Italrugby’s call-ups for the gathering ahead of the Six Nations
The summoned of Italrugby for the meeting before the Six Nations
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Gonzalo Quesada, the Technical Commissioner of the Italian Men’s National Rugby Team, has made official the list of athletes summoned for the gathering in Rome – scheduled to begin Sunday, January 19 – in preparation for the Guinness Six Nations 2025, in which Italy will make its debut on February 1 by facing Scotland away in Edinburgh.
Thirty athletes summoned by the Azzurri technical staff, divided for the first week of preparation for the world’s oldest rugby tournament into seventeen forwards and thirteen quarterbacks, plus four athletes invited to participate in training.Among the returns to the scrum is that of right pylon Giosuè Zilocchi, absent due to injury during the Autumn Nations Series, while left pylon Rizzoli returns to the group as a call-up after the invitation he received for the autumn window and already in the Azzurri squad during the Crowley management. Unavailable for disqualification Mirco Spagnolo.
In the second and third lines the block of the last international window is confirmed, with only Andrea Zambonin not considered due to injury.
In the midfield we see again the number nine Stephen Varney, who during the course of the season left Gloucester to move to Vannes finding in the French top league more minutiae after a long militancy with the cherry-and-white, while among the openers Tommaso Allan – unavailable in Genoa and Turin against Georgia and New Zealand – è the veteran of the Azzurri group with his eighty-one caps to his credit and more than five hundred points scored with Italy, the second-best Italian scorer of all time and the most prolific in the Tournament (165 points).In the three-quarterbacks, Zebre winger Simone Gesi, who collected his only cap in the national team precisely against Scotland, at Murrayfield, in the 2023 edition of the Six Nations, returns to the national team, with equal-role player Louis Lynagh – recently underwent surgery – in the pits due to injury.
Invited to take part in the gathering toward the’debut at the Six Nations 2025 Muhamed Hasa, Matteo Canali, Tommaso Di Bartolomeo and Giulio Bertaccini, the’only one of the quartet to have already trodden the Test match stage debuting at the “Ferraris” against Georgia on Nov. 17.“The period we will experience in Rome will be of paramount importance in view of the’start of the tournament. In the first week there will be only two days where we will have the whole group available. It’ll be crucial to organize and optimize the time available to work at our best. I’m looking forward to seeing the whole team again: we are aware that great challenges are coming for us. We have a united and solid group even if we are missing players due to injuries. We restart from what was good shown in November and what we worked on but failed to bring to the field as we wanted. Focus on our processes and what we can control. Continuing the growth of our rugby, of what we aim to do on the field, more convinced and determined than ever. Continuing also in strengthening our identity as a team and in our culture. The level of commitment of everyone, players and staff, with the national team in this Six Nations will be as high as ever” said Gonzalo Quesada.
This is the schedule of Italy’s matches:
Day I
01.02.25 – 3:15 pm
Scotland v Italy – Murrayfield Stadium
Day II
08.02.25 – 3:15 pm
Italy v Wales – Rome, Stadio Olimpico
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Day III
02/23/25 – 4:00 pm
Italy v France – Rome, Stadio Olimpico
Day IV
09.03.25 – 4:00 pm
England v Italy – Allianz Twickenham Stadium
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Day V
03/15/25 – 3:15 pm
Italy v Ireland – Rome, Stadio Olimpico
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This is the list of summoned players of’Italy:
Pylons
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 59 caps)
Danilo FISCHETTI (Zebre Parma, 47 caps)
Marco RICCIONI (Saracens, 30 caps)
Luca RIZZOLI (Zebre Parma, rookie)
Giosuè ZILOCCHI (Benetton Rugby, 22 caps)
Heelers
Gianmarco LUCCHESI (Toulon, 28 caps)
Giacomo NICOTERA (Stade Francais, 28 caps)
Second Lines
Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 47 caps)
Riccardo FAVRETTO (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
Dino LAMB (Harlequins, 9 caps)
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 59 caps)
Third Lines
Lorenzo CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps)
Alessandro IZEKOR (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
Michele LAMARO (Benetton Rugby, 43 caps)
Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 58 caps)
Ross VINTCENT (Exeter Chiefs, 9 caps)
Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 27 caps)
Scrumhalf
Alessandro GARBISI (Benetton Rugby, 13 caps)
Martin PAGE-RELO (Lyon, 13 caps)
Stephen VARNEY (Vannes, 30 caps)
Opening Mids
Tommaso ALLAN (Perpignan, 81 caps)
Paolo GARBISI (Toulon, 42 caps)
Leonardo MARIN (Benetton Rugby, 13 caps)
Centers
Juan Ignacio BREX (Benetton Rugby, 41 caps)
Tommaso MENONCELLO (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps)
Wings/Extremes
Ange CAPUOZZO (Stade Toulousain, 23 caps)
Matt GALLAGHER (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps)
Simone GESI (Zebre Parma, 1 cap)
Monty IOANE (Lyon, 35 caps)
Jacopo TRULLA (Zebre Parma, 12 caps)
Invited Athletes
Giulio BERTACCINI (Valorugby Emilia, 1 cap)
Matteo CANALI (Zebre Parma, rookie)
Tommaso DI BARTOLOMEO (Zebre Parma, rookie)
Muhamed HASA (Zebre Parma, rookie)
Athletes not considered for injury
Louis LYNAGH (Benetton Rugby, 5 caps)
Paolo ODOGWU (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
Andrea ZAMBONIN (Zebre Parma, 9 caps)
