Italy include four scrum-halves, two former England U20s in Rugby World Cup squad
Italy captain Michele Lamaroa, scrum-half Stephen Varney, coach Kieran Crowley, back Paolo Odogwu and lock Dino Lamb
Italy head coach Kieran Crowley has named his Rugby World Cup squad, with flanker Michele Lamaro captaining the side at the tournament.
The Azzurri have been drawn in Pool A alongside hosts France as well as New Zealand, Uruguay and Namibia.
Tommaso Allan’s third World Cup
Lamaro will captain the side in his first Rugby World Cup, while veteran fly-half Tommaso Allan is the most experienced player in the squad.
Allan will feature in his third Rugby World Cup after representing Italy in England in 2015 and in Japan in 2019.
Crowley has opted for a 19-14 split in favour of the forwards in his squad.
Among the 14 is backline players is former England U20s back Paolo Odogwu.
He is joined in the squad by fellow outside backs Pierre Bruno, Monty Ioane, Lorenzo Pani, and the outstanding Ange Capuozzo.
Juan Ignacio Brex and Luca Morisi are the only centres named in the squad, with the additional cover in the position coming from the half-backs and outside backs.
Paolo Garbisi and Giacomo Da Re join Allan to make up three fly-halves in the squad.
Meanwhile, head coach Crowley has included four scrum-halves as Alessandro Fusco, Alessandro Garbisi, Martin Page-Relo and Stephen Varney have all been included in the final 33 for the World Cup.
Azzurri pack
There are six props in the Italy squad in Pietro Ceccarelli, Simone Ferrari, Danilo Fischetti, Ivan Nemer, Marco Riccioni and Federico Zani.
The three hookers in the squad are Luca Bigi, Epalahame Faiva and Giacomo Nicotera.
Another former England age-grade player joins Odogwu in the squad, with Harlequins‘ second-rower Dino Lamb included as one of four locks.
Niccolo Cannone joins brother Lorenzo (back-rower) in the squad, with Federico Ruzza and David Sisi rounding out the locking stocks.
Lamaro skippers the side from the back-row along with Lorenzo Cannone, Toa Halafihi, Sebastian Negri, Giovanni Pettinelli and Manuel Zuliani.
Negri and hooker Bigi are the most experienced forwards in the squad, with 47 Test caps each.
Jake Polledri, Edoardo Padovani and Tommaso Menoncello were all unavailable for selection due to injury.
Italy’s Rugby World Cup Squad
Forwards: Pietro Ceccarelli, Simone Ferrari, Danilo Fischetti, Ivan Nemer, Marco Riccioni, Federico Zani, Luca Bigi, Epalahame Faiva, Giacomo Nicotera, Niccolò Cannone, Dino Lamb, Federico Ruzza, David Sisi, Lorenzo Cannone, Toa Halafihi, Michele Lamaro (c), Sebastian Negri, Giovanni Pettinelli, Manuel Zuliani
Backs: Alessandro Fusco, Alessandro Garbisi, Martin Page-Relo, Stephen Varney, Tommaso Allan, Giacomo Da Re, Paolo Garbisi, Juan Ignacio Brex, Luca Morisi, Pierre Bruno, Ange Capuozzo, Monty Ioane, Paolo Odogwu, Lorenzo Pani
Italy’s Rugby World Cup Pool A fixtures:
Saturday, 9 September: Italy v Namibia
Saturday, 20 September: Italy v Uruguay
Saturday, 29 September: New Zealand v Italy
Saturday, 6 October: France v Italy
READ MORE: All the 2023 Rugby World Cup squads and team updates
