Italrugby, Australia arrives: Gonzalo Quesada makes a change in the list of summonses
Just one week to go until the first of the three Quilter Nations Series test matches involving the national rugby team: on Nov. 8, in fact, the Azzurri led by Gonzalo Quesada will face Australia in Udine, a historically prohibitive opponent that, however, Italy was able to defeat in the last previous one, winning 28-27 in Florence on Nov. 12, 2022.
As far as the call-ups are concerned, the technical commissioner has made a change from the initial list of players who met in Verona in recent days: there will in fact be Mirko Belloni, utility back of Zebre Parma (2 caps to his credit) in place of third line Sebastian Negri, with David Odiase, once again invited by Quesada, ready to take the place of the Marondera native.
Of the players featured in the historic success against the Wallabies three years ago, Toulouse winger/forward Ange Capuozzo and Perpignan opening halfback Tommaso Allan, both of whom scored in the Franchi match (the former with two tries, the latter with two conversions and two free kicks), are part of the list of summoned players.
After the match against Australia, Italy will face world champion South Africa on Nov. 15 in Turin, Italy, at Allianz Stadium, and seven days later Chile at Luigi Ferraris in Genoa. The one against the Condores will be the first ever challenge between the two national teams, a match on paper easier than the first two but certainly not to be underestimated given the constant improvement of the Chileans in recent years.
Here is the list of players summoned:
Pylons
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)
Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps)
Ross VINTCENT (Exeter Chiefs, 17 caps)
.
Medians of the 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)
Ali/Estremi
Mirko BELLONI (Zebre Parma, 2 caps)
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
David ODIASE (Zebre Parma, 2 caps)
