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Italy coach unveils team for Six Nations Championship
Rome, Feb 15: Italian rugby union coach John Kirwan announced his team for Sunday`s Six Nations game.
Rome, Feb 15: Italian rugby union coach John Kirwan announced his team for Sunday's Six Nations game.
Italian rugby union head coach John Kirwan announced his team on Friday (February 13) to face England in their first game of the Six Nations Championship.
Scrumhalf Paul Griffen will make his Italy debut against world champions England in Rome on Sunday. Griffen, like Kirwan New Zealand-born, replaces regular skipper Alessandro Troncon, who was ruled out of the match at the Stadio Flaminio because of a knee injury. Flanker Andrea De Rossi had already been selected as stand-in captain.
Kirwan delayed the naming of his team to allow him to assess the fitness of winger Denis Dallan (knee), lock Santiago Dellape (ankle), uncapped flanker Silvio Orlando (back) and fullback/winger Mirco Bergamasco (thigh).
All have been included in the 22-man squad but Bergamasco has been named on the bench with centre Andrea Masi dropping back to fill in at fullback.
In addition to Orlando, Kirwan picked two other uncapped players among his replacements in flyhalf Roland De Marigny and scrumhalf Simon Picone.
England head coach Clive Woodward has already put the November triumph behind him and his team for the fixture against Italy shows five changes plus a positional switch from the XV who started the World Cup final.
With Martin Johnson retired, Jonny Wilkinson missing as he attempts to fix his troublesome shoulder and several other World Cup-winning squad members absent through injury, Woodward had a ready-made opportunity to introduce some new faces.
But his decision to drop 35-year-old Neil Back, an integral part of his World Cup back row, is the only real sign of a changing of the guard and he has not made any radical changes for the game against a team England have averaged almost 60 points a game against in their last five meetings.
Despite those huge scorelines Woodward respects the Italians, who had his team on the back foot for half an hour last season, and has picked a team purely to win this match.
The tested Paul Grayson is preferred to Olly Barkley in place of Wilkinson while Danny Grewcock should slot in seamlessly alongside Ben Kay in place of Johnson.
When asked how the changes to the English side would affect them, Kirwan replied, "I think that when you look at their side, it doesnt make too much difference, I think that we are hoping. Martin (Johnson) was for me an outstanding leader and in times of pressure would stand up and take control, obviously we are hoping that wont happen on Saturday (meaning Sunday), with Jonny (Wilkinson) out maybe get them up ahead with points is maybe a negative for them, so we are hoping those two losses they will feel terribly, but to be realistic the guys who are stepping in will see it as an opportunity, I would rather have England here at full strength."
John Kirwan was cautious ahead of Sunday's match with England, hoping for the best out of his players in all areas.
"We need to play across the park, the best game of our lives to be equal, so one of our goals in this Six Nations is to be equal with everyone. We don't talk about dominance, we talk about making sure we get out there and compete with them all day long in every area," Kirwan said.
Italy team: 15-Andrea Masi; 14-Nicola Mazzucato, 13-Cristian Stoica, 12-Manuel Dallan, 11-Denis Dallan; 10-Rima Wakarua, 9-Paul Griffen; 8-Sergio Parisse, 7-Aaron Persico, 6-Andrea De Rossi (captain), 5-Marco Bortolami, 4-Santiago Dellape, 3-Martin Castrogiovanni, 2-Fabio Ongaro, 1-Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16-Carlo Festuccia, 17-Salvatore Perugini, 18-Carlo Checchinato, 19-Silvio Orlando, 20-Simon Picone, 21-Roland De Marigny, 22-Mirco Bergamasco.
Bureau Report
In addition to Orlando, Kirwan picked two other uncapped players among his replacements in flyhalf Roland De Marigny and scrumhalf Simon Picone.
England head coach Clive Woodward has already put the November triumph behind him and his team for the fixture against Italy shows five changes plus a positional switch from the XV who started the World Cup final.
With Martin Johnson retired, Jonny Wilkinson missing as he attempts to fix his troublesome shoulder and several other World Cup-winning squad members absent through injury, Woodward had a ready-made opportunity to introduce some new faces.
But his decision to drop 35-year-old Neil Back, an integral part of his World Cup back row, is the only real sign of a changing of the guard and he has not made any radical changes for the game against a team England have averaged almost 60 points a game against in their last five meetings.
Despite those huge scorelines Woodward respects the Italians, who had his team on the back foot for half an hour last season, and has picked a team purely to win this match.
The tested Paul Grayson is preferred to Olly Barkley in place of Wilkinson while Danny Grewcock should slot in seamlessly alongside Ben Kay in place of Johnson.
When asked how the changes to the English side would affect them, Kirwan replied, "I think that when you look at their side, it doesnt make too much difference, I think that we are hoping. Martin (Johnson) was for me an outstanding leader and in times of pressure would stand up and take control, obviously we are hoping that wont happen on Saturday (meaning Sunday), with Jonny (Wilkinson) out maybe get them up ahead with points is maybe a negative for them, so we are hoping those two losses they will feel terribly, but to be realistic the guys who are stepping in will see it as an opportunity, I would rather have England here at full strength."
John Kirwan was cautious ahead of Sunday's match with England, hoping for the best out of his players in all areas.
"We need to play across the park, the best game of our lives to be equal, so one of our goals in this Six Nations is to be equal with everyone. We don't talk about dominance, we talk about making sure we get out there and compete with them all day long in every area," Kirwan said.
Italy team: 15-Andrea Masi; 14-Nicola Mazzucato, 13-Cristian Stoica, 12-Manuel Dallan, 11-Denis Dallan; 10-Rima Wakarua, 9-Paul Griffen; 8-Sergio Parisse, 7-Aaron Persico, 6-Andrea De Rossi (captain), 5-Marco Bortolami, 4-Santiago Dellape, 3-Martin Castrogiovanni, 2-Fabio Ongaro, 1-Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16-Carlo Festuccia, 17-Salvatore Perugini, 18-Carlo Checchinato, 19-Silvio Orlando, 20-Simon Picone, 21-Roland De Marigny, 22-Mirco Bergamasco.
Bureau Report