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Italy and Argentina name experienced squads for autumn opener
By Josh Raisey
Italy and Argentina have both named sides with only two players with fewer than 10 caps for their encounter in Udine on Saturday.
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Both sides will be looking to get their Autumn Nations Series campaigns off to winning starts, before the Azzurri face Georgia and the All Blacks and the Pumas face Argentina and France.
Winger Louis Lynagh and loosehead Mirco Spagnolo are Italy’s two players with under 10 caps, with four and six, while lock Franco Molina and winger Rodrigo Isgro, who replaced Lynagh at Harlequins over the summer, are Argentina’s two, with nine and four caps.
Both sides have plenty of experience on their benches as well, with Danilo Fischetti, Simone Ferrari and Tommaso Allan all with over 40 caps for Gonzalo Quesada’s Italy.
Matías Alemanno, Matías Moroni and Santiago Cordero all have over 50 caps on Argentina’s bench, with Alemanno just three short of a century.
The Pumas boast an eight-match winning streak over Italy, dating back to 2008, with their most recent win coming in 2021.
It is unknown what Argentina side will show up in northern Italy though. While Felipe Contepomi’s side have registered wins over France, the All Blacks and South Africa this year, three of the top four sides in the world, they have also fallen to all three of those sides in fairly lifeless fashion.
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This year has been a positive one for Italy though, who have won four of their last five matches, with their only loss coming in surprise fashion against Samoa in July.
Italy XV
1. Mirco Spagnolo (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
2. Gianmarco Lucchesi (Toulon Rc, 25 caps)
3. Marco Riccioni (Saracens, 28 caps)
4. Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 44 caps)
5. Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby, 57 caps)
6. Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby, 55 caps)
7. Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby, 41 caps) – captain
8. Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 22 caps)
9. Martin Page-relo (Lyon, 11 caps)
10. Paolo Garbisi (Toulon Rc, 39 caps)
11. Monty Ioane (Lione, 32 caps)
12. Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
13. Juan Ignacio Brex (Benetton Rugby, 38 caps)
14. Louis Lynagh (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
15. Ange Capuozzo (Toulouse, 21 caps)
Replacements
16 Giacomo Nicotera (Stade Francais, 25 caps)
17 Danilo Fischetti (Zebre Parma, 44 caps)
18 Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby, 56 caps)
19 Dino Lamb (Harlequins, 6 caps)
20 Manuel Zuliani (Benetton Rugby, 24 caps)
21 Alessandro Garbisi (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
22 Tommaso Allan (Perpignan, 80 caps)
23 Marco Zanon (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps)
Argentina XV
1. Thomas Gallo (32 caps)
2. Julián Montoya (102 caps) captain
3. Joel Sclavi (24 caps)
4. Franco Molina (9 caps)
5. Pedro Rubiolo (17 caps)
6. Juan Martín González (37 caps)
7. Santiago Grondona (18 caps)
8. Joaquín Oviedo (10 caps)
9. Gonzalo Bertranou (65 caps)
10. Tomás Albornoz (14 caps)
11. Bautista Delguy (30 caps)
12. Matías Orlando (61 caps)
13. Lucio Cinti (29 caps)
14. Rodrigo Isgró (4 caps)
15. Juan Cruz Mallía (39 caps)
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Replacements
16. Ignacio Ruiz (15 caps)
17. Ignacio Calles (5 caps)
18. Francisco Gómez Kodela (38 caps)
19. Matías Alemanno (97 caps)
20. Bautista Pedemonte (1 cap)
21. Gonzalo García (8 caps)
22. Matías Moroni (86 caps)
23. Santiago Cordero (53 caps)
Italy with two players over 50 caps and Argentina with three. "Experienced" is not the adjective that comes to mind first.
Intriguing match-up. You never know which side of Argentina will show up, and Italy significantly improved in the last 6N. Hard to predict.
It will be interesting to see how Argentina go without Matera and Kremer in the mix. Should be a Latin fiesta!