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Martin Castrogiovanni stopped playing almost a decade ago, but his voice still warms up whenever the Azzurri shirt comes up. The former prop, speaking to DanPat Rugby on the sidelines of a charity match organised by the Bevanda Malamocco group, explained what is left of the national team once the boots are hung up.
Castrogiovanni won 119 caps for Italy between 2002 and 2016, starting out at Calvisano before moving on to Leicester Tigers, Toulon and Racing 92. His career remains one of the most decorated in Italian rugby history. Life today, he says, is different and has to be reinvented every day.
“You have to find your own way, and it isn’t easy”
Asked about life after retirement, Castrogiovanni doesn’t hide the difficulty: “I think life after rugby starts to be a different life from the one you’re used to. You still have to try to find your own way, and it isn’t easy. I’m trying to do a lot of things, I still haven’t figured out what I’ll do when I grow up, I’m working on it, but I think enjoying myself, keeping busy doing different things, is what matters, at least for me.”
Among his recent projects is a travel vlog filmed in Rome with former Argentina hooker Agustín Creevy, in which Castrogiovanni looked back publicly on his own rugby story.
The idea of being a “guardian” of the jersey
The heart of the interview, though, is his bond with the current national team. Castrogiovanni often follows Italy from the stands and admits he still feels part of the group, even years after retiring.
“Once you put on that jersey, you’re like a guardian: you’re the guardian of that jersey, you had it for ten years, you looked after it. And afterwards you’re part of what came before us, what’s here now, and what will come after. We’re all part of this jersey, and we always will be.”
It’s an image that links Castrogiovanni’s generation — the one shared with Sergio Parisse and Gonzalo Canale, another Argentine-born centre with 86 Italy caps between 2003 and 2013 — to the current squad, now guided from the touchline by another Argentine coach, head coach Gonzalo Quesada.
What does being “a guardian” of the Azzurri jersey mean?
For Castrogiovanni, wearing the Italy shirt is an honour that turns into responsibility: whoever wears it looks after it for a limited time, then hands it on to whoever comes next. The bond with the jersey, he explains, lasts forever, even far from the pitch.
Read also: Castrogiovanni: “Our Scrum Still Scares People, We Should Be Proud of Our Numbers”
The full interview with Martin Castrogiovanni is available on DanPat Rugby’s YouTube channel: a chance to hear, in his own words, what it really means to wear the Azzurri jersey.
DANPAT Rugby