Italy change two for Springboks

Editor

Italy head coach Conor O’Shea has made two alterations to his starting line-up for the end-of-year Test against South Africa in Padova on Saturday.

In the backline, there is one change with Angelo Esposito coming into the run-on side on the right wing in place of Leonardo Sarto, who drops out of the matchday squad.

The only other change is in forwards where Giovanni Licata starts on the blindside flank with Francesco Minto relegated to the replacements bench.

Italy will be keen to return to the victory trail after suffering a 31-15 defeat to Argentina last weekend.

The Azzurri made history against South Africa in the corresponding fixture last year in Florence when they grabbed their first win in 13 attempts against the Springboks courtesy of a 20-18 triumph.

Italy: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Abraham Steyn, 6 Giovanni Licata, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Francesco Minto, 20 Renato Giammarioli, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Ian Mckinley, 23 Matteo Minozzi

Date: Saturday, November 25
Venue: Stadio Euganeo, Padova
Kick-Off: 15:00 local (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: JP Doyle (England), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)