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Italy name experienced team to face England in Six Nations opener
New Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada has named a settled starting XV to face England on Saturday at the Stadio Olimpico in the opening match of their Guinness Six Nations campaign.
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Only one member of the starting XV has fewer than ten caps, scrum-half Alessandro Garbisi, while nine players have 30 caps or more. He will form a halfback partnership with his brother Paolo Garbisi.
Fullback Tommaso Allan is the most experienced member of the team with 79 caps, while flanker Sebastian Negri has 52. Lock Federico Ruzza will join them in becoming a half-centurion in Rome.
The bench has slightly less experience, however, with prop Mirco Spanish in line to make his debut, and with Andrea Zambonin, Edoardo Iachizzi and Lorenzo Pani all with fewer than ten caps.
Quesada said: “It was an intense week of work. There is great enthusiasm throughout the group for their Six Nations debut. The staff and all the players showed great commitment trying to quickly immerse themselves in new methodologies.
“We will face the third team of RWC 2023 in an exciting tournament, at home in an Olympic Stadium that will make its support felt. Focus on our performance. We can’t wait to get on the field.”
Italy XV
15 Tommaso ALLAN (Perpignan, 79 caps)
14 Ange CAPUOZZO (Stade Toulousain, 16 caps)
13 Juan Ignacio BREX (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)
12 Tommaso MENONCELLO (Benetton Rugby, 12 caps)
11 Monty IOANE (Lyon 25 caps)
10 Paolo GARBISI (Montpellier, 31 caps)
9 Alessandro GARBISI (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
8 Lorenzo CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
7 Michele LAMARO (Benetton Rugby, 33 caps) – captain
6 Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 52 caps)
5 Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 49 caps)
4 Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 36 caps)
3 Pietro CECCARELLI (Perpignan, 31 caps)
2 Gianmarco LUCCHESI (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
1 Danilo FISCHETTI (Zebre Parma, 36 caps)
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Replacements
16 Giacomo NICOTERA (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
17 Mirco SPAGNOLO (Benetton Rugby, debutant)
18 Giosuè ZILOCCHI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
19 Andrea ZAMBONIN (Zebre Parma, 3 caps)
20 Edoardo IACHIZZI (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
21 Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
22 Stephen VARNEY (Gloucester, 24 caps)
23 Lorenzo PANI (Zebre Parma, 5 caps)
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments