Italrugby, Gonzalo Quesada has an'extra weapon ahead of Australia

The preparation of the Italian national rugby team continues ahead of the Quilter Nation Series in November, which will see the Azzurri engaged against Australia on Nov. 8 in Udine, South Africa on Nov. 15 in Turin and Chile on Nov. 22 in Genoa. In addition to the players already present, head coach Gonzalo Quesada has chosen to include an extra third line, David Odiase of Zebre.

The class of 2003 flanker, who had had a chance to prove himself in recent seasons with the Under 20 and Under 23, made his debut this year with the senior national team, entering at 59′ of South Africa-Italy last July 5 in Pretoria, a match won by the Springboks 42-24. Odiase then played another nine minutes seven days later, again against South Africa in Gqeberha, a match that ended 45-0.

Here, then, is the updated list of players involved in the training camp:

Pilons: Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 66 caps), Danilo FISCHETTI (Northampton Saints 55 caps), Muhamed HASA (Zebre Parma 3 caps), Marco RICCIONI (Saracens, 34 caps), Mirco SPAGNOLO (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps).

Talloners: Tommaso DI BARTOLOMEO (Zebre Parma, 3 caps), Pablo DIMCHEFF (Colomiers Rugby, 2 caps), Giacomo NICOTERA (Stade Français, 34 caps).

Second Lines: Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 55 caps), Riccardo FAVRETTO (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps), Enoch OPOKU GYAMFI (Bath, rookie), Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 64 caps), Andrea ZAMBONIN (Exeter Chiefs, 12 caps).

Third Lines: Lorenzo CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps), Alessandro IZEKOR (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps), Michele LAMARO (Benetton Rugby, 48 caps), Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 65 caps), Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps), Ross VINTCENT (Exeter Chiefs, 17 caps).

These are the scrumhorses.

Medians of scrum: Alessandro GARBISI (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps), Martin PAGE-RELO (Bordeaux, 18 caps), Stephen VARNEY (Exeter Chiefs, 34 caps).

Opening Mids: Tommaso ALLAN (Perpignan, 86 caps), Giacomo DA RE (Zebre Parma, 5 caps), Paolo GARBISI (Toulon, 47 caps).

Centers: Juan Ignacio BREX (Toulon, 46 caps), Leonardo MARIN (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps), Damiano MAZZA (Zebre Parma, rookie), Tommaso MENONCELLO (Benetton Rugby, 31 caps).

Wings/Extremes: Ange CAPUOZZO (Stade Toulousain, 28 caps), Monty IOANE (Lyon, 39 caps), Louis LYNAGH (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps), Lorenzo PANI (Zebre Parma, 8 caps), Edoardo TODARO (Northampton Saints, rookie).

Invited: Mirko BELLONI (Zebre Parma, 2 caps), David ODIASE (Zebre Parma, 2 caps).