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Italy make just 1 change for Saturday's Six Nations visit by England

12:05pm, 29 October 2020

By Online Editors

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(Photo by Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)

12:05pm, 29 October 2020 Go to comments

Franco Smith has made one change to his Italy XV for Saturday’s Six Nations finale against England in Rome. The Italians were beaten 50-17 by Ireland last Saturday when they returned to championship action in Dublin.

Despite that heavy Six Nations loss, coach Smith has opted to kept changes to a minimum in the hope of building some Italy selection consistency. That means the only alteration to their starting side sees Matteo Minozzi take over for Jayden Hayward at full-back.

Minozzi missed last Saturday’s round four championship match due to his start for Wasps in their Gallagher Premiership final defeat to Exeter at Twickenham.

Dylan Hartley on how he and Chris Ashton were once chased by Munster fans

There is also just one alteration on the bench, Guglielmo Palazzani coming in as back-up scrum-half in place of Gloucester’s Callum Braley

“In Ireland, we saw flashes of our game and something positive, but we are aware that we have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Smith. “We are a young team that wants to emerge. We continue on our way to build a precise identity.”

Here's the reason why Jones has this fella primed to sow it into the Italians on Saturday https://t.co/6cLQDHQoMD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 29, 2020

ITALY (vs England, Saturday)
15 Matteo MINOZZI (Wasps, 19 caps)*
14 Edoardo PADOVANI (Benetton Rugby, 24 caps)*
13 Luca MORISI (Benetton Rugby, 33 caps)*
12 Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 27 caps)
11 Mattia BELLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 26 caps)
10 Paolo GARBISI (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap)*
9 Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 16 caps)*
8 Jake POLLEDRI (Gloucester Rugby, 17 caps)
7 Braam STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 40 caps)
6 Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 26 caps)
5 Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)*
4 Marco LAZZARONI (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)*
3 Giosuè ZILOCCHI (Zebre Rugby Club, 6 caps)*
2 Luca BIGI (Zebre Rugby Club, 28 caps) – capitano
1 Danilo FISCHETTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 4 caps)*

Replacements:
16 Gianmarco LUCCHESI (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap)*
17 Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)*
18 Pietro CECCARELLI (Brive, 10 caps)*
19 David SISI (Zebre Rugby Club, 10 caps)
20 Johan MEYER (Zebre Rugby Club 5 caps)
21 Maxime MBANDA’ (Zebre Rugby Club, 21 caps)*
22 Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 39 caps)
23 Federico MORI (Kawasaki Robot Calvisano, 1 cap)

7?? changes for England, uncapped trio on bench ?https://t.co/vPkgdG9tTa
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 29, 2020

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