Italy coach brings in new faces for Ireland clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Italy head coach Kieran Crowley has brought in some new faces for his team’s World Cup warm-up match against Ireland in Dublin.
Wing Paolo Odogwu and lock Dino Lamb are the two uncapped players in the starting XV.
Both players are former England Under-20 internationals, but they qualify for Italy through their families.
Meanwhile, Paolo Garbisi will wear the No.10 jersey this week with Tommaso Allan moving to fullback.
Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello will form a new midfield paring and Stephen Varney will wear the No.9 jersey this week.
There is a new front row in the form of Marco Riccioni, Giacomo Nicotera and Danilo Fischetti.
Federico Ruzza will captain the team again and he will partner Lamb in the second row. Sebastian Negri takes over the No.6 jersey this week.
Italy: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Paolo Odogwu, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza (captain), 4 Dino Lamb, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Michele Lamaro, 21 Lorenzo Cannone, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Lorenzo Pani.
Date: Saturday, August 5
Venue: Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Kick-off: 20.00 (21.00 Italy time; 19.00 GMT)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant referees: Pierre Brousset (France), Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
