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Canada and head coach Kieran Crowley will face Italy in an exhibition match at BMO Field on June 15. FILE PHOTO: THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Neil DavidsonNeil Davidson/The Canadian Press

Rugby Canada officials are hoping that Italy's big man will draw a big crowd to BMO Field when Italy and Canada meet in an international test match June 15.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Robert Barbieri, who was born 27 years ago in Toronto. The 6-foot-1, 238-pound flanker learned the game in Canada and played for the Yeomen side from 2000 to 2003, but has played the past nine years in Italy. He's been capped 16 times as an international player for the 11th-ranked Italians. Canada is ranked 13th.

"It's huge for us to get Italy here for a game," said former World Cup star Gareth Rees, now the manager of Canada's national men's program.

"There's the Italian connection of the Canadian-born player and a big Italian community in Toronto. Italy is one of the top teams in the world, a Six Nations competitor. ... And playing in front of big crowd at BMO Field, that's something players of my generation could only dream of."

Canada's national team will warm up June 9 with a game against the U.S. national team at Kingston, Ont., marking 200 years since the War of 1812. It's the first time the Canadians have been in a match since last year's World Cup in New Zealand, where Canada got one win and a tie against two losses to finish third in its pool. Italy was also third in its World Cup pool, with two wins and two losses.

"Canadian rugby has improved and distanced itself from the Americans," said David Nelson, president of Rugby Ontario. "It used to be that Canada and the United States were together in the rankings, but they rank 17th, now."

Canada likely will meet the United States in qualifying for the next World Cup in 2015. That begins for Canada in 2014.

Rees said about 17,000 seats will be available at BMO. Last year, about 10,000 watched Canada beat the United States in Toronto, but this year there will be more promotion for the Friday night Italian match through Ontario schools, where grassroots participation in rugby is about 25,000 on boys' and girls' teams in 480 schools, Nelson said.

"The crowd at home is important to the Canadian team," Rees said. "They often play in front of big crowds but usually it's on foreign soil."

Barbieri played for Parma from 2003 to 2007 and for Treviso since 2007. The first game in which he represented Italy was June 9, 2006. It was the day his brother Michael – who chose to stay in Canada – was also earning his first international cap for Canada in Toronto against England.

Robert Barbieri played for Italy in the recently completed Six Nations Cup. Italy won its last match a 13-6 victory over 12th-ranked Scotland, which went home without a win. Scotland coach Andy Robinson's tenure has been under question after his team was outscored 108-56 in the tournament, but the former England coach has been kept on. He is signed through the 2015 World Cup in London.

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