Italy have recalled experienced duo Carlo Canna and Andrea Lovotti to their starting XV for Saturday’s Six Nations clash with England at Twickenham.
Canna starts at inside centre in place of the injured Marco Zanon and loosehead prop Lovotti is preferred ahead of Daniele Rimpelli, who drops out of the matchday 23 altogether.
Head coach Franco Smith continues to invest in youth despite the 50-10 drubbing by France that opened Italy’s tournament.
Eight of the starting XV have caps totals in single digits and the visitors are overwhelming favourites to fall to a 29th successive Six Nations loss on Saturday.
“We will face one of the best teams in the world in an iconic stadium. We have been working hard this week with further focus on some factors with the aim of having a high performance level,” Smith said.
— Italrugby (@Federugby) February 11, 2021
Italy team to play England
Forwards: 1 Andrea Lovotti (Zebre Rugby Club), 2 Luca Bigi (CAPTAIN, Zebre Rugby Club), 3 Marco Riccioni (Benetton Rugby), 4 Marco Lazzaroni (Benetton Rugby), 5 David Sisi (Zebre Rugby Club), 6 Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby), 7 Johan Meyer (Zebre Rugby Club), 8 Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby)
Backs: 9 Stephen Varney (Gloucester Rugby), 10 Paolo Garbisi (Benetton Rugby), 11 Montanna Ioane (Benetton Rugby), 12 Carlo Canna (Zebre Rugby Club), 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (Benetton Rugby), 14 Luca Sperandio (Benetton Rugby), 15 Jacopo Trulla (Kawasaki Robot Calvisano)
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi (Benetton Rugby), 17 Danilo Fischetti (Zebre Rugby Club), 18 Giosuè Zilocchi (Zebre Rugby Club), 19 Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby), 20 Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby), 21 Guglielmo Palazzani (Zebre Rugby Club), 22 Tommaso Allan (Benetton Rugby), 23 Federico Mori (Kawasaki Robot Calvisano)