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Two changes as Italy name team to play England in the Six Nations
By Liam Heagney
Kieran Crowley has named an Italy team to play England this Sunday in the Guinness Six Nations that shows two changes from the XV that gave defending champions France a scare last weekend. The Italians ultimately lost that round one match in Rome 24-29 and their head coach has reacted by making two alterations, one in the backs and another to his pack.
On the wing, Edoardo Padovani, a used replacement last Sunday at the Stadio Olimpico, will now start in the No14 jersey with Pierre Bruno dropping to the bench. In the pack, Marco Riccioni, who plays his club rugby for Saracens, has been included at tighthead.
That decision means Simone Ferrari drops to the bench with Pietro Ceccarelli omitted from the match day 23. The other Italy change on a Six Nations bench containing six forwards and two backs is the inclusion of the Gloucester-based Jake Polledri at the expense of Giovanni Pettinelli.
Polledri hasn't been capped since suffering a horrendous knee injury when playing for the Italians in the 2020 Autumn Nations Series.
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Latest Comments
I'm honestly not so sure. I initially thought just reckless mainly because no player should be capable of doing that intentionally.
There's a strong argument that he's working both the eyes. It's his left hand he uses which is furthest from the ball he's contesting. His fingers are also clenched which I don't think is a natural way to try and rip a ball.
Go to comments"I see those teams, SA in particular, as only improving their performances in EPCR."
well, its gone the opposite direction so far!
"I don't like your model that requires them to reach Semi Final level in the Challenge trophy, given the bottleneck that will be URC with 16 teams playing for only 4 places."
my model would have given SA 3 spots in a 16 team CC this year, which is the same number as they have in the 24 team version that is actually taking place. But yes, if they keep getting worse it would get harder for them to get places. It would also get harder for you to argue that they deserve places though!
"I suggest by giving say Englands two semi finalist first seeds of the english teams, then the next best 4 on the league table as much better (it catches improving teams faster)."
interesting argument, but it doesn't always go that way. Gloucester are improving, but they improved in cup competitions before league fixtures started going their way. The same is true of Sharks, and the same was true of la Rochelle. I think maybe this is just an argument for allowing more teams to qualify via the challenge cup!
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