Italy’s new manager Gonzalo Quesada on Tuesday named five new faces in his 34-man reserve squad for next month’s Six Nations.
The Azzurri begin their match against England in Rome on February 3, and the Argentine will be in charge of the Mediterranean nation’s first match.
Among the new names in the team is South African-born Ross Vincent. He is a young Exeter flanker who has stepped up from the under-20s. Four other debutants are also part of the forwards.
There are many familiar faces in the team, which made its mark on international rugby with its ambitious style of play under Quesada’s predecessor, Kieran Crowley.
These include Toulouse full-back Ange Capozzo, who is undoubtedly the team’s star, Montpellier fly-half Paolo Garbisi and Gloucester scrum-half Stephen Varney.
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Quesada will hold a training camp in Verona next week before reducing his squad in preparation for Italy’s Six Nations opener at the Stadio Olimpico.
Italy lost all five games in last year’s tournament and collected the wooden spoon eight times in a row.
Italy’s Six Nations squad:
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Pietro Ceccarelli, Danilo Fischetti, Matteo Nocera, Luca Rizzoli, Mirco Spagnuolo, Giosue Girocchi, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Marco Manfredi, Giacomo Nicotella Niccolo Canone, Edoardo Iacizzi, Federico Luzza, Andrea Zambonin, Lorenzo Canone, Riccardo Favret, Alessandro Izecol, Michele Ramaro, Sebastian Negri, Ross Vincent, Manuel Zuliani
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Alessandro Garbisi, Martin Page-Lillo, Stephen Varney, Tommaso Allan, Paolo Garbisi, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Federico Mori, Marco Zanon, Pierre Bruno, Monti Ioane, Simone… Gesi, Ange Capozzo, Lorenzo Pani
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