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Italy make five changes for France after All Blacks hammering
Italy have made five changes from the team that lost to the All Blacks last week for France this Friday in Lyon, with head coach Kieran Crowley opting to completely change the front-row.
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Loosehead prop Simone Ferrari, hooker Epalahame Faiva and tighthead Pietro Ceccarelli all come in to replace Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera and Marco Riccioni, respectively, with only Riccioni surviving on the bench. Loosehead Marco Manfredi and hooker Federico Zani are the other two front-row options among the substitutes.
While there is only one change in the backline – with Pierre Bruno replacing Luca Morisi – there has been a lot of shuffling by Crowley, with Ange Capuozzo shifting from the wing to fullback, Tommy Allan moving from fullback to fly-half and Paolo Garbisi moving from No10 to inside centre.
The remaining change sees second-row Niccolo Cannone replace Dino Lamb.
Following a disastrous performance last week against the All Blacks in Lyon, where the Azzurri lost 96-17, Crowley said his side’s focus has solely been on this week’s encounter. He said: “Our focus will be on our performance. We worked during the week thinking about our next commitment. We want to honour our identity as a team and try to take the next step.”
Head-to-Head
Last 5 Meetings
Wins
4
Draws
1
Wins
0
Average Points scored
38
13
First try wins
40%
Home team wins
40%
Italy XV
15 Ange CAPUOZZO (Stade Toulousain, 15 caps)
14 Pierre BRUNO (Zebre Parma, 14 caps)
13 Juan Ignacio BREX (Benetton Rugby, 29 caps)
12 Paolo GARBISI (Montpellier, 30 caps)
11 Montanna IOANE (Lione, 24 caps)
10 Tommaso ALLAN (Perpignan, 78 caps)
9 Stephen VARNEY (Gloucester Rugby, 23 caps)
8 Lorenzo CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps)
7 Michele LAMARO (Benetton Rugby, 32 caps) – capitano
6 Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 51 caps)
5 Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 48 caps)
4 Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps)
3 Pietro CECCARELLI (Perpignan, 30 caps)
2 Epalahame FAIVA (svincolato, 9 caps)
1 Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 49 caps)
Replacements
16 Marco MANFREDI (Zebre Parma, 2 caps)
17 Federico ZANI (Benetton Rugby, 24 caps)
18 Marco RICCIONI (Saracens, 25 caps)
19 David SISI (Zebre Parma, 29 caps)
20 Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
21 Alessandro FUSCO (Zebre Parma, 16 caps)
22 Luca MORISI (Zebre Parma, 49 caps)
23 Lorenzo PANI (Zebre Parma, 4 caps)
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I’m at a loss as to why Crowley is not playing Paolo Udogwu. Why even have him in the team if you’re not going to play him. Udogwu could have and should have made the England squad but for stupid Eddie Jones so he opted to play for Italy instead. And now he’s sidelined, why? He is by far the best wing/Center Italy could have hoped for facing these big guns of NZ and FR.
As a Frenchman I feel almost relieved by the composition... I do not understand their logic, I feel some of the best elements are omitted. I cannot see Italy being a threat with this backline, Garbisi is a decent center but is nowhere powerful enough to face Danty and Brex will already have his hands full with Fickou.
I would have also put Odogwu to face Bielle-Biarrey to gain some decent meters easily.
But we'll see soon enough ;)
Kinda feel bad for Giacomo Da Re, been with the squad the whole way through since training camp and hasn't featured once..