The three-year collaboration, announced in Rome, will see Sportradar provide both its Fraud Detection System and its Fraud Prevention Services to the top league in Italy - the Eccellenza - and the 10 clubs that contest it.

Around 450 betting operators from Europe and beyond will be monitored by the Detection System to flag and analyse unorthodox betting patterns and behaviours.

All 10 Eccellenza clubs will also send their players, coaches and managers through a "fully tailored workshop" run by the Prevention Services, which will be led by Sportradar’s integrity executive in Italy, Marcello Presilla.

Italian Rugby has not yet faced a major match-fixing problem but other sports in the European nation have been riddled with issues.

This particularly concerns football, where the owner Antonio Pulvirenti and other senior officials at Serie B club Calcio Catania were arrested earlier this year. 

This followed a major scandal in 2006 in which league champions Juventus were implicated along with other major teams including AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, and Reggina. 

“Every year Italian rugby is making progress," said FIR President Alfredo Gavazzi.

"Last year we came fifth in the Six Nations and this year we gave a good account of ourselves in the Rugby World Cup.

"The game is growing here and we love the passion of our fans who travel and support their teams across Italy and Europe.

"But growing the sport also means taking care of its roots and its foundations and one of those foundations is its integrity; its honesty.

"This partnership with the company that supports all the main rugby leagues and federations in their defence against match manipulation is a commitment.

"It is a commitment from us to our players, coaches, officials, fans, sponsors and broadcasters that we will cut no corners when it comes to keeping the game we love honest. Italian rugby can and will continue to grow, knowing that its foundations are secure and protected."

Sportradar, billed as a global leader in understanding and leveraging the power of sports data and digital content for its clients around the world, have signed similar partnerships with leagues and bodies across a variety of other sports in recent years, including in basketball, tennis, snooker and darts.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and betting data company Sportradar last month to allow the sharing of information regarding sports betting and the integrity of sports competitions.

“Rugby is a sport strong on values around integrity, fair play and respect and what we see with this partnership is FIR living and protecting those values," added Sportradar managing director of security services, Andreas Krannich. 

"By reaching out to us, FIR have shown a keen ability to cut through the noise and understand the dangers.

"They have focused on making sure that they are partnering with the experts in rugby union and we look forward to the series of workshops we will be rolling out to all the Eccellenza clubs in the coming weeks.”