O'Shea names 44 in Italy's World Cup training squad
Conor O’Shea has chosen a squad of 44 to train for Italy’s World Cup campaign, with only 10 having previous experience at a finals.
Captain Sergio Parisse is in the running for his fifth World Cup tournament while two other veterans, Leonardo Ghiraldini and Alessandro Zanni, are chasing their fourth participation
O’Shea’s preliminary squad, which will initially gather at Pergine Valsugana on June 2, consists largely of the players who represented the Azzurri in the frequent Six Nations, a competition where Italy again finished bottom of the table following five defeats.
There are returns for Marco Fuser, Rernato Giammarioli, Marco Lazzaroni and Giosue Zilocchi, who were fringe players in 2019, while Mattia Bellini, Giovanni Licata, Matteo Minozzi, Marcello Violi and Zani return to the mix following injury.
Fresh from their historic qualification for the Guinness PRO14 play-offs, Benetton account for 50 per cent of the training squad as Kieran Crowley’s squad, who play Munster this Saturday, were rewarded with 22 call-ups.
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There are also three uncapped players included, Gloucester scrum-half Callum Braley, hooker Enjiel Makelara and prop Marco Riccioni.
O’Shea said: “The announcement of this team for summer gatherings leads to realising how close we are to the incredible sporting experience that awaits us in September in Japan. It’s a great opportunity to take a new step in our journey that aims to bring Italy back at the top of international rugby.
? #RoadtoRWC2019: i 44 Azzurri per preparare i Mondiali
Tutti i dettagli qui ? https://t.co/FU23s28gGo#Italrugby #insieme pic.twitter.com/JzlKnPnduA— Italrugby (@Federugby) May 2, 2019
“This group is a mix of young people and veterans, a truly electrifying whole. We have already had to make some difficult choices and even harder ones will have to be made during the summer.
“Playing a World Cup is every player’s dream. Between June and July we will hold four meetings in Pergine Valsugana, the first starting from June 2, working together and working alongside the two franchises before starting our summer Test matches on August 10 in Dublin against Ireland.”
'I haven’t been at Benetton for a long time but just you could see the emotion in a lot of the players’ faces'
– @MontyIoane tells @heagneyl what reaching the @PRO14Official quarter-finals really means to @BenettonRugby ahead of their trip to… https://t.co/dI9dyjJ1F0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 1, 2019
PROPS
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 22 caps)
Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 34 caps)
Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
Nicola QUAGLIO (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps)
Marco RICCIONI (Benetton Rugby, uncapped)
Cherif TRAORE’ (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
Federico ZANI (Benetton Rugby 7 caps)
Giosuè ZILOCCHI (Zebre Rugby Club, 2 caps)
HOOKERS
Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps)
Oliviero FABIANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 7 caps)
Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousian 104 caps)
Engjel MAKELARA (Benetton Rugby, uncapped)
SECOND ROW
Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
Marco FUSER (Benetton Rugby, 33 caps)
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 12 caps)
David SISI (Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)
Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 111 caps)
BACK ROW
Renato GIAMMARIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 3 caps)
Marco LAZZARONI (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Giovanni LICATA (Zebre Rugby Club, 7 caps)
Maxime MBANDA’ (Zebre Rugby Club, 16 caps)
Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 138 caps) – captain
Jake POLLEDRI (Gloucester, 8 caps)
Abraham STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)
Jimmy TUIVAITI (Zebre Rugby Club, 3 caps)
SCRUM-HALF
Callum BRALEY (Gloucester, uncapped)
Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 31 caps)
Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 32 caps)
Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 15 caps)
OUT-HALF
Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 48 caps)
Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 32 caps)
Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
CENTRE
Tommaso BENVENUTI (Benetton Rugby, 56 caps)
Michele CAMPAGNARO (Wasps, 42 caps)
Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 18 caps)
Luca MORISI (Benetton Rugby, 25 caps)
Marco ZANON (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap)
BACK THREE
Mattia BELLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 17 caps)
Giulio BISEGNI (Zebre Rugby Club, 11 caps)
Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
Matteo MINOZZI (Zebre Rugby Club, 10 caps)
Edoardo PADOVANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 20 caps)
WATCH: The RugbyPass documentary on Zebre, the PRO14 franchise
Comments on RugbyPass
I really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to comments