Squad
Loosehead Prop: Simone Ferrari, Danilo FIschetti
Hooker: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Gianmarco Nicotera,
Tighthead Prop: Marco Riccioni, Luca Rizzoli, Giosue Zilocchi
Second Row: Dino Lamb, Niccolo Cannone, Riccardo Favretto, Federico Ruzza
Back Row: Sebastian Negri, Ross Vintcent, Michele Lamaro, Lorenzo Cannone, Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zuliani
Scrum-half: Alessandro Garbisi. Martin page-Relo, Stephen Varney
Fly-half: Paolo Garbisi, Tommaso Allen, Leonardo Martin
Centre: Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello
Back Three: Ange Capuozzo, Matt Gallagher, Monty Ioane, Simone Gesi, Jacopo Trulla
Last year, Italy had their best tournament in a long, long time. They nearly beat England, would've beaten France if not for a kicking mix up with the referee, beat Scotland and beat Wales. Despite this success, they finished fifth due to a lack of bonus points. This year presents a greater challenge. Teams will now look at Italy as serious contenders and rightly so which means they can't rely on being a banana skin for teams going for the championship. They also face a more challenging schedule in terms of home and away games. The Welsh are a team they would now be favourites to beat so that being away from home is an advantage but that game will be played in Rome this year. Having nearly beaten England for the first time last year, they would have targeted that game but playing England at Twickenham(sorry, the Allianz Stadium) is a monumental challenge for any Italian side which has almost exclusively ended in crushing defeats.The Scots will also be much harder to beat at Murrayfield.
Gonzalo Quesada has selected a small squad for the competition with only seven front row players included. However, the strength of this team lies in the backs. Paolo Garbisi is an established test quality fly-half whose kicking has come on massively in the last year or two. Brex and Menoncello are an immense duo of centres that provide both defensive security and attacking prowess to this team. The likes of Monyt Ioane out wide and Ange Capuozzo wherever he ends up will provide the X-factor for the Italians. Tommasso Allen is also an important player who often starts at fullback despite predominantly being a fly-half. If he starts, Cappuozzo will be on the wing. Quesada's biggest selection headache will be who trusts to play at scrum-half. Alessandro Grabisi, Paolo's brother is a good option as is Stephen Varney. Page-Rello is also intriguing but none have consistently started at club level nor have any separated from the others. Perhaps it will come down to personal preference or maybe Quesada will simply choose game-by-game.
Player to watch
Ange Capuozzo. He is an electric back three player who can unlock defences in a way few others can. In order for Italy to win big games, they will neede moments of magic and if an Italian creates magic on a rugby pitch they will most likely go by the name of Capuozzo.
My team for the first game against Scotland
1.Danilo Fischetti 2.Gianmarco Lucchesi 3.Marco Riccioni 4.Niccolo Cannone 5.DIno Lamb
6.Michele Lamaro 7.Sebastian Negri 8.Lorenzo Cannone 9.Alessandro Garbisi 10.Paolo Garbisi
11.Monty Ioane 12.Tommaso Menoncello 13.Juan Ignacio Brex 14.Ange Capuozzo 15.Tomasso Allen
16.Gianmarco Nicotera 17.Simone Ferrari 18.Giosue Zilocchi 19.Federico Ruzza
20.Ross Vintcent 21.Manuel Zuliani 22.Stephen Varney 23.Matt Gallagher
Predicted finish: 5th
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