Brunel rings changes for Scotland Test
He unveiled his starting XV for a second consecutive warm-up match against Scotland this weekend.
Brunel earlier this week named his 31-man World Cup squad, notably leaving experienced lock Marco Bortolami on the sidelines in favour of the more versatile Valerio Bernabo.
The World Cup squad announcement came after Scotland snatched a 16-12 win over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, where Henry Pyrgos scored the game's only try late on to clinch the win for Vern Cotter's visitors.
Brunel on Thursday made a total of eight changes, notably among the forwards, to his starting XV ahead of Saturday's game at Murrayfield.
With captain Sergio Parisse still sidelined through illness, Brunel passes the armband to Leonardo Ghiraldini after Quintin Geldenhuys – who skippered the Azzurri in Turin – was dropped to the bench.
Luke McLean replaces Andrea Masi at fullback, Angelo Esposito comes in at right-wing to replace Leonardo Sarto, who moves to the left wing, and Hugo Campagnaro starts in place of Tommaso Benvenuti at outside centre.
Luca Morisi, who was not selected for last week's outing, replaces Gonzalo Garcia at inside centre.
Brunel has kept faith with the halfback partnership he fielded against Scotland, Tommaso Allan and Guglielmo Palazzani both keeping their spots.
Samuela Vunisa, meanwhile, remains at Parisse's habitual No.8 position in an unchanged back row with Alessandro Zanni and Francesco Minto.
With Geldenhuys on the bench, Bernabo has been dropped for the matchday squad with Joshua Furno and Marco Fuser given a run-out.
In the front row Brunel has made two changes.
While loosehead prop Matias Aguero keeps his starting place, hooker Davide Giazzon and Lorenzo Cittadini have been replaced respectively by Ghiraldini and Martin Castrogiovanni.
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Hugo Campagnaro, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Samuela Vunisa, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain), 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Andrea Manici, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Marcello Violi, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Andrea Masi.
Date Saturday, August 29
Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Kick-off: 15.15 (16.15 Italian time, 14.15 GMT)
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Agence France-Presse
