Italian head coach Conor O’Shea has announced his 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup in Japan next month.
Having played two warm-up games ahead of
the tournament already, a 29-10 loss to Ireland a week ago and an 85-15 win over
Russia, O’Shea has decided to cut some star names.
There is no place in the squad for former
Leinster out-half Ian McKinley as O’Shea has chosen to select two No 10’s in
Carlo Canna and Tomasso Allan.
Elsewhere, the squad’s strength in the back-row
has meant that Jimmy Tuivaiti and Giovanni Licata miss out with Maxime Mbanda,
Sebastian Negri, Jake Polledri, Abraham Steyn and captain Sergio Parisse covering
the area.
Parisse is set to equal another record when
he appears at a fifth World Cup.
In the backs centre Marco Zanon has been left behind as Tommaso Benvenuti, Michele Campagnaro and Luca Morisi travel instead.
While winger Angelo Esposito has also
missed the cut.
The Italians will be hoping that Saturday’s
win will be the start of what is to come as they are placed in Pool B in Japan
where they will face reigning back-to-back champions New Zealand, current Rugby
Championship holders South Africa, Namibia and Canada.
Although there isn’t much expectation on
the team to progress from their pool, O’Shea will still be hoping to be
competitive in the games and when you look at the squad there is no reason why
they shouldn’t be.
Check Out the Full 31-Man Squad Below.
Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby)
Andrea Lovotti (Zebre Rugby Club)
Tiziano Pasquali (Benetton Rugby)
Nicola Quaglio (Benetton Rugby)
Marco Riccioni (Benetton Rugby)
Federico Zani (Benetton Rugby)
Luca Bigi (Zebre Rugby Club)
Oliviero Fabiani (Zebre Rugby Club)
Leonardo Ghiraldini (Unattached)
Dean Budd (Benetton Rugby)
Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby)
David Sisi (Zebre Rugby Club)
Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Rugby)
Maxime Mbanda ‘(Zebre Rugby Club)
Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby)
Sergio Parisse (Toulon) – captain
Jake Polledri (Gloucester)
Abraham Steyn (Benetton Rugby
Callum Braley (Gloucester)
Guglielmo Palazzini (Zebre Rugby Club)
Tito Tebaldi (Benetton Rugby)
Tommaso Allan (Benetton Rugby)
Carlo Canna (Zebre Rugby Club)
Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Rugby)
Michele Campagnaro (Harlequins)
Luca Morisi (Benetton Rugby)
Mattia Bellini (Zebre Rugby Club)
Giulio Bisegni (Zebre Rugby Club)
Jayden Hayward (Benetton Rugby)
Matteo Minozzi (Wasps) Edoardo Padovani (Zebre Rugby Club)
