Zambonin Boosts Italian Contingent at Chiefs for 2025/26

Exeter Chiefs have completed the signing of Italian international lock, Andrea Zambonin, ahead of the 2025/26 season.

The move to Devon will mark the first time the forward has played his club rugby outside of Italy having played for Zebre since his professional debut in September 2021.

“I’m excited and honoured to play for a club with such a rich history as Exeter Chiefs,” Zambonin said.

“They are a young team full of talent. Playing in the Gallagher Premiership has always been a dream of mine, and it’s what’s driven me to give my best over the years.”

There will be familiar faces amongst the Chiefs squad for Zambonin as he joins fellow Azzuri internationals Ross Vintcent and Stephen Varney in donning Chiefs colours next season.

Born in Vicenza, the 6ft 8in lock made his Italian debut against England in a Guinness Six Nations match in February 2022 and has earned 10 caps for his country to date.

Before being brought into the fold of the Italian national academy, Zambonin began his rugby journey with Serie A sides Rugby Calvisano and Rangers Vicenza Rugby. Strong performances for the two sides caught Zebre’s eye and he made the switch to the United Rugby Championship side in 2021.

Now, at just 24-years-old, Zambonin already has 60 appearances for Zebre with three tries scored as he begins to emerge as a potential talent for the future in the Italian second row.

Chiefs Director of Rugby spoke about the emerging talent who will add to the depth of international talent in the Chiefs second row alongside the likes of Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza.

“We’re really pleased to sign Andrea,” Baxter said. “He’s a big, young, quality international lock. We’ll have some rotation at the lock position at the end of the season, so Andrea coming in is a very important part of the additions we’ll make to our front-line playing group.

“He’s young, ambitious and he obviously knows Ross Vintcent very well. For us, it’s another move forward, bringing in international quality players in the pack in particular.

“We want to create a group that has a mix of experience towards the higher experienced end of the scale. In recent seasons, our experience range has been more on the youth and exuberance side of things, but we’d like to get that balance up a little across the squad moving forward.”