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Italy tweak wider squad as they plan to derail France's Grand Slam bid
By Josh Raisey
Bordeaux-Begles scrum-half Martin Page-Relo has returned to Italy’s 33-man squad ahead of the Guinness Six Nations round three clash with France in Lille on Sunday.
The 27-year-old has replaced Stephen Varney in the squad, who continues to recover from an adductor injury. Page-Relo has been added to the squad alongside Zebre centre Giulio Bertaccini, who has replaced Simone Gesi.
Neither Varney nor Gesi had featured in Italy’s opening two matches of the Championship – a victory over Scotland in Rome and a narrow defeat to Ireland in Dublin.
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Unfortunately for the Azzurri, centre Juan Ignacio Brex remains unavailable for personal reasons.
Gonzalo Quesada’s men now face the daunting task of taking on the reigning champions and the only side that remain unbeaten this year. They will be returning to Lille’s Stade Pierre Mauroy for the fixture, which resulted in a 13-13 draw between the two sides when they met there in 2024.
Italy squad
Prop
Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby, 71 caps)
Danilo Fischetti (Northampton Saints, 60 caps)
Muhamed Hasa (Zebre Parma, 6 caps)
Mirco Spagnolo (Benetton Rugby, 21 caps)
Giosuè Zilocchi (Benetton Rugby, 24 caps)
Hooker
Tommaso Di Bartolomeeo (Zebre Parma, 8 caps)
Pablo Dimcheff (Colomiers Rugby, 3 caps)
Giacomo Nicotera (Stade Français, 38 caps)
Second-row
Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 60 caps)
Riccardo Favretto (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby, 69 caps)
Andrea Zambonin (Exeter Chiefs, 16 caps)
Back-row
Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps)
Alessandro Izekor (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby, 51 caps)
Samuele Locatelli (Zebre Parma, esordiente)
David Odiase (Zebre Parma, 4 caps)
Manuel Zuliani (Benetton Rugby, 40 caps)
Scrum-half
Alessandro Fusco (Zebre Parma, 22 caps)
Alessandro Garbisi (Benetton Rugby, 21 caps)
Martin Page-Relo (Bordeaux, 21 caps)
Fly-half
Giacomo Da Re (Zebre Parma, 6 caps)
Paolo Garbisi (Toulon, 51 caps)
Centre
Giulio Bertaccini (Zebre Parma, 4 caps)
Leonardo Marin (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps)
Damiano Mazza (Zebre Parma, esordiente)
Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton Rugby, 36 caps)
Paolo Odogwu (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
Back three
Ange Capuozzo (Stade Toulousain, 31 caps)
Matt Gallagher (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Monty Ioane (Lione, 44 caps)
Louis Lynagh (Benetton Rugby, 11 caps)
Lorenzo Pani (Zebre Parma, 10 caps)
Not considered due to injury:
Tommaso Allan (Perpignan, 87 caps)
Juan Ignacio Brex (Toulon, 50 caps)
Gianmarco Lucchesi (Toulon, 33 caps)
Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby, 65 caps)
Marco Riccioni (Saracens, 36 caps)
Edoardo Todaro (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)
Jacopo Trulla (Zebre Parma, 17 caps)
Stephen Varney (Exeter Chiefs, 36 caps)
Ross Vintcent (Exeter Chiefs, 19 caps)
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