2006/07 · Home

An Italian rugby shirt is a moving classifieds page, and this is the collector's edition: Alice and Tamoil on the chest, Veneto Banca, Negro Automobili and Textil down the hoops, Metalsistem on the back, Olimpias on the sleeves, the group's own textile firm, and under the number the signature no other club can wear: United Colors of Benetton, the owner advertising to itself. Amid the crowd, the seals that matter: the starred scudetto and the lion of Treviso.

The 10 on the back is the fly half's number, the position that settled 2006/07: the title won in the final, in extra time, against Viadana, Goosen's kicks sealing the 13th scudetto.

Here at Hoopster, rugby climbs from a Wigston park to the throne of Italy without changing pattern: from South Leicester to Benetton, the hoops stay the same.