Italy name new-look side to face Ireland

Italy head coach Conor O’Shea has named his team for their Rugby World Cup warm-up clash with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

In a much-changed XV from the one that ended their Six Nations campaign, Dean Budd will captain the side at lock alongside Alessandro Zanni.

Nicola Quaglio and Marco Riccioni prop down either side of hooker Oliviero Fabiani while Giovanni Licata, Maxime Mbanda and Jimmy Tuivaiti form the back-row that will run out in Dublin, with the Azzurri desperately looking to build momentum ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

Guglielmo Palazzani is scrum-half and joins fly-half Carlo Canna in the half-backs, with Marco Zanon and Tommaso Benvenuti in the centres and Giulio Bisegni, Angelo Esposito and Edoardo Padovani completing the Italian starting team as the two wings and full-back respectively.

After this game Italy will face Russia (August 17), France (August 30) and England (September 6) in their remaining World Cup warm-up games before kicking off the tournament against Namibia on September 22.

Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Giulio Bisegni, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 7 Maxime Mbanda, 6 Giovanni Licata, 5 Dean Budd (c) 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Nicola Quaglio
Replacements: 16 Federico Zani, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Marco Lazzaroni, 20 Renato Giammarioli, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Matteo Minozzi

Date: Saturday, August 10
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 14:00 BST (13:00 GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant Referees: Tom Foley (England), Mike Adamson (Scotland)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)