Ruled out: Sergio Parisse
Italy number eight Sergio Parisse suffered a serious knee ligament injury in training on Thursday which could rule him out of rugby for six months.
For the Azzurri to lose their captain and loose play dynamo would put a monstrous crimp in their game which has developed so much this year, particularly as Parisse looks set to miss the Six Nations.
"At the moment the possibility of surgery can't be excluded, which would have a recovery time of around 120 to 180 days," Italy doctor Roberto Pozzoni said.
Alessandro Zanni moves to number eight for the clash against Samoa, with Josh Sole promoted to the starting XV at number six.
The team paid a visit to L'Aquila on Wednesday to see how the rugby-mad Italian city is recovering from April's earthquake which killed nearly 300 people.
"We hope our visit has prompted a smile for the whole region and can help the people look to the future with confidence," Parisse, who has family links to the city, told reporters before suffering the injury.
Italy - revised: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Simon Piccone, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Alberto Sgarbi
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