Italy finds Capuozzo again but loses Brex to Ireland
First day of work on the field for the Italian Men’s National Team in preparation for the match against Ireland, the Azzurri’s second match in the Guinness Six Nations 2026 scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 14 at 2:10 p.m. local (3:10 p.m. Italian) at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sport One and free-to-air on TV8.
The list of summoned players includes Ange Capuozzo and Simone Gesi, the latter of whom was involved with the Italy XV in the draw in Rieti against Scotland A last Feb. 6, while Nacho Brex will be missing: the Azzurri center, who reached 50 appearances along with Paolo Garbisi and Lamaro in the Italy jersey in the win against Scotland, in agreement with the technical staff will not be present at the gathering for family reasons.
“Nacho is a very valuable player for the group on and off the field, but in the management of the team the human side and the family – for my point of view – will always be considered as a priority. We have discussed this with him and the decision made is the best one. To be focused in one’s work, it is important to be calm: in every area, with players and staff, we work first with people than with professionals,” said Gonzalo Quesada.
The Azzurri called up for the match against Ireland’Ireland:
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Pylons
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 70 caps)
Danilo FISCHETTI (Northampton Saints 59 caps)
Muhamed HASA (Zebre Parma 5 caps)
Mirco SPAGNOLO (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
Joshua ZILOCCHI (Benetton Rugby, 24 caps)
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Talloners
Tommaso DI BARTOLOMEO (Zebre Parma, 7 caps)
Pablo DIMCHEFF (Colomiers Rugby, 3 caps)
Giacomo NICOTERA (Stade Français, 37 caps)
Second Lines
Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 59 caps)
Riccardo FAVRETTO (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps)
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 68 caps)
Andrea ZAMBONIN (Exeter Chiefs, 15 caps)
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Third Lines
Lorenzo CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 34 caps)
Alessandro IZEKOR (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
Michele LAMARO (Benetton Rugby, 50 caps)
Samuele LOCATELLI (Zebre Parma, rookie)
David ODIASE (Zebre Parma, 3 caps)
Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 39 caps)
Medians of the scrum
Alessandro FUSCO (Zebre Parma, 21 caps)
Alessandro GARBISI (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
Stephen VARNEY (Exeter Chiefs, 36 caps)
Opening Mids
Giacomo DA RE (Zebre Parma, 6 caps)
Paolo GARBISI (Toulon, 50 caps)
Centers
Leonardo MARIN (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
Damiano MAZZA (Zebre Parma, rookie)
Tommaso MENONCELLO (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps)
Paolo ODOGWU (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
Ali/Estremes
Ange CAPUOZZO (Stade Toulousain, 31 caps)
Matt GALLAGHER (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Simone GESI (Zebre Parma, 5 caps)
Monty IOANE (Lyon, 43 caps)
Louis LYNAGH (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
Lorenzo PANI (Zebre Parma, 9 caps)
Athletes not considered for injury/recovery:
Tommaso ALLAN (Perpignan, 87 caps)
Gianmarco LUCCHESI (Toulon, 33 caps)
Martin PAGE-RELO (Bordeaux, 21 caps)
Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 65 caps)
Marco RICCIONI (Saracens, 36 caps)
Edoardo TODARO (Northampton Saints, 1 cap)
Jacopo TRULLA (Zebre Parma, 17 caps)
Ross VINTCENT (Exeter Chiefs, 19 caps)
