Italrugby, the XV for the challenge to South Africa in Pretoria
Gonzalo Quesada, Technical Commissioner of the Italian Men’s National Team, has made official the lineup that will face South Africa on Saturday, July 5 at 5:10 p.m. at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sport Max.
It will be match number 17 between the two teams, the eighth in South Africa with the only Azzurri victory dated November 19, 2016 at the Stadio Franchi in Florence.
There are seven changes in the starting lineup from the Test Match won in Namibia on June 27 in the 2025 Summer Tour opener. Unseen extended triangle formed by Trulla, Lynagh and Gesi. Center pair formed by Menoncello and Zanon with the latter returning to the match list after the match against the All Blacks in Turin. The Zebre-branded halfback is confirmed with Da Re and Fusco.
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In the third line Lorenzo Cannone will wear the number 8 jersey with Zuliani and Izekor completing the department. In the second line, Zambonin is back, who returns to the field after a long injury and will pair with Niccolò Cannone, making his debut as national team captain (fourth Azzurri captain during 2025). In the front line, first cap as a starter for Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, who will have Fischetti and Ferrari on his sides at the scrum, the latter being the only veteran on the field from the victory against South Africa in 2016 (Benetton Rugby’s pylon’s debut match on the national team).
On the bench, along with debutants Dimcheff, Canali (second bench for him after the one in Lille in February 2024 where he did not take the field) and Odiase, ready to take over from Spagnolo, Hasa, Vintcent, Alessandro Garbisi and Bertaccini.
Absent are Sebastian Negri and Giacomo Nicotera: the third line under Benetton following a training collision has been kept on precautionary rest ahead of the third match of the Summer Tour scheduled in Port Elizabeth against South Africa, while the Azzurri captain – named for the tour – suffered a rib injury during training and will be reevaluated in the coming days to assess the extent of his injury.
The match will be directed by Scotland’s Hollie Davidson.
This is the lineup that will take the field:
15 Jacopo TRULLA (Zebre Parma, 15 caps)
14 Louis LYNAGH (Benetton Rugby, 5 caps)
13 Tommaso MENONCELLO (Benetton Rugby, 29 caps)
12 Marco ZANON (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
11 Simone GESI (Zebre Parma, 4 caps)
10 Giacomo DA RE (Zebre Parma, 3 caps)
9 Alessandro FUSCO (Zebre Parma, 19 caps)
8 Lorenzo CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 29 caps)
7 Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 33 caps)
6 Alessandro IZEKOR (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps)
5 Andrea ZAMBONIN (Exeter Chiefs, 10 caps)
4 Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 53 caps) – captain
3 Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 64 caps)
2 Tommaso DI BARTOLOMEO (Zebre Parma, 1 cap)
1 Danilo FISCHETTI (Northampton Saints, 53 caps)
Available
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16 Pablo DIMCHEFF (Colomiers Rugby, rookie)
17 Mirco SPAGNOLO (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps)
18 Muhamed HASA (Zebre Parma, 1 cap)
19 Matteo CANALI (Zebre Parma, rookie)
20 Ross VINTCENT (Exeter Chiefs, 15 caps)
21 David ODIASE (Zebre Parma, rookie)
22 Alessandro GARBISI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
23 Giulio BERTACCINI (Zebre Parma, 2 caps)
