Two new caps in Italy team that shows 11 changes from last outing

Kieran Crowley has named an Italy team to play Scotland this Saturday in Edinburgh that shows 11 changes from the meeting 19 weeks ago between the same two countries.

The Italians were defeated 14-26 in that Guinness Six Nations encounter in March and their first match of the Summer Nations Series ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France sees just four of the same players retained in the starting XV.

Three are in the backs with Tommaso Allan, the full-back four months ago, chosen to start at out-half on this occasion. Winger Pierre Bruno and inside centre Luca Morisi are also included again, while the sole forward retained is Federico Ruzza, who switches from lock to blindside and will skipper the team in the absence of regular skipper Michele Lamaro.

Of the 11 changes – the same number of alterations that Scotland have made to their XV from their last outing – there are debuts at full-back for Lorenzo Pani and at scrum-half for Martin Page-Relo, while Monty Ioane is back in the mix on the wing following his recent unavailability.

Crowley said: “The match against Scotland represents an important first step towards the Rugby World Cup.

“Many players will have the opportunity to play in a high-level international Test match showing their skills to enter the list of call-ups for the World Cup. It will also be a time to evaluate the first part of the preparation for the next matches.”

The four repeat Scotland starters from last March are full-back Ollie Smith, winger Kyle Steyn, hooker George Turner, and second row Sam Skinner.