Riccioni will 'embrace the pain' in his bid for final glory

Italian tight-head is determined to deliver

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MARCO RICCIONI repeats the mantra, extolling the double-edged virtues of life as a tight-head prop.

“Embrace the pain,” the Saracens scrum cornerstone declares. And in three words, the Italy star encapsulates both his rugby maxim and the mindset required. Riccioni talks about learning to love a spine compressed in rugby’s technical, tactical but always gladiatorial set-piece scrum.

The 25-year-old, who today signed a new two-year deal to stay at the StoneX, could so easily be discussing Teramo and L’Aquila’s recovery from the 2009 earthquake that killed more than 300 people, ravaged a community and ruined scores of historic buildings.

Riccioni was 11 when the quake hit, a young centre at L’Aquila watching senior players and staff clearing rubble and wreckage, then rebuilding.

The Azzurri front-rower was just six games into his Saracens career last term when a torn ACL on Test duty ended his season. Forced to watch last term’s 15-12 Premiership Final defeat by Leicester from the Twickenham stands, Riccioni now wants to repay Saracens’ faith through that injury when it comes to tomorrow’s showdown against Sale.

“You have to love the scrum, you can’t play there if you don’t love it,” Riccioni told Standard Sport.