RECAP: Italy v France
READERS’ FORUM: Welcome to our coverage of the Six Nations Round One encounter between Italy and France in Rome.
France will be counting on the dynamic form of star scrumhalf Antoine Dupont to energise their campaign, starting on Saturday against Italy in Rome.
The 24-year-old, the Six Nations player of the tournament last year, has been on an upward trajectory since making his France debut in 2017 against Italy in the Stadio Olimpico.
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Teams
Italy: 15 Jacopo Trulla; 14 Luca Sperandio, 13 Marco Zanon, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Montanna Ioane; 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney; 8 Michele Lamaro, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Sebastian Negri; 5 David Sisi, 4 Marco Lazzaroni; 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Luca Bigi (captain), 1 Cherif Traore
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Giosue Zilocchi, 19 Niccolo Cannone, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Maxime Mbanda, 22 Guglielmo Palazzani, 23 Carlo Canna
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Arthur Vincent, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Gabin Villiere, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Charles Ollivon (captain), 6 Dylan Cretin, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Bernard Le Roux, 3 Mohamed Haouas, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Dorian Aldeghiri, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Anthony Jeronch, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Louis Carbonel, 23 Damian Penaud.
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Christophe Ridley (England)
TMO: Karl Dickson (England)
