When Rugby Australia set out to build hype for Italy’s long-awaited return to Australian soil, it could not have picked a better ambassador than Carlo Tizzano.
Nine years have passed since Italy last competed in a rugby test match on Australian shores, and on July 18, the Azzurri will face off against the Australian Wallabies at Perth’s Optus Stadium as part of the newly launched World Rugby Nations Championship. This groundbreaking competition marks a historic shift in international rugby, pitting six top teams from the Southern Hemisphere against six leading Northern Hemisphere sides across a full annual calendar, with a grand final weekend scheduled for London this coming November to crown the first-ever overall champion of the new competition.
For Tizzano, the 100-day countdown to the clash carries a uniquely personal twist. The back-row flanker, who currently plies his trade for Super Rugby’s Perth-based Western Force after a 2022-23 stint with England’s Ealing Trailfinders, was born and raised in Australia to parents of Italian origin. Back in 2018, former Italy head coach Conor O’Shea reached out to Tizzano to recruit him to the Italian national side, but the flanker ultimately chose to hold off on committing, a decision he has since reflected on by saying “Lucky I didn’t pull the trigger.” In 2024, he made his test debut for the Wallabies against South Africa, fulfilling a lifelong dream of representing the country of his birth.
This upcoming test also comes against a backdrop of shifting momentum in the Italy-Australia rugby rivalry. Before 2022, Italy had never secured a victory over Australia across 20 previous meetings between the two sides. But Italy’s 28-27 win in Florence that year was no one-off upset: last November, the Azzurri claimed a second consecutive victory over the Wallabies, winning 26-19 in Udine thanks in part to two star players with deep Australian connections. Louis Lynagh, son of Australian rugby legend Michael Lynagh, and Melbourne-born Monty Ioane, nephew of former Wallabies winger Digby Ioane, scored consecutive second-half tries to power Italy’s comeback win.
Italy’s recent rise in form has extended beyond matches against Australia, too. In March of this year, the Azzurri notched their first ever victory over England in international test rugby, signaling that the side has become a consistent contender at the top of the international rugby circuit.
As anticipation builds in Perth for the historic July clash, Tizzano’s dual heritage offers a fitting symbolic bridge between the two nations set to face off on the pitch.