Injuries force Italy boss' hand
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Kieran Crowley has named an Italy team to face Scotland this Saturday in Rome.
The Italian side contain two injury-enforced changes from their 6-57 Six Nations round three loss to Ireland in Dublin on February 27.
The Azzurri coach was forced to make alterations at scrumhalf and hooker for the round four match at Stadio Olimpico. Stephen Varney has been replaced at No.9 by Callum Braley while Giacomo Nicotera is included in the front row in place of Gianmarco Lucchesi.
Lucchesi’s injury at hooker was followed by the red carding of sub Hame Faiva which resulted in the scrums going uncontested in Dublin and reducing the Italy team to just 13 players.
Crowley said: “We face a team that has shown its worth in previous outings of the tournament. We have the opportunity to play in front of our fans: we want to turn the page and react on the pitch with an important performance.”
Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Giovanni Pettinelli, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Marco Zanon, 23 Ange Capuozzo
Date: Saturday, March 12
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Kick-off: 15.15 (14.15 UK & GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (England), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
