The coaching staff of the Italian national rugby team is expanding and at the end of the current season Richard Hodges will be responsible for coaching the defense starting from the 2024 Summer Tour in the South Pacific. Hodges is currently assistant to Fabio Roselli at Zebre Parma.
Hodges is born in Leeds in January 1975 and served as assistant coach of Wales men’s 7s between 2009 and 2014, also collaborating with Cardiff between 2011 and 2014. Subsequently she was part of the Wales U20 staffwith whom he won the Six Nations category in 2016, remaining in the role from 2013 to 2019. At the Cardiff Blues between 2017 and 2023, since 2023/24 he has been assistant defense coach of Zebre Parma in the staff directed by Fabio Roselli.
He will join the national team staff from 1 July 2024 until 30 June 2028 and will take the place that was occupied by Marius Goosen from June 2016 until the 2023 Six Nations. “I am both proud and happy about the opportunity to work with the Italian Men’s Rugby Team. There is a group of players who showed what they are capable of during the last Six Nations. I had a first moment of discussion with the staff and it is very stimulating to collaborate with people who have always shown great enthusiasm and professionalism in their approach to work. I thank FIR for their trust and I can’t wait to start work in the field” Hodges said.
“Richard has a human and professional profile that fits perfectly with the current staff of the national team. The choice was also made with a view to giving continuity to the work started by Marius Goosen, now having at his disposal a professional who has begun to understand Italian rugby from the inside considering the work he is still carrying out with the Zebre, a factor which can certainly facilitate his/her job placement within a consolidated group” underlined Gonzalo QuesadaTechnical Commissioner of the Italian National Men’s Rugby Team.
