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Saints sensation Todaro joins 148kg lock as two uncapped teenagers in Italy squad
By Josh Raisey
Northampton Saints wing Edoardo Todaro has been rewarded for his blistering start to the Gallagher PREM season with a call-up to Italy’s squad for the upcoming Autumn Nations Series.
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The 19-year-old has scored three tries in the opening three matches of the season and collected the player of the match award in the East Midlands derby victory over Leicester Tigers on Saturday.
Todaro was only representing Italy in the World Rugby U20 Championship a matter of months ago, but could soon make his senior debut when Italy take on Australia, South Africa and Chile in November.
Another player that was running out for Italy in the U20 Championship on home soil in June and July, Bath’s Enoch Opoku Gyamfi, has also made Gonzalo Quesada’s squad. The 148kg lock joins Todaro as the other uncapped 19-year-old in the squad.
Zebre centre Damiano Mazza, 26, is the final uncapped member of the 34-man squad.
“We have a very exciting challenge ahead of us in the next international window in November,” Quesada said after naming his squad.
“The goal of the Verona training camp is to maximise the time available to be ready for Udine: without excuses and with a great desire. After the tour in Namibia and South Africa, we’re excited to start a new season together with the opportunity to play at home and in front of our fans.
“The first match of the Quilter Nations Series, like the Six Nations, is the most difficult to prepare for, but I have enormous faith in this staff and this group of players to put in so much energy and commitment to be ready even in just a few training sessions. We’ll have two days of training with the full group in Verona before releasing the players playing abroad on Wednesday to return to their clubs. Then we’ll have all the players called up for the week of the match against Australia. I have no doubt that everyone will be ready.”
“We’ve assembled the group we believe is best to begin preparations in Verona. It’s a list that some players could join in the coming weeks. Athletes like Opoku-Gyamfi and Todaro will have the opportunity – as has happened in the past with other young players like Di Bartolomeo, Odiase, Mey, and Belloni – to begin to explore this level of preparation, the mechanics of working with the national team, and the team culture. Whether they actually take the field will depend on them.”
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Italy squad
Props
Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby, 66 caps)
Danilo Fischetti (Northampton Saints, 55 caps)
Muhamed Hasa (Zebre Parma, 3 caps)
Marco Riccioni (Saracens, 34 caps)
Mirco Spagnolo (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
Hookers
Tommaso Di Bartolomeo (Zebre Parma, 3 caps)
Pablo Dimcheff (Colomiers Rugby, 2 caps)
Giacomo Nicotera (Stade Français, 34 caps)
Second-rows
Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 55 caps)
Riccardo Favretto (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
Enoch Opoku Gyamfi (Bath, uncapped)
Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby, 64 caps)
Andrea Zambonin (Exeter Chiefs, 12 caps)
Back-rows
Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)
Alessandro Izekor (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby, 48 caps)
Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby, 65 caps)
Manuel Zuliani (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps)
Ross Vintcent (Exeter Chiefs, 17 caps)
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Scrum-halves
Alessandro Garbisi (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
Martin Page-Relo (Bordeaux, 18 caps)
Stephen Varney (Exeter Chiefs, 34 caps)
Fly-halves
Tommaso Allan (Perpignan, 86 caps)
Giacomo Da Re (Zebre Parma, 5 caps)
Paolo Garbisi (Toulon, 47 caps)
Centres
Juan Ignacio Brex (Toulon, 46 caps)
Leonardo Marin (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps)
Damiano Mazza (Zebre Parma, uncapped)
Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton Rugby, 31 caps)
Back three
Ange Capuozzo (Stade Toulousain, 28 caps)
Monty Ioane (Lyon, 39 caps)
Louis Lynagh (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
Lorenzo Pani (Zebre Parma, 8 caps)
Edoardo Todaro (Northampton Saints, uncapped)
