Sebastian Negri: 'I never saw home again'

On fleeing from his home in Zimbabwe in the middle of night aged seven after war veterans arrived to claim his home:

"My immediate thoughts were, 'Oh, dad is just taking us into the city and we will be back the next day or in a few days’. I didn’t really think too much of it but you know it’s not good because you can see the emotion in your dad’s eyes and the worry.

"I remember getting into the back of the car and I remember Dad saying, 'Keep quiet' and turning all the lights off in the car and basically driving in the dark off the farm, I remember looking back out of the back window at home.

"I never saw home again.”

On his mum having been taken hostage when she went back:

"Mum went with a friend of hers a couple of days later and she was held hostage. We had to get the embassy involved, it wasn’t great. That was pretty scary."

On his dad never having been back to the family home:

"From the day we left, my dad’s never, ever gone back. We’ve still got all the papers and everything. That farm is rightfully ours. Who knows, one day we might get it back.

"My dad employed over 1000 people, we had a school on the farm, we had a university, we had everything. It was a full operation, we had tobacco, maize, cattle, orchards, horses – and that was all taken from us."

On his Italian family on his dad's side stepping in to help them when they had nothing:

"They were there for us when we needed them. When you lose everything in 12 hours or whatever it was… they were there for us.

"Whenever I run out on an Italy jersey, I am not only representing my close family, I’m representing all the Italian family who were for us when we needed them. I am extremely proud of that."

On managing to take the lessons from his tough experiences:

"It was a really difficult time but the lesson I have taken from that is how important family is for one, and sometimes life throws difficult situations at you but it’s how you stick together, how you bounce back.

"That serves as a lesson not only in life but you can transfer that to rugby. You are going to get knocks along the way but it’s how you bounce back, stay positive and keep fighting through.

"I look no further than my family for that and I am extremely blessed and grateful for that lesson."

On feeling utterly at home in Treviso playing for Benetton:

"I’ve got family nearby who support me, it’s really nice to feel that when you are so far from home.

"I’ve been at Benetton for six or seven years. It’s a place I thoroughly enjoy, I’ve met some incredible people, made some lifelong friends and memories and I am very happy there."

On his future wedding plans linking back to other challenging parts of his past:

"We have a wedding to plan next year. It’s another special thing, we are going to use one of the family locations in Italy through my cousins. Full circle – they were there for my dad after the Rhodesian war when my dad came to Italy because he was struggling mentally and having nightmares and bad dreams about the two years in the army, he saw a lot of action. The family were there for him – and that’s where we are going to get married."

On his dad being there to see him win cap number 50 after all they’ve been through:

"I am getting emotional just chatting about it. It’s going to be extremely emotional, a very, very special moment. My dad is my role model, so to have him there in the crowd will be extremely special. He was there when I got my first phone call from the international team that I was getting called up to travel to America to play my first test.

"It’s almost come full circle. For him to be there on Wednesday is going to be a moment I will hold very close for the rest of my life and tell my kids one day."