Who is Loris Zarantonello, Italy’s new hooker

One name above all represents the real surprise of these first summer call-ups of Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada: it is that of Loris Zarantonello, a twenty-three-year-old hooker playing for Castres, in the French Top 14.

Zarantonello can play for Italy by virtue of his Italian origins: his father’s family, in fact, originates from Treviso, and his grandmother is from Vicenza.

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Loris Zarantonello: Italian origins

His family moved to France, on the edge of the Quercinois plateau, and on 17 November 2000 Loris was born in L’Union (a municipality of around 12 thousand inhabitants in the Haute-Garonne). He discovered rugby at the age aged 10 and started playing for US Montauban, after a first year of trial in Montech.

At 19, then, the big step at Agen, in the Top 14 (then relegated to ProD2) and the first experiences in rugby that counts, including the French Under 20 national team, with which he played two Six Nations in the category, also facing Italy in 2019 and 2020. Due to the pandemic, like many of his generation, he was unable to play in the Under 20 World Cup, which was canceled in 2020.

“Italians have so much determination, and I know what I’m talking about, because I am too!” Zarantonello had said in a 2021 interview before the match between Agen, the team he played for, and Benetton in the round of 16 of the Challenge Cup. That same determination led him to move to one of the most prestigious clubs in 2023 France, Castres, engaged in a tight fight for qualification for the playoffs. Precisely his transfer to Castres earned Agen, the club where he played 4 years from 2019 to 2023, a training bonus which according to Rugbyrama it ranged from 250,000 to 310,000 euros.

Features and numbers

An explosive hooker, 1.83m tall and 102kg, his idol is Camille Chat for his mobility, but he is also inspired by Julien Marchand, another great French number 2.

This year with Castres he has often been used as an impact player: out of 28 total matches (as of 6 June) he came onto the pitch from the bench 21 times, also scoring 2 tries in the Challenge Cup against Black Lion and Gloucester.

Off the pitch he is a quiet boy, but on the pitch he transforms. He too, like many front lines, loves to bandage his head before entering the pitch: “It was supposed to be a way to protect my ears, but too late, they’re already worn out! The band has something motivating, it’s like a symbol. I’m wearing it and I’m ready to go to war” he told Depeche.

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