NICCOLÒ CANNONE
T he Benet t on lock is par t of It aly ’s new generation and is hungr y f or success
ICCOLÒ CANNONE isn’t used to hanging around. The Italy lock only took up rugby at the age of 14, but almost immediately was thrusting towards a place in the FIR academy, from where he progressed to Petrarca Padova and became an Eccellenza champion at the first attempt.
The now 22-year-old was an obvious choice for Benetton to take on as a permit player, an arrangement that saw him split his
Ntime between the Guinness Pro14 and top tier of Italian club rugby. Cannone did well but still wasn’t a full-time contracted pro with the Treviso franchise when Franco Smith called him up to the Azzurri squad for this year’s Six Nations.
Things seem to happen quickly where this young man is concerned, and he is desperate for the theme to continue in the fortunes of the bold, fresh, yet still decidedly callow team that Smith has put together since taking over from Conor O’Shea.
With home Autumn Nations Cup games against Fiji and Scotland, plus a trip to France, where they gave a more than decent account of themselves back in February, Cannone believes that now is the time to deliver. Not next year, not at the next World Cup: right now.
“The two franchises (Benetton and Zebre) have been doing great work from a technical and physical point of view, and the moment has come to take that to an international stage and show what we can do there,” he says. “Franco trusts us a lot but he also expects a lot from us. We want to repay that trust and help change the course for this side. We want to create a new start for the team.
“We put in a good performance against France in the Six Nations (losing 35-22). It was a game we could have won, and with a bit more experience I think that’s exactly the kind of game we will be able to win in future. We have an opportunity to do something special this autumn. We have the chance to bring home some wins. It would be so good for this group, for the fans, for the whole country. Now we have to make it happen.”
Cannone and Marco Lazzaroni are two of those charged with helping club and country move on from the experienced Alessandro Zanni and Dean Budd. That pair both played their last Tests against Scotland in February, the same day Cannone made his home debut. A similar changing of the guard is taking place elsewhere in the pack, with the likes of Sergio Parisse and Leonardo Ghiraldini also on the way out, and if Cannone is proud to be left with the torch, he is in no doubt that he still has plenty to prove.
“Ale (Zanni) is a Benetton and Italy legend, so it won’t be easy to do the things he did. But I want to get as close as I can and write my own story. I made my Italy debut with Ale and was there for his last match too, which is special. I owe him such a lot for the advice he’s given me through the years. I look to him as an example. The same goes for Dean. He’s a great friend whom I talk to a lot. They are both people, and players, from whom you can only learn.”
Cannone is appreciated by his team-mates for the volume and consistency of his work. He was 127kg (almost 20st) early on with Petrarca, but has since dropped to 116kg (18st 4lb) in recognition that he needed to be “quicker and more dynamic” in the Pro14.
Growing up in the outskirts of Florence, he was “always big and tall”, which might explain why he was first a goalkeeper and then a striker in his football days with the Lastrigiana club. Encouraged by some rugby-playing friends of his father, Cannone turned to the oval ball with Bombo Rugby and declares it “love at first sight. I loved the combativeness, the competitive spirit and the sincerity. I still do, in fact.”
Like virtually everyone else in his neighbourhood, he grew up a Fiorentina football fan and would regularly go to watch them play in the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Italy famously beat South Africa there in 2016 and the feeling is the team are due another visit. “To play in your home city for your country is an absolute dream,” he says.
In time, he could have younger brother Lorenzo for company, at least in the Benetton ranks. The 19-year-old currently plays No 8 for Petrarca and Italy U20 and his sibling says: “He has qualities that I don’t, and I believe a lot in him. If he works hard, he can achieve good things in the game because he has all the ingredients.”
The pair are big fans of fishing and love to head out into the woods with Niccolò’s boxer dog, Ettore. It seems a rich and varied life but also a very driven one.
“It’s been a huge year for me, having the chance to play for
Italy and signing my Benetton contract (a three-year deal). I’m thankful for all the opportunities I’ve been given to push on, and the challenge now is to keep making the most of them.”