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O'Shea names the Italian squad of 26 he is taking with him to London
By Online Editors
Sergio Parisse is in line for an Italy recall after Conor O’Shea included him in the 26-strong squad that flies to London on Wednesday to take on England next Saturday.
There were fears that the Italian talisman might not make the cut as the concussion that ruled him out of the Italians’ round three loss to Ireland in Rome also kept him out of Stade Francais’ Top 14 match last weekend.
However, the veteran No8 appears to have made a full recovery as he has made O’Shea’s travelling party.
Instead, the eight players excluded - Oliviero Fabiani, Marco Barbini, Jake Polledri, Jimmy Tuivaiti, Callum Braley, Carlo Canna, Giulio Bisegni and Luca Sperandio - will now return to their clubs.
Italy come into the game at Twickenham on the back of 20 successive Six Nations, but their confidence is high following competitive February performances against Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
(Continue reading below...)
But for a missed kick in the game's final action, they would have secured a losing bonus point in their last outing versus the Irish.
Italy squad (v England)
Props
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 32 caps) *
Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
Marco RICCIONI (Benetton Rugby, rookie) *
Cherif TRAORE '(Benetton Rugby, 8 caps) *
Hookers
Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousian, 102 caps)
Second Row
Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps)
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps) *
David SISI (Zebre Rugby Club, 3 chaps)
Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 110 caps)
Flanker/No8
Maxime MBANDA '(Zebre Rugby Club, 16 caps) *
Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps)
Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 136 caps) - captain
Abraham Jurgens STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 28 caps)
Scrum-half
Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebras Rugby Club, 30 caps)
Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)
Out-half
Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 46 caps)
Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
Centres
Michele CAMPAGNARO (Wasps, 41 caps) *
Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 17 caps)
Luca MORISI (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps) *
Marco ZANON (Benetton Rugby, rookie) *
Back three
Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps)
Edoardo PADOVANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 18 caps) *
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Latest Comments
we need a damaging 12 that takes 2 men to tackle that will take pressure off the 10 while also creating space for the 10 and 13 . Leicester is the only guy that fits the mould . The next thing is " will he be able to develop a good offload " ? .
for 13 Joey manu has more x factor then reiko and jordie put togeather . he's got one season in japan before he looks to come home . he's a dark horse but his skill set is something the All Blacks don't have . if he comes home and lights up the npc in a game or 2 , id love to see him fast tracked and come off the bench for the All Blacks and thrown into the deep end to see if he can swim . Just to see if he's worth the time and effort to develop further . We all saw how good sualii did for the wallabies and joey manu is just as good as sualii . He's safe under the high ball , a solid defender , has a master offload , and he's fast and strong .
he fits the mould for razor's offload tactics .
Plus reiko and jordie have had the 12 & 13 for how long and I haven't seen anything special from either of them .
Go to commentsRussia has taken their freedom. Dying for nato won't change that.
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