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Italy mimic England selection with recalls and positional selection for Twickenham
By PA
Italy have recalled experienced duo Carlo Canna and Andrea Lovotti to their starting XV for Saturday’s Guinness 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.
Italy: J Trulla (Kawasaki Robot Calvisano); L Sperandio (Benetton Rugby), J Ignacio Brex (Benetton Rugby), C Canna (Zebre Rugby Club), M Ioane (Benetton Rugby); P Garbisi (Benetton Rugby), S Varney (Gloucester Rugby); A Lovotti (Zebre Rugby Club), L Bigi (Zebre Rugby Club, capt), M Riccioni (Benetton Rugby), M Lazzaroni (Benetton Rugby), D Sisi (Zebre Rugby Club), S Negri (Benetton Rugby), J Meyer (Zebre Rugby Club), M Lamaro (Benetton Rugby).
Replacements: G Lucchesi (Benetton Rugby), D Fischetti (Zebre Rugby Club), G Zilocchi (Zebre Rugby Club), N Cannone (Benetton Rugby), F Ruzza (Benetton Rugby), G Palazzani (Zebre Rugby Club), T Allan (Benetton Rugby), F Mori (Kawasaki Robot Calvisano).
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I think the reality is that 2025 is the year that the Oz Super sides need to strike because, after 2025, I think you can expect to see some of the better players like Topou depart Oz rugby for the North.
Suddenly, in certain positions, teams like the Reds and Tahs have real quality depth. Given RA's inability to effectively match off-shore salaries (I understand they have already told Topou that they can't match his existing contract), we will see a fair few players depart for Japan, France, etc post Lions.
Go to commentsplaying in the wrong Premiership mate...
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