PERTH, Australia — Another chapter of disciplinary trouble has hit Italy’s national rugby union squad during their 2024 Nations Championship tour, with front-rower Marco Riccioni becoming the third member of the team to receive a suspension in just two weeks. The 32-year-old prop received an immediate red card in the 66th minute of Italy’s 57-10 defeat to the Wallabies last Saturday at Optus Stadium in Perth, after an unsportsmanlike altercation that spilled off the playing pitch.
What makes Riccioni’s offense unusual is that he had already been substituted out of the match and was on the bench when a physical scuffle between on-field players rolled into the Italian technical zone. In the chaos, Riccioni intervened, and his actions knocked multiple members of Italy’s support staff off their seating in the team area.
On Wednesday, the tournament’s independent Foul Play Review Committee finalized its ruling on the incident, confirming a two-week suspension for the Italy international. The committee noted that the severity of the unsportsmanlike conduct originally warranted a four-week ban, but the sentence was cut in half after accounting for two mitigating factors: Riccioni’s immediate admission of guilt for his role in the incident, and a clean prior disciplinary record throughout his professional career.
The suspension rules Riccioni out of his club Perpignan’s first two pre-season French Top 14 matches scheduled for August. His ban marks the third disciplinary action against an Italy staff or player since the start of the Nations Championship tour. Two weeks prior, Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada faced a misconduct hearing over critical comments he made about match officials following Italy’s 47-17 loss to New Zealand on July 11. Quesada’s original two-match suspension was also reduced to one on appeal.
Just one match before Riccioni’s red card, Italy lock Niccolo Cannone was handed a four-week suspension after being sent off for a head-butt offense during the All Blacks clash in Wellington. This run of disciplinary issues comes as Italy have struggled for results on their Southern Hemisphere tour, dropping their first three consecutive Nations Championship outings. After a 27-10 opening loss to Japan in Tokyo on July 4, the Azzurri fell to New Zealand and then Australia, leaving them winless early in the new annual global rugby competition.
The Nations Championship, which launched this year to replace the former Rugby Championship and Six Nations summer tour schedules, has already seen a series of high-discipline matches across the opening round of matches. Related results from the tournament’s opening weekend include England’s narrow 31-26 victory over Argentina played with just 13 players for much of the second half after seven total yellow cards were issued, South Africa’s dominant 43-0 shutout of Wales that kept the Springboks unbeaten, and Scotland’s second-half comeback win over Fiji 33-17 at Murrayfield.