Argentines Prominent Among Italian Players of the Match in Six Nations History

The winner of the player of the match for Italy on Saturday was Juan Ignacio Brex. The Argentine center was also the winner of the same award in Italy’s win over Scotland. Brex is not alone; Argentines have been prominent among Italian players to have won the Player of the Match award in Six Nations History.

Italy’s two wins in the 2024 Six Nations saw Brex join Tommaso Menoncello with a Player of the Match to his name. Menoncello was awarded player of the match in Italy’s draw against France.

The Player of the Match award is relatively new. Rugby statistician Stuart Farmer explained to ARN that it is only since 2011 that every match has had an official Player of the Match in the Six Nations. Moreover, prior to 2006 virtually no games had such an accolade.

Farmer confirmed every Italian player who has been awarded as Player of the Match in Six Nations matches. The complete record is listed in the table below. It shows 22 players to have been awarded Man of the Match for Italy.

Sergio Parisse won the award on five occasions. This is a record for Italy. Parisse is from La Plata. Martín Castrogiovanni, and Luciano Orquera, from Paraná and Córdoba respectively, both played with Parisse. They won Player of the Match once each.

Brex’s two in 2024 mean Argentines have 9 out of the 22 (40.9%) Player of the Match awards for Italy in the Six Nations. All four of the Italians learned their rugby in Argentina.