Italy squad: Ange Capuozzo one of six high-profile Azurri absentees in Gonzalo Quesada’s 33-man Six Nations team
Gonzalo Quesada will be without a number of his key players this Six Nations
Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada has named his 33-man squad for the 2026 Six Nations, but the focus will be on the six frontline stars unavailable.
Ahead of the Championship, the Azurri will be without Seb Negri, Ange Capuozzo, Ross Vintcent, Tommaso Allan, Gianmarco Lucchesi and Jacopo Trulla, with the sextet ruled out through injury.
Italy will once again be looking to continue their progress under Quesada, following on from a fifth-placed finish in 2025’s campaign.
Italy name Six Nations squad with two debutants named amid injury crisis
Zebre duo Samuele Locatelli and Damiano Mazza have both received their first call-ups into the national squad ahead of the Six Nations, while Paolo Odogwu, Matt Gallagher and Alessandro Fusco also mark their return to the squad.
Elsewhere, Quesada has kept the bulk of his squad together from the Autumn Nations Series, following wins over Australia and Chile alongside a spirited defeat against the Springboks, with regular features Michele Lamaro, Lorenzo and Niccolo Cannone, Simone Ferrari, Danilo Fischetti, Stephen Varney, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Paolo Garbisi and Monty Ioane named.
Commenting on his selection, the Azurri boss said: “These days of training are very important, filled with excitement as we await the pitch in the oldest rugby tournament in the world, facing some of the best national teams in the world.
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“These are always moments filled with emotion. Our last match in the 2025 Six Nations left us with a bitter taste in the mouth due to the result, but we delivered an excellent performance.
“We must build on the form we showed last November, where we changed some of our training methods, quickly rediscovering our automatic rhythms in just a few training sessions, and then aim to show the performances we had against Ireland and Australia in 2025.”
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Italy squad in full
Forwards: Lorenzo Cannone, Niccolò Cannone, Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, Pablo Dimcheff, Riccardo Favretto, Simone Ferrari, Danilo Fischetti, Muhamed Hasa, Alessandro Izekor, Michele Lamaro, Samuele Locatelli, Giacomo Nicotera, David Odiase, Marco Riccioni, Federico Ruzza, Mirco Spagnolo, Andrea Zambonin, Manuel Zuliani
Backs: Juan Ignacio Brex, Giacomo Da Re, Alessandro Fusco, Matt Gallagher, Paolo Garbisi, Monty Ioane, Louis Lynagh, Leonardo Marin, Damiano Mazza, Tommaso Menoncello, Paolo Odogwu, Martin Page-Relo, Lorenzo Pani, Edoardo Todaro, Stephen Varney
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