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Italy make just 1 change for Saturday's Six Nations visit by England
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.
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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.
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)
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7?? changes for England, uncapped trio on bench ?https://t.co/vPkgdG9tTa
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 29, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Starts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
2 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
2 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
3 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
87 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
228 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to comments