| Birth name | Diego Luis Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1973-09-17)September 17, 1973 (age 51) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Mar del Plata, Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 80 kg (12 st 8 lb; 176 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University of Buenos Aires | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Diego Luis Albanese (born September 17, 1973) is anArgentine retired rugby union player who played as awinger. He played for theSan Isidro Club in Argentina, French side Grenoble,Gloucester andLeeds Tykes. Albanese made 17 appearances forGloucester scoring three tries.
He has won 55 caps forArgentina, scoring 50 points, including appearances at the1995,1999 and2003 World Cups. He became famous after scoring the winning try in theWorld Cup wild card match againstIreland in the 1999 World Cup that putArgentina into their first-ever quarter final.
Albanese joinedLeeds Tykes in 2002 on a two-year contract. He made his debut againstLeicester Tigers in August 2002 and helped his new side to a 26–13 win. In his first season 2002–2003 Diego made 18 starts in theZurich Premiership scoring one try, a match winner againstHarlequins at Headingley. After returning from the World Cup in 2003, he went on to make eight more starts in theZurich Premiership scoring one try, Diego was also a try scorer forLeeds Tykes in theHeineken Cup, in the loss to the reigning European ChampionsToulouse at Headingley. During his time at Leeds he helped them win the2004–05 Powergen Cup, for the final of which he was an early replacement forIain Balshaw.[1]
Albanese leftthe Tykes at the end of the 2004/05 season to return to SIC in Argentina, where he retired in 2006.