Rugby World UK – August 2019

hat’s the funniest thing

you’ve seen on the

pitch? When Benetton

played the Scarlets away,

George Clancy was the

referee. He said something to one of

our props, something like “work on your

bind”. But our prop doesn’t understand

any English so he just went up to him,

said he was sorry and tried to hug him!

Who are the jokers in the team? With

Benetton, Ian McKinley loves pranking

guys, hiding their shoes in the gym, etc.

He’s a good laugh. And with the national

team me and Jake Polledri are partners

in crime, always winding up people.

Any pranks that you can share? One

day one of the conditioning coaches

had some hurdles out by the side of the

fi eld and one of our wings ran straight

into them, just off the pitch. Everyone

blamed the coach for having the hurdles

out there, so near. Later on that night

me and Jake got all of the hurdles and

put them in the coach’s hotel room.

Any phobias? I’m very claustrophobic,

so lifts aren’t a great one for me. In

Florence last year I had a bit of a panic

attack in a lift when we were stuck in

there for 20 minutes. A lot of the boys

were taking the mickey. And my other

phobia is probably snakes.

So we shouldn’t ask who

you’d like to be stuck in a

lift with... That’s my worst

nightmare, but if I had to be

stuck in a lift I’d like to be in

there with Will Ferrell as he’d

just make me laugh and I

might forget about things.

Do you see many snakes

when you travel back to

Africa? Yeah, Mum and Dad

are still in Zimbabwe and I

have family in South Africa, so I travel

back once a year just to catch up. You

see lots of venomous snakes and you

hear stories all the time. My dad has

encountered a few black mambas,

so those stories do scare you.

You do charity stuff too? Afrika Tikkun

is an organisation that feeds kids less

fortunate than us. Every time I score a

try, I donate to the fund and

try to get the word out as

much as I can. I like to help

out back home. You can

see a link on my Instagram

and Twitter pages.

What winds you up? When

team-mates give me grief

about how skinny my legs

are – I always hear it. It

gets on top of me after

a while when everyone

gives me s*** about it!

Interview Alan Dymock // Pictures Getty Images & Sebastian Negri

FACT FILE

Age 25 (30 June 1994)

Birthplace Marondera,

Zimbabwe

Position Lock/back-row

Club Benetton

Height 6ft 4in

Weight 17st 5lb

Italy caps 16

Twitter @slnegri

DOWNTIME WITH... SEBASTIAN NEGRI

“In Florence last year

I had a bit of a panic

attack in a lift”

The Benetton and Italy bruiser talks phobias, black mambas and singing karaoke

Front Row

WHAT’S

ON YOUR

PHO NE

W

Most important

person in phone

Probably my dad as

he’s a massive fan

and likes to hear

what I’m doing

Last person

you phoned

Dean Budd. To tell

him to hurry up for

a team meeting

Last photo taken

I took one of the

training ground

here in Italy

Last person

texted

Jake Polledri to tell

him how jealous I

am of his holiday