Italrugby, Monty Ioane misses summer tour: Gonzalo Quesada has already chosen replacement
The three fixtures that will see Italrugby engaged in the Southern Hemisphere are approaching: the Azzurri coached by Gonzalo Quesada will face Namibia in Windhoek on June 27 before a double test match against world champion South Africa on July 5 in Pretoria and July 12 in Port Elizabeth. Compared to the choices made by the Azzurri coach to face the pre-tour retreat, there’s an important change: Monty Ioane has in fact forfeited for family reasons, and Louis Lynagh will take his place.
The son of the great Michael returns to the national team after a few too many physical problems and will be part of the pack of wingers and ends that also includes Benetton teammate Paolo Odogwu, Simone Gesi and Jacopo Trulla of Zebre, as well as newcomer Mirko Belloni, part of Rovigo’s Italian champion squad.
The international window will be important not only because of the result itself, but also because of the need to maintain a relatively high position in the world rankings, since it will be the rankings as of December 2025 that will determine the seedheads for the World Cup to be played in two years in Australia, with a new format that will include 24 teams as opposed to 20 in the 1999 to 2023 editions.
Italy arrives at the summer window on the strength of interesting performances in the last Six Nations, which ended with a win against Wales (22-15 on Feb. 8) and a defeat with an attached defensive bonus against Ireland (17-22 on March 15). The last precedent against Namibia dates back to the 2023 World Cup, with the Azzurri winning 52-8, while against South Africa (beaten only once, in 2016) the most recent precedent dates back to November 2022, with the Springboks winning 63-21 in Genoa.
