Italrugby, Gonzalo Quesada explains the'only change with Ireland

The men’s national rugby team is preparing for its match against Ireland, valid for the second day of the Six Nations 2026, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 14 at 2:10 p.m. local (3:10 p.m. Italian) at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Gonzalo Quesada announced the starting XV with only one change from the win against Scotland in the tournament opener. Unprecedented extended triangle with Lorenzo Pani, who, almost two years after his last starting appearance, returns to wear the number 15 jersey.

Luca Giorgetti

“Ireland is the team that kicks the most in the world – began the Azzurri’s coach in a press conference – and the one that also recovers the most kicks: they are the strongest in this. We decided to put our trust in Lorenzo Pani. In November he worked hard, he trained the whole period with the national team without ever taking the field. Then he grew a lot and came from two or three very good games with Zebre. What we saw in training made us feel he deserved this opportunity. Some of his qualities will be important on Saturday”.

“We are one of the few teams that already have a left-handed number 10, so sometimes it is even better for us when the fullback is right-handed– added the men’s national team coach. In any case, we organize ourselves: Leonardo Marin will have situations in which to use his right foot, and Menoncello also has a great foot”

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On scrum-halves: “Honestly, I don’t have a hierarchy, especially among the number nines. Looking at these two years, the first starter was Alessandro Garbisi, when the others were available. It is true that Alessandro Fusco, because of injuries or because others were in front, did not play the last Six Nations. But now he was called up, the other three had been called up (Martin Page-Relo and then Garbisi), because of their performances at their respective clubs. Then Martin got injured and Alexander came to the gathering, he trained excellently and that allowed us to consider him a real option. Varney has been training with us: this is the third week. In Verona he had not trained, but in the last two weeks he has, albeit with some caution. The reality is that this week, although he trained, we felt – and he too – that he was still not 100 percent”.

“We know the game coming in will be very tough: the best option is to have six forwards. We know that Ireland comes with a need to regain confidence, so it will be a game that up front will be very tough. Odiase? He is the player who has the greatest physical ability to deal with what we think will come in the match” concluded Quesada.