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Ospreys re-sign 'fantastic' 6'4, 110kg athlete Guido Volpi

Guido Volpi tackles Darren Sweetnam of Munster (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

The Ospreys have confirmed that backrower Guido Volpi has agreed a two-year deal to extend his stay at the Liberty Stadium. Volpi, 24, went out on loan to the Doncaster Knights in the English championship before returning to Wales to be part of the Ospreys pre-season preparations.

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The 6’4, 110kg back row joined the Ospreys back at the start of the 2018-19 season and has gone onto feature seven times for the region.

Volpi made his Guinness PRO14 debut in September of 2018, coming off the bench against Munster at the Irish Independent Park. He made his Champions Cup debut in Paris in December 2019 against Racing 92.

“The fact that the Ospreys have shown the faith in me with this new contract is a real vote of confidence for me,” Volpi told the Ospreys website.

Before moving to the region back in 2018, Volpi was part of Argentina’s high-performance programme. As a youngster he played for CUQ Rugby in Buenos Aires before heading to France to sign for Narbonne, he captained the club in the ‘Espoirs’ competition for under-23 teams.

Dan Griffiths, Rugby General Manager at the Ospreys said: “Guido has fantastic athletic ability and continues to make good progress in the programme. The opportunity to play under Clive Griffiths at Doncaster in the Championship last season gave him regular rugby at a professional level, where he showed his potential as a dynamic ball carrier. The challenge for Guido is to continue to develop and refine elements of his game and put himself in the thoughts of the coaches.

“He is now back with the Ospreys as we build for the return to rugby and has the chance to impress our new Head Coach, Toby Booth, over the next few months.”

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Volpi is the latest player to sign a new contract at the region, following on from hooker Sam Parry, centre Owen Watkin, locks Bradley Davies and Adam Beard, wing Keelan Giles, scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams, fly half Cai Evans, props Tom Botha, Rhodri Jones and Ma’afu Fia and backrower Sam Cross.

They were joined by new signings scrum half Rhys Webb, fullback Mat Protheroe, prop Nicky Thomas, second row Rhys Davies and outside half Stephen Myler.

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J
JG 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson opens up on drama surrounding Bongi Mbonambi's knock-on try

Oh my word, for how long are they still going to keep bleating about that try.

The match officials DID explain it at the time, ruling that the ball was knocked out of Bongi’s hand by a NZ player. The ball went straight down (not forward) and Bongi fell on it, thus resulting in the try being awarded.

So it is disingenuous of Robertson to say that it wasn’t checked. If the match officials are confident in their decision, based on what they saw, then they don’t usually go to the TMO - even if requested.

Or else they’ll be going upstairs for virtually every try scored in a match.

Seriously, the Kiwis must now get over themselves. Every time they lose a match by a narrow margin, they find something to go on and on about. It’s almost as if they believe that other teams are “not allowed” to beat them.

Mind you, I think that dates back to a few years earlier when it seemed like the All Blacks were untouchable in the eyes of the match officials at the time.

Maybe Robertson still thinks that is the case nowadays. He hasn’t received the memo about the ABs no longer being unfairly “protected” by match officials.

Let’s face it - there was a time, not too long ago, where players from other teams were almost too afraid to touch or tackle a New Zealand player, for fear of incurring the referee's wrath.

And also, around the same time, NZ captain Richie McCaw was the “golden boy” amongst match officials and even amongst the big brass at the (then) IRB (now World Rugby).

Dont get me wrong, I’m an admirer of McCaw as a player and captain - I think he was great. And I will ALWAYS regard the All Blacks as a great Rugby team.

BUT let’s just be realistic, the New Zealand Rugby fraternity do tend to have this rather large sense of entitlement when it comes to test matches won or lost.

They expect other teams to accept it whenever a dubious decision goes the All Blacks’ way in a game.

BUT they don’t seem willing to do the same.

They'll routinely congratulate their opponents when they lose a match, but will then (for months, or even years afterwards), continue to bleat and “bitch” about a decision or incident that occurred in that match, trying to play the “victim” that was hard-done-by.

Perhaps it’s time for all involved in NZ Rugby to realize and accept that NO team should expect to have the right to always be “protected” or “favoured” in every match they play in.


Come on Scott Robertson, quit sinking to the low levels of some of your predecessors who, annoyingly, believed that the All Blacks have some divine, inalienable right to win every match they play.

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