{"id":186585,"date":"2025-10-08T22:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T22:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/186585\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T22:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T22:59:13","slug":"italys-tommaso-menoncello-set-for-top-14-move-as-giants-outdo-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/186585\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy’s Tommaso Menoncello set for Top 14 move as giants outdo rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Italy<\/a> centre Tommaso Menoncello<\/a> is set to join reigning Top 14<\/a> champions Toulouse<\/a> at the end of the season, according to French outlet L\u2019Equipe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old\u2019s current contract with Benetton<\/a> is due to run out at the end of the season, and Toulouse, who lifted the Bouclier de Brennus for the 24th time in June, have swooped for him.<\/p>\n

Toulouse\u2019s Top 14 rivals Toulon<\/a> were heavily linked with the 2024 Six Nations<\/a> player of the championship last season, and planned to buy him out of his contract and bring him to the Stade Mayol over the summer, the exact move his Italian centre partner Ignacio Brex made.<\/p>\n

Ronan O\u2019Gara\u2019s La Rochelle were also interested in the 31-cap Italian, but he appears to have opted for Toulouse, despite Toulon reportedly offering higher wages.<\/p>\n

Menoncello will come in to fill the void left by Tonga<\/a> and former New Zealand<\/a> Sevens star Pita Ahki<\/a>, whose contract at the Stade Ernest-Wallon expires at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Toulouse <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bordeaux <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Heading into the new United Rugby Championship<\/a> season, where Benetton have picked up a win and a loss in their opening two matches with Menoncello startingg both matches in the No.13 shirt, the 105kg Italian pinpointed his fitness as an area of his game that he wants to work on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am focusing a lot on the physical side, especially endurance and fitness,\u201d said Menoncello. \u201cI want to be in the best possible condition to face the season. I am working with the athletic trainers to improve my physical condition, so that I can approach the championship with maximum preparation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my sixth season at Benetton Rugby, and every year I try to improve myself. The goals for this year remain the same: to improve constantly in every training session and to give my all to help the team win as much as possible. At the end of the season, my dream is to win the award for the team\u2019s best player.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy centre Tommaso Menoncello is set to join reigning Top 14 champions Toulouse at the end of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-186585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}