Italy coach Conor O'Shea said
Thursday that he has made three changes to his starting lineup
for Saturday's Six Nations match against Ireland in Dublin.
The Azzurri were thumped 46-15 by England in Rome in their
tournament opener last weekend while the Irish won 15-13 in
France thanks to a last-gasp drop goal by Jonathan Sexton.
Flanker Abraham Steyn comes in for Renato Giammarioli on the
open side of the back row, Luca Bigi takes over from Leonardo
Ghiraldini at hooker and prop Nicola Quaglio comes into the
front row for Andrea Lovotti to make his first start for the
national team after three appearances as a substitute.
Italy team:
15 Matteo MINOZZI (Zebre Rugby Club, 4 caps)
14 Tommaso BENVENUTI (Benetton Rugby, 46 caps)
13 Tommaso BONI (Zebre Rugby Club, 9 caps)
12 Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 6 caps)
11 Mattia BELLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 9 caps)
10 Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 34 caps)
9 Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 9 caps)
8 Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 130 caps) - captain
7 Abraham STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
6 Sebastian NEGRI DA OLEGGIO (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
5 Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
4 Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 100 caps)
3 Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps)
2 Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
1 Nicola QUAGLIO (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Replacements
16 Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousain, 90 caps)
17 Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 21 caps)
18 Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
19 Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
20 Maxime Mata MBANDA' (Zebre Rugby Club, 12 caps)
21 Edoardo GORI (Benetton Rugby, 66 caps)
22 Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 26 caps)
23 Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
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