ROME : Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada on Thursday kept faith in the team which lost their opening Six Nations fixture when he made one change to take on Wales at the Stadio Olimpico this weekend.
Lock Niccolo Cannone replaces Dino Lamb, who drops to the bench, in the second row, and there is also only one change in personnel across the 23-man squad, with wing Jacopo Trulla named among the replacements in place of the injured Simone Gesi.
Italy, who had their best-ever Six Nations last year with wins over Scotland and Wales and a draw versus France, lost last weekend’s opener against Scotland 31-19, but will fancy their chances when they welcome the Welsh on Saturday.
Wales were crushed 43-0 by France in the competition’s opening game, extending their losing streak to 13 matches, and after Italy beat them last year in Cardiff the hosts will be favourites to repeat that success at the Stadio Olimpico.
Italy have defeated Wales twice in their last three meetings, both times away from home, and they will now aim to overcome the Welsh in Rome for the first time since 2007.
Team:
15-Tommaso Allan, 14-Ange Capuozzo, 13-Juan Ignacio Brex, 12-Tommaso Menoncello, 11-Monty Ioane, 10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Martin Page-Relo, 8-Lorenzo Cannone, 7-Michele Lamaro (captain), 6-Sebastian Negri, 5-Federico Ruzza, 4-Niccolo Cannone, 3-Simone Ferrari, 2-Giacomo Nicotera, 1-Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16-Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17-Luca Rizzoli, 18-Marco Riccioni, 19-Dino Lamb, 20-Manuel Zuliani, 21-Ross Vintcent, 22-Alessandro Garbisi, 23-Jacopo Trulla
