Italy mimic England selection with recalls and positional selection for Twickenham

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).