New Zealand rugby, and the Chiefs in particular, still miss Charlie Ngatai, who continued to show his class for Lyon in the French Top 14.
The Italian franchise have just two wins from a dozen outings in this season’s Guinness PRO14, but pack statistics have resulted in a dozen forwards signing new deals.
We had the two New Zealand head coaches in the competition – Chris Boyd of the Saints and Pat Lam of the Bears – going head to head in a Six Nations hiatus with no less than 13 players who have a New Zealand rugby connection.
Elsewhere in the Champions Cup, a Jackson Willison try was not enough for Bath, which fell 19-25 at home to Harlequins.
Former All Blacks star George Moala is proving just as hard to contain on the fields of Europe as he was in New Zealand.
Follow all the action from the World Cup warm-up match on the RugbyPass live blog as England host Italy at St James’ Park in Newcastle.
Having been beaten by France in Paris in their last outing, Conor O'Shea has reshuffled his Italy team to face England in Newcastle on Friday.
Conor O'Shea has named his 31-man Italy Rugby World Cup squad for Japan - and there are some significant casualties.