Italy hand Jacopo Trulla first cap against Scotland
Italy head coach Franco Smith has named his team to face Scotland in their Autumn Nations Cup opener in Florence on Saturday.
There are two changes to the starting team that lost to England in their final Six Nations game last month, with both of those coming in the backline.
Jacopo Trulla (debut) and Marco Zanon replace Edoardo Padovani and Luca Morisi respectively on the right wing and outside centre for the home meeting.
Elsewhere, it is an unchanged starting side from Smith as the Azzurri look to turn around their fortunes after losing all five of their matches in 2020.
Italy do make alterations on the bench as Leonardo Ghiraldini is back while Tommaso Allan and debutant Stephen Varney are also named in their 23.
La formazione scelta da @SmithrugbySmith per scendere che in campo sabato con la Scozia, per l'esordio nell' @autumnnations ➡ https://t.co/fNfyBdhbBT
🏉 Kick off 13.45
📍Firenze, Stadio A. Franchi
📺 Canale 20 / app e sito @Sport_Mediaset #NoiCiSiamo #ITAvSCO pic.twitter.com/ZCZes0rlKy— Italrugby (@Federugby) November 12, 2020
Italy: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Marco Zanon, 12 Carlo Canna, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Jake Polledri, 7 Braam Steyn, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Niccolò Cannone, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 3 Giosuè Zilocchi, 2 Luca Bigi (c), 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Simone Ferrari, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Johan Meyer, 20 Maxime Mbanda’, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Federico Mori
Date: Saturday, November 14
Venue: Stadio Artemio Franchi
Kick-off: 13:45 local (12:45 GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson, Christophe Ridley
TMO: Wayne Barnes