By Stephen Nell
Fullback Giovanni 'John' Antoni is the latest South African rugby product to crack the Italian national team.
Kenya-born Antoni was educated at Kearsney College in Durban, where he matriculated in 1993 and was a team-mate of Sharks midfield star Trevor Halstead during a post-matric in 1994. He also spent 1999 and 2000 at the Institute of Rugby at Stellenbosch being shaped by Western Province coaching legend Dawie Snyman.
"My father's parents are Italian and I ended up going there because I had an Italian passport and thought I would give it a shot of getting into the Italian national side," said the friendly 25-year-old.
"I wasn't allowed to go to university here because I didn't have a South African passport, so I ended up going to the Agriculture College England. Then of course rugby turned professional so I thought I'd give it a shot," said Antoni.
"I was paging through a copy of SA Rugby magazine at the end of 1998 and saw an advertisement in for the Institute of Rugby. I applied and they accepted me. I did two years there which was incredible. Dawie Snyman is a rugby genius. My game improved 200%," he added.
Antoni, who is not yet fluent in Italian, has spent the last eight months in the country and was noticed by coach Brad Johnstone in a tribute match for the legendary Cuttitta twins - Marcello and Massimo - who ironically were educated in the Eastern Cape.
"I played half the match and Brad was watching. He obviously liked what he saw and picked me to come on tour. It's going to be a great experience playing against South Africa," said Antoni, who recently made his test debut against Namibia.
Antoni will be one of two players with South African links in Italy's starting line-up on Saturday. The other is lock Wim Visser, who also toured the country in 1999.
Visser's second row partner Mare Giacheri, who hails from Australia, completes Italy's league of nations.