and doctors) and the volunteer staff, the latter with more than 100 indispensable collaborators to guarantee the necessary and adequate services for the good success of the event (field managers, cleaning of changing rooms, bar and kitchen, catering, parking, secretariat and transport). Finally, the large audience of parents and enthusiasts.
The City of Rovato Tournament will have an epilogue the following week with the dispute of women’s “seven” matches and the expected senior men’s “seven”. Rugby in the seven-player version became part of the Olympic Games starting from Rio de Janeiro 2016. In our country only recently has it been considered as a possibility for growth and improvement as it requires qualities of athleticism, resistance and physicality and excellent individual technique. There are more and more rugby seven tournaments being played around Italy during the summer and the teams are increasingly fierce and prepared. The men’s seven seniors, organized as part of the Città di Rovato Tournament, will once again propose – as a sponsor – a historic brand that has linked the name of the Pagani family and its brand to Rugby Rovato for at least twenty years. The rossoblù Club will participate with two teams who, having recently finished the Serie B championship, will compete against other important teams in the area.
A championship which today, with four days to go, sees San Donà more favored than ever for the final success and Rovato placed in fifth place, three points from Feltre and one from Brixia.
The podium would be the classic icing on the cake for a season to be framed compared to the expectations of last summer. It had been understood for a while that there was a rosy future for the many quality young people included in the roster, but that that future could already start this year was a little less written. The last two victories in chronological order came close to the break for the Easter holidays.
Five precious points to consolidate the position in the noble areas of the ranking were achieved by beating Cus Padova at home (29-15) at the end of a match which mirrored that of the first leg played at the “Pagani” stadium. As then, the scoreboard reads four tries for Rovato and two for the opponents, furthermore once again captain Volpini and his teammates resolved the match in their favor in the last quarter of the match.
«We knew how difficult the University pitch was – confirmed coach Ceretti at the end of the match – in fact the Paduan team played with great determination on all balls and was reactive in all phases of the game». However, the rossoblù confirmed those peculiarities that have made the Brescia team a cynical team, capable of exploiting most of the opportunities it creates and of imposing itself at distance thanks to the greater athletic verve of its players.
Rovato’s victory against Rugby Villadose (39-15) was never in question, despite the fact that at the “Pagani” stadium the game was played at a pace that to define as bland is a pure understatement. Thanks to the very fragmented game due to indiscipline and too many errors made by both sides, the match was based on the sporadic initiatives of the two contenders and Rovato, as always, was able to translate into points all the situations in which he appeared in the red opposing zones.
It all happened, or almost everything, in the first half when the team, although far from expressing its playing philosophy, was projected towards yet another success of the season thanks to the four tries scored from the scrum which left the Polesans no escape .
