Italy team v England: Azzurri boss boldly drops star man as son of All Blacks great makes Six Nations debut
Italy flyer Matt Gallagher and head coach Gonzalo Quesada.
Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada has rung the changes to his starting line-up for their Six Nations clash with England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Sunday.
After suffering a humiliating 73-24 defeat against France in Rome in their previous encounter, Quesada has wielded the axe to his squad with most of the alterations made to his backline.
Monty Ioane makes his return to action after recovering from a knee injury which kept him on the sidelines for the defeat to Les Bleus and comes into the run-on side on the right wing.
Ange Capuozzo shifts to full-back
That means he takes over from Ange Capuozzo, who shifts to full-back where he replaces the Six Nations‘ current leading points-scorer Tommaso Allan, who has been relegated to the bench.
Meanwhile, there is another change on the left wing where Simon Gesi has been replaced by Matt Gallagher, who is the son of legendary All Blacks full-back John Gallagher and the former Saracens outside back will make his Six Nations debut.
The only other change to Italy‘s backline sees Stephen Varney taking over from Martin Page-Relo at scrum-half and he joined in the half-backs by Paolo Garbisi while Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex continue as the centre combination.
In the forwards, there’s a change in the back-row with Ross Vintcent taking over at number eight from Lorenzo Cannone, who drops down to the bench, and captain Michele Lamaro and Sebastian Negri are the starting flankers.
Meanwhile, the experienced duo of Federico Ruzza and Niccolò Cannone continue their second-row partnership while Marco Riccioni and Giacomo Nicotera replace Simone Ferrari and Gianmarco Lucchesi at tighthead prop and hooker respectively, while Danilo Fischetti retains his spot at loosehead prop.
Quesada has opted for a six-two forwards/backs split amongst the replacements with Lucchesi, Ferrari and Mirco Spagnolo offering front-row cover off the bench.
Riccardo Favretto, Manuel Zuliani and Cannone are the other forward replacements while Page-Relo and Allan are the only backline players on the bench.
This will be the 32nd match between these two teams and England have been victorious in all the previous clashes with the Azzurri although the Red Rose were made to work hard to clinch a narrow 27-24 win when the sides met in the corresponding fixture in Rome last year.
Sunday’s match will be refereed by Irish referee Andrew Brace.
Italy team to face England
Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Monty Ioane, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Matt Gallagher, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Lorenzo Cannone, 22 Martin Page-Relo, 23 Tommaso Allan
Date: Sunday, March 9
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
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