The Six Nations of rugby is back and Italy restarts from the Olimpico against France, a mountain to climb. It will be match number 48, the twenty-first played at home. "We have worked well in these two weeks of training. We will face the team that won the last Six Nations", recalled coach Kieran Crowley, who today formalized the XV ready to take the field tomorrow (4.00 pm, live on Sky Sport Uno and free-to-air on TV8).
«We are trying to build the work on our identity and on the way we play - he continued - focusing on our performance with the aim of showing the best version of ourselves. Italy is solid, it's a dynamic, growing team, back in the limelight». Unpublished triangle formed by Ange Capuozzo-Pierre Bruno-Tommaso Menoncello, with the latter back in the starting lineup after the 2022 Summer Tour; pair of centers formed by Juan Ignacio Brex and Luca Morisi, on the field from the first minute in all November test matches. These are some of Crowley's choices.
The keys to the midfield go to Tommaso Allan and Stephen Varney, in their third consecutive game together as starters. In the third line together with Michele Lamaro - who will compete in his second Six Nations with the ranks of captain - there will be Sebastian Negri and Lorenzo Cannone. Benetton-style second line with the duo Niccolò Cannone-Federico Ruzza, while Simone Ferrari, Giacomo Nicotera and Danilo Fischetti will take the field in the scrum.
Ready to take over from the bench Luca Bigi - returning to the match list after the historic victory in Cardiff at the end of the 2022 edition of the Six Nations - Zani, Ceccarelli, Iachizzi - the only newcomer to win his place in the senior national team after playing for the Italy A in January - Pettinelli, Zuliani, Fusco, Padovani. In France, first call for Lyon winger Ethan Dumortier, 22 years old. He replaces Toulonnais winger Gabin Villière, who was hit in the ankle in training on Wednesday. The rest of the French XV is rather classic, with the confirmation of Thibaud Flament (11 appearances) in the second row, who will join Paul Willemse for only the second time. England's Matthew Carley will officiate the match.
