Italy coach Conor O'Shea has
made five changes to his starting lineup for Sunday's Six
Nations match against Ireland in Rome.
O'Shea has had to rejig his back row with captain Sergio
Parisse unavailable after suffering suspected concussion playing
for his club Stade Francais last weekend.
Braam Steyn moves from open side to number eight, with Maxime
Mbandà taking over the number seven shirt.
Jimmy Tuivaiti comes in on the blind side for his first start
with the national team to replace Sebastian Negri, who is ill.
Lock Federico Ruzza also gets his first start after nine
appearances for Italy as a replacement, with David Sisi dropping
to the bench.
Andrea Lovotti returns at loosehead prop after missing the
15-26 defeat to Wales two weeks ago because of flu, taking over
from Nicola Quaglio.
Scrumhalf Tito Tebaldi is back in the starting XV too after
recovering from the injury he suffered in the warmup for the
opening-day 33-20 defeat in Scotland.
The Azzurri are aiming to end a record run of 19 defeats in
the Six Nations on Sunday.
Hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini will captain the hosts.
Team:
15 Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps)
14 Edoardo PADOVANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 17 caps)*
13 Michele CAMPAGNARO (Wasps, 40 caps)*
12 Luca MORISI (Benetton Rugby, 22 caps)*
11 Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
10 Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 45 caps)
9 Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 29 caps)
8 Abraham Jurgens STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 27 caps)
7 Maxime MBANDA' (Zebre Rugby Club, 15 caps)
6 Jimmy TUIVAITI (Zebre Rugby Club, 2 caps)
5 Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
4 Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps)
3 Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 19caps)
2 Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousian, 101 caps) - captain
1 Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 31caps)
Replacements:
16 Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
17 Cherif TRAORE' (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
18 Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 15caps)
19 David SISI (Zebre Rugby Club, 2 cap)
20 Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 109 caps)
21 Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 30 caps)
22 Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
23 Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 16 caps)
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