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Italy name team to take on England
Conor O’Shea has made three changes to his Italy team to face England on Saturday following their encouraging round three performance against defending champions Ireland.
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Veteran talisman Sergio Parisse returns at No8 after recovering from the concussion that ruled him out of the last match. His inclusion sees Braam Steyn switch to openside to fill the void left by the injured Maxime Mbanda.
Italy’s back row is further shaken up by Sebastian Negri’s return to the back in the team in place of Jimmy Tuivaiti at blindside.
Their other change comes at hooker where Luca Bigi, a replacement the last day, takes over from the benched Leonardo Ghiraldini. In the replacements there is a call-up for Gloucester’s Jake Polledri who comes in for Alessandro Zanni.
“It will be a great challenge,” said O’Shea about his team’s trip to Twickenham on the back of a 120-match losing streak in the Six Nations.
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“We trained well during the week, continuing the excellent work done before the match against Ireland. The focus must be on ourselves and on all the things we can control, trying to play our best rugby. I’ve said to the players I don’t want them to even think about the result, their job is to deliver a performance of intensity, physicality and ambition.
“I’ll say ambition 20 times because I want them to go out and play. I’ll take the flak for any results. The big thing is to get the confidence to win and get the energy that comes with that. We have to dust ourselves down every time and come back. This is a massive ask but I can’t wait for this weekend.”
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Parisse is returning for his 137th Test appearance and his 68th in the Six Nations. Ghiraldini will move to third on the Italian all-time championship appearances list behind the skipper and Martin Castrogiovanni if he comes on as a sub to play for the 52nd time in the tournament.
🔵 #Italrugby: annunciato il XV che fronteggerà l'Inghilterra sabato a Twickenham ➡ https://t.co/eo2Uz4sOfD#ENGvITA @SixNationsRugby #insieme #rugbypassioneitaliana pic.twitter.com/2LVcH5g2Y3
— Italrugby (@Federugby) March 7, 2019
Italy team (v England)
15 Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps)
14 Edoardo PADOVANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 18 caps)
13 Luca MORISI (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps)
12 Michele CAMPAGNARO (Wasps, 41 caps)
11 Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
10 Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 46 caps)
9 Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)
8 Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 136 caps) – captain
7 Abraham Jurgens STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 28 caps)
6 Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps)
5 Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps)
4 Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
3 Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
2 Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
1 Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 32 caps)
Replacements
16 Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousian, 102 caps)
17 Cherif TRAORE ‘(Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
18 Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
19 David SISI (Zebre Rugby Club, 3 chaps)
20 Jake POLLEDRI (Gloucester Rugby, 6 caps)
21 Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebras Rugby Club, 30 caps)
22 Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
23 Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 17 caps)
Comments on RugbyPass
Don’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to comments