Italian rugby fans can relive every match in the 12 seasons of Europe’s premier club rugby tournament the Heineken Cup with the launch of ercrugby.com new Italian website
ercrugby.com/ita.
a) What was the first away win for an Italian side in the Heineken Cup?
b) Who was the first Italian Club player to score a try in the Heineken Cup?
c) How many points has Diego Dominquez scored in the Heineken Cup? With Benetton Treviso travelling to London Wasps for Round 3 of the Heineken Cup this weekend, their fans will be hoping for a repeat of their first European away win when they defeated Edinburgh 43 to 23 on Sunday, 27 October 1996. Milan’s full back Roberto Crotti scored the first Heineken Cup try for an Italian club against Leinster at the Stadio Comunale Giuriati,on Wednesday, 1 November 1995, while Diego Dominguez remains the second highest points scorer in the tournament’s history with 645 points for Milan and Stade Francais Paris.
ercrugby.com, official website of the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup club rugby tournaments, has teamed up with “Rugby!” magazine to offer fans content in Italian for the first time. The website attracted over 1 million unique visitors during the 2005/6 European season and the new Italian section will provide unrivalled European club rugby statistics including tournament records, hundreds of player profiles and previews, photographs and results from the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup action involving the six Italian sides competing in Europe.

Welcoming the move Jean-Pierre Lux Chairman of tournament organisers ERC said, “Italy has been a key part of both European tournaments since the launch of the Heineken Cup in 1995 when Benetton Treviso and Milan were the Italian pioneers. The profile of the tournaments in Italy are growing and we hope that the development of the Italian site will contribute to further growth in this important market. ERC plan to continue to develop and improve the Italian offering over the coming months to ensure that ercrugby.com becomes the definitive source of European club rugby news in the three main languages of our two tournaments (England, French and Italian). We are delighted also to have the support of Rugby! magazine”.

“Rugby!”, the leading rugby magazine in Italy, will be an official partner to ercrugby.com/ita and supply regular articles for the website for the remainder of the 2006/07 season, which reaches its finale with the London 07 Heineken Cup final at the Twickenham Stadium on Sunday, 20 May 2007.

"It's a great pleasure to support ERC to further open their arms to Italian fans in what represents a landmark for Italian rugby" said Enrico Borra, Rugby! editor, "Italian rugby is growing at a strong pace and this new feature in the ERC website will back that growth".

Overmach Rugby Parma, Benetton Treviso and Rugby Calvisano all return to Round 3 Heineken Cup action this weekend in a tournament that see three Italian sides compete for the first time. GRAN Parma, Petrarca Rugby and Viadana return to European Challenge Cup tournament action this weekend.

See ercrugby.com/Ita for more details. Sotic are ERC's website providers. For further information on Rugby! info@esternal.com

RUGBY! - the monthly Italian rugby magazine - has become the official Italian Media partner to Europe's premier club rugby tournament.
RUGBY! and their sister weekly newspaper La Meta have been confirmed by ERC, the Heineken Cup organisers, as the first Media partner for the elite club competition in Italy and will work with ERC to further promote both the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup tournaments in the growing Italian market.

The announcement follows earlier good news for the tournament in Italy with confirmation that Sky Italia and ERC have agreed a four-year deal through to 2010 / 2011 to broadcast live Heineken Cup action in Italy. Sky Italia's coverage will start this weekend with three games being broadcast live including the clash of Benetton Treviso and Newport Gwent Dragons.

As Media partners RUGBY! magazine will assist with ERC's promotional campaign for the tournament's Pool stages from December to January, 2008, and for the 13th Heineken Cup final, which will be played in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday, 24 May, 2008.

RUGBY! has already worked with ERC on the development of an Italian version of ercrugby.com - www.ercrugby.com/ita - the official website of the Heineken Cup and European challenge Cup, which was launched November 2006 and has seen a significant growth in the numbers of Italian visitors to the site.

Welcoming the new Italian partnership Jean-Pierre Lux, ERC Chairman said: "Italy has been a key part of both European tournaments over the past 12 seasons.

"The profile of the tournament in Italy is growing each season and we believe the promotion offered by RUGBY! and their sister weekly rugby publication La Meta together with the excellent coverage through Sky Italia will help to further develop the profile of the tournaments at a time when rugby in Italy is growing."

Enrico Borra, editor of both RUGBY! and La Meta, added: "We are extremely proud to be the first Media partners to the Heineken Cup in Italy. We started working with ERC in 2006 and we really appreciate the relationship that we have built with ERC.

"This is a huge achievement for our young but growing publications and great boost for us as we continue to promote rugby and increase it's popularity in our soccer-driven nation."

The RUGBY! and La Meta brands will be visible at all Heineken Cup games in Italy and the publications join the Sunday Times (UK), the Irish Independent (Ireland), Midi Olympique and RMC (France) as Heineken Cup Media partners.

The Heineken Cup has featured Italian teams since the inaugural tournament in 1995. This season two Italian teams - Super 10 champions Benetton Treviso and Viadana - are competing with teams from France, England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Four Italian sides are competing in the 2007 / 2008 European Challenge Cup - Overmach Rugby Parma, GRAN Parma, Petraca Rugby and Rugby Calvisano.