STILL SPARKLING – Italy’s Francesca Granzotto on the Six Nations

Italy’s 24-year-old winger Francesca Granzotto was born in the small northern town of Conegliano, best known for its still and sparkling Prosecco. And she’s been sparkling as she flies down the wing for Exeter Chiefs in her first season in the PWR, improving her all-round game as she prepares for another huge tournament she loves and is buzzing to play in: the Six Nations.

Helen M Jerome talks to Granzotto about all this and much much more, including getting her mum and dad into rugby, being a pioneer, studying political economics, and planning for life after rugby…

If you want to know how good Francesca Granzotto is, listen to Italy’s head coach, Fabio Roselli (below, with Italy team captain Silvia Turani, and the Six Nations trophy). Roselli smiles as he describes Granzotto as an “exciting player”. And he reckons her experience at Chiefs is helping her grow as a person and as a rugby player, with the quality of the PWR also helping her grow technically.

“I think she comes back at a higher level. She can beat one-on-one defenders, and also she’s able to stay at the right moment in the right place to score. I’m in contact also with her head coach [Steve Salvin at Exeter] and she’s in a good moment.”

Roselli also admits that even though Italy’s men’s team are doing really well now, women still have to deal with cultural barriers. And despite the enthusiasm and energy that the Italian men’s team have generated, “it’s still not easy for a young girl to say: I want to play rugby in Italy.”

As for Granzotto herself, she is hopeful that Italy’s men’s team improving can help the women too. “Three years ago when they were losing games, they didn’t have any people coming to watch and now their stadiums are sold out.

“We are still struggling, because when we play in Parma, we don’t have that support. But maybe because of what’s been happening, we will get more…”

Here’s the rest of our conversation – in full…

What does the Six Nations mean to you, Francesca?

Francesca Granzotto: It’s the greatest of the old rugby tournaments, so for sure it’s an important tournament and I’m looking forward to playing another one.

What’s your first memory of the Six Nations – playing or watching or both?

My first memory is when I was 15, 16, going to Padova, a town in Italy where the Six Nations was held.

And Italy won, I think, for one of the first times against France in 2017.

So that’s my first memory as a fan.

Then my first memory playing was against England, two years ago when we played them in Parma.

What was the score then, dare I ask?

We lost by many points, but I remember I played scrum half for 20 minutes and actually enjoyed it.

So, I have a good memory.

I don’t remember the score, to be honest, but we lost.

You mentioned Parma and you play your two home games there. What does it mean to you when you play there?

I mean, it’s always cool to play at home.

It’s not where I’m from, but playing in front of your home crowd, is always cool.

We’re going to play there against England and Scotland.

I mean, England is going to be a tough one, as always.

But I feel like the game against Scotland is going to be a good game for us.

It’s going to be exciting to play in front of my family, parents, Italian supporters.

Are they all coming down there?

Yeah, my parents usually try to, because it’s not too far from where I’m from.

It’s three hours by car, so it’s not too bad.

What do you think Italy’s chances are this time? Because you’re an improving team, aren’t you?

I feel at the World Cup, we had a big disappointment, because our aim was at least the quarter-finals and we didn’t make it.

Then a few things changed after the World Cup and there’s a young group coming in as well.

And we want to try to make it up after the disappointment.

So yeah, I feel we have good chances and we’re still building a new team.

It’s going to be maybe not the perfect Six Nations, but I’m really excited for it.

You just mentioned younger players coming in and are there any names we should look out for this time?

Yeah, I would say maybe some players that you have already seen in the World Cup or previous Six Nations, but Sara Mannini, Alia Bitonci, they’re scrum half and inside centre, outside centre.

They’re really good and quite young, 20, 21 and improving a lot, so I would say mainly those two.

Are there particular opponents you look forward to playing against for Italy?

During the Six Nations, it’s always like a tough match against France because it’s always quite tight and we’re good rivals.

I would say France, Wales and Scotland are the games I’m most looking forward to playing.

Is that because you feel you’re on the same level as them?

Yeah, yeah.

Whereas England are still…

Yeah, I mean, I can’t lie, it’s always a good game and every time you go on the pitch you try to win of course, but I feel they’re still one step ahead of us. But you never know. I guess every match it’s different.

But I would say those three games are the ones we’re most looking forward to play.

How would you describe your progress as an international, and Italy’s progress as a nation?

As a nation, it’s been three, four years since we had contracts.

So for sure that has helped develop also our national and local leagues.

I would say we’re improving, but still behind a lot of European countries, especially England and France.

I feel we’re getting there, especially because in these years a lot of players that play for Italy went abroad to play in France and England to improve.

Maybe that’s gonna be good to have a lot of players that have had the opportunity to play abroad.

They will bring in some more skills and stuff, so that will probably be useful.

I feel we’re still improving. And then we had three different coaches in four years so that’s a bit hard to adjust to.

There are a lot of young players coming in, and after the World Cup there’s always a new cycle so I feel it’s gonna take a while to adjust. Maybe not in these Six Nations, but maybe in the next one you can see the results. It’s always evolving so I guess we’ll see how it goes.

You just mentioned you didn’t get to the quarters, but you must have enjoyed the World Cup nevertheless.

There were some good memories for sure, and I feel this World Cup was probably the best World Cup ever in terms of fans, in terms of everything surrounding it.

I was lucky enough to go also to the past World Cup in New Zealand, but I was only travelling, because I was very young, I was 18. So I was on the bench only for one game and didn’t get to play. But it was still a cool atmosphere, of course, because New Zealand is the home of rugby.

This World Cup was insane in terms of media coverage, fans, people coming to support.

So, for sure we have some good memories.

Of course it’s not the result we wanted, but we have to take the positives from that and we’re trying to work on it, I would say, as a team as well.

You must have a couple of good memories, particularly against Brazil, your own performance.

Yeah, I mean I was starting that game and of course, we were already out at that point because we had lost against South Africa, so you go in and play knowing it’s gonna be the last game of the World Cup.

But at the same time I was like: this is my chance, I’m gonna start. And my parents came to watch as well so I tried to give my best, to just enjoy the rugby, because that’s why we play rugby I guess. So it was for sure a cool game and we got a good win, and it was fun to play together with my team and enjoy it and have the last game of the World Cup.

Plus, you scored a hat trick.

Yeah, I did.

It was very cool.

You played in England before when you were studying, for a year or so, on the south coast?

Yeah, it was supposed to be a year, then because of COVID, it turned out to be six, seven months.

I played for Worthing College because I was 17 at the time, and for Hove rugby club.

It was actually a really cool experience because I got to experience rugby while being at college, which is something we don’t have in Italy, because rugby or any kind of sport is not really a part of high school or college.

It was cool because it was considered a subject which is something that’s so weird for us Italians.

It was actually really cool to experience English culture as well.

Is that when your English got to be as good as it is?

It’s still improving, but yeah, because I was living with a host family and that helped me a lot.

Coming back to England now, I presume your contract with Exeter Chiefs is season by season?

Yeah, so far it’s until June and then I actually don’t know yet.

How’s this first season with the Chiefs been?

It’s been really cool actually.

At the beginning was a bit hard because of course, new culture, new team and stuff, but the girls were all – as I said, multiple times – they were all so welcoming and really nice to me.

Of course, it took me a while to find some sort of confidence also, “rugby speaking”, because the system is different and it’s another team.

Everything was different, but I feel now I’m part of the team and actually enjoying it, and I feel I’ve learned a lot, rugby speaking, and that could be helpful also when I play for Italy in the Six Nations.

Exeter seem to be overachieving. They’re doing better than a lot of people expected this season.

Yeah, I feel like we’re not being as consistent maybe as we wanted to be, because we have had some draws, then we had one big loss against Sarries.

But I feel like we’ve shown against Quins, against Loughborough, during many games what we’re capable of.

Then one big game against Gloucester, quite tough.

But I feel we’re clearly showing that we belong among the top four.

We will know what the future will bring, because we have a big break, then two games, then semi-finals.

It will be cool to see what we can achieve.

If you could, would you ideally like to stay in England, playing in the PWR?

Yeah, I think so.

I’m really enjoying it, and feel like I’m growing both as a person and as a player.

So, because I’m settling in now, I feel that leaving in June would be maybe leaving things halfway.

I don’t know if it makes sense.

Maybe I would like to stay, but we will see what will happen, but yeah, I guess I would like to stay.

Are you living in Exeter or out in the country?

Yeah, I’m living with three Canadian teammates, so I’m actually enjoying Exeter, it’s quite nice.

It’s different from where I was living in Rome for the past four years, and of course going from a city to a town is quite different.

But I’m enjoying it.

Exeter have a lot of very exciting players, including yourself. And when you look around you, who are the other Six Nations players within the Chiefs that people might get excited by?

Well, for sure, English players, I would say, Maddie Feaunati, Claudia [Moloney-MacDonald].

And then we have Nancy [McGillivray], who plays for Ireland, Dorothy Wall as well.

Then Edel ‘Tricky’ McMahon. She plays for Ireland as well; she’s injured right now, but she’s a good player for sure.

And outside the Six Nations, we have a lot of Canadians who are actually really good.

I would say those are the names.

Maisy Allen, Flo Robinson as well.

That’s a lot, isn’t it?

Turning that question on its head, if fans of the way Italy play want to see other Italian rugby players – including those in the PWR – who should they look out for?

That’s a hard question.

I would say the young two players that I mentioned earlier.

And then maybe Alyssa D’inca as well.

Right now she’s playing for Blagnac in France.

I think she’s going to stay there next year.

Then some other players were already here.

Like Beatrice Rigoni (at Sale), Sofia Stefan (who was also at Sale), they were already here.

Silvia Turani as well. She’s already here, she’s a prop and plays for Quins.

Going back into your history, when did you first start playing rugby?

I started playing when I was six, seven in elementary school because we had physical education hours and a rugby coach just came there to have a rugby lesson. And I just loved it and asked my parents to take me to the rugby pitch and I never stopped since.

So I was playing with boys because boys and girls played together until they’re 12 so I was playing there and then and that I moved to the women’s team, and yeah, here I am!

I’ve been playing for a while now.

So you moved to the women’s team when you were about 12, 13 then?

Yeah, because you’re not allowed to play with boys anymore.

So I moved to another town, I was playing rugby there, 20 minutes from where I’m from, near Treviso.

I played there for six, seven years and then I came to the UK for that year. Then I finished high school, so I had to go to Uni and I decided to go to Rome.

I played for the team in Rome for the past four or five years.

Then I came here.

So is there a pathway, as there is here? Maybe where people come through different academies?

No, not really.

You just start playing for a club, then depending on where you live, you keep on playing for a club.

But we don’t really have a national pathway. When I was 18 I started to go into training camps with the national team, the senior team whereas right now we have under-18 and under-21 national teams also for girls, not only for men, which is something that’s really cool.

I’m jealous of them because I didn’t have the opportunity to do it because I went from club rugby straight into the national team and it was hard because the level is different. So having the opportunity to go through the pathway is really interesting and when the girls come into the senior team they’re more prepared, so that’s good for them.

Maybe we will see the results in the next two or three years.

So you and Silvia are almost pioneers, and everyone else is following behind?

I mean, Silvia is way older than me, she’s like 30, but started playing rugby when she was quite old compared to me. She was 17, 18 or maybe even 21, then she got straight into the national team.

So I would say that my year 2000 and from 2002 onwards, we went straight into the national team.

Younger girls right now follow a different path, going to under-21 etc.

This is a difficult one to explain maybe, but why do you love rugby so much?

That’s a hard question.

Sometimes I wonder why I love rugby, especially when I’m playing under the rain and cold.

I guess I love running for sure, then I love contact, and I love the fact that it’s a team sport and that you’re always trying to support your teammates. And the bonds you create with your teammates are really cool and I feel there’s not another sport like rugby.

I just love it. It’s hard to explain, but I just love everything about rugby to be honest, like contact and being there for your teammate making the tackle that the other teammate is not able to do.

So that’s what I love about rugby.

It must feel quite exhilarating as well when you do get an amazing try.

Yeah, it does.

I mean, because I play winger, I get to score many tries, but I’m just the one putting the ball in the try line, but it’s actually a team job.

That’s what I like as well, knowing that the try comes from a team job.

When you’re playing for Exeter in the PWR, and playing for Italy in the Six Nations or the World Cup, what are the differences in the kind of styles you play?

I feel like rugby in England is a bit more structured.

Also the physicality is different.

Whereas when we play for Italy, since we’re not known for being big girls, our style of rugby is more duels. So just we just try to play quick and use our skills, which is mostly speed and being able to keep the ball alive through like offloads and stuff like that.

So that’s maybe the main difference.

But after all, it’s rugby at the end of the day.

Is there anything that annoys you about rugby and the way it works?

There are some games where I’m on the wing and I’m just there standing there… standing there… waiting for the ball and I feel like maybe I would like to play another position to be more involved.

But what is cool about the winger is that you may have three, four opportunities per game and you need to be able to exploit them and give the best during these four opportunities because you don’t have that many and you have to just do what you can.

I think you studied political economics at university.

Yeah, I’m studying, doing a masters right now in development and international cooperation.

So is that something you’re interested in: world affairs, politics, business, that kind of thing?

Yeah, it is something I’m interested in.

It’s a bit hard right now because of course, rugby is playing a big part in my life.

Sometimes I’m struggling to try to balance it because I feel focused on rugby a lot. But this is something I also care about and something I like.

Is that what you would like to end up doing?

Yeah, because I’ve always known that rugby is not gonna be forever because there’s not a lot of money and you cannot play rugby for however long. And that was something that’s always interested me.

I was like: I’m just going to study and have a plan B for my after-rugby career.

It’s really interesting to have it, because after all, we need to have other interests outside rugby.

What would that lead you into? What sort of career would that be?

I have no idea yet, but I think I would like to work for some sort of NGO, working in developing countries or for the UN or something like that.

Is that something that you got from your family?

Not really. I was just interested in it during the last years of high school, because you finish high school and you’re like: I have to decide what you need to do.

I had a lot of like hobbies, but I was like: this is something I find really interesting.

So I decided to stick with it and chose that pathway.

Then my mum did her second degree in political science as well.

But she started like almost one year later than I did.

But they are rugby fans, coming to see you play…

Yeah, they are.

They never played rugby.

My mum is from a town in Italy, Rovigo, which is famous for rugby, and my uncle played, but she’s never been a rugby fan.

My dad didn’t know rugby before, then I started, and now they come to my games as much as they can.

What are your ambitions for yourself in rugby?

I don’t have big ambitions.

I just want to get better and improve as a player. The thing I struggle with most is getting off the pitch and being happy about what I did.

This is something I’m improving and working on.

Just getting off the pitch and knowing that I gave the best that I could for myself and for the team as well.

Then, of course, improving my skills, like kicking and that kind of stuff.

Have you ambitions playing for Italy?

I mean, for sure, like being part of Italy for the next few years, but I don’t have a time limit.

I just want to play rugby while I enjoy it and I’m able to compete at international level.

Maybe one day I’ll wake up and I’m like: I’m not enjoying it anymore.

So I just want to give the best that I can while I’m actually enjoying it, which I hope is going to be for long, but I guess you never know.

Finally, do you think that Italy as a rugby nation for women is moving in the right direction?

Yeah, I think we are… maybe a bit slowly.

I feel we need to work on it and put funds and resources in, which is something we’re struggling with a bit.

We need to start looking at countries like France and England, which are paving the way.

But I feel like we’re going to get there.

I hope in the next 10 years we will be close to England or France or New Zealand, the top three.

Photos: Exeter Chiefs, Six Nations, Helen M Jerome