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Franco Smith has left Carlo Canna on the bench, deciding that his Italian team does not need the experience of the center alongside the young Paolo Garbisi. The Garbisi-Canna-Zanon midfield was one of the brightest parts of 2020, so the new man, Juan Ignacio Brex of Benetton, has a huge role to play. Elsewhere on the baseline, Jacopo Truller occupies the sideline that was left vacant after Matteo Minozzi’s refusal to join the team for health reasons.
Italy’s group sees Michele Lamaro replacing the injured Jake Polledri and the Azzuri may have an advantage at scrum time, as France struggled at times in the tight in 2020.
France have a number of injuries to deal with, most notably winger Vincent Rattez, who was one of their 2020 finds, but the team is still a good proposition. Any team that can put Damian Penaud on the bench is doing well, let’s be honest.
ITALY
Jacopo Truller: Luca Sperandio, Marco Zanon, Ignacio Brex, Montanna Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Cherif Traorè, Luca Bigi (capt), Marco Riccioni, Marco Lazzaroni, David Sisi, Sebastian Negri, Johan Meyer, Michele Lamaro.
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Maxime Mbandà, 22 Guglielmo Palazzani, 23 Carlo Canna.
FRANCE
Brice Dulin; Teddy Thomas, Arthur Vincent, Gaël Fickou, Gabin Villière; Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Dupont; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Mohamed Haouas, Bernard Le Roux, Paul Willemse, Dylan Cretin, Charles Ollivon (captain), Gregory Alldritt.
Replacements: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Francois Gros, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Anthony Jelonch, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Louis Carbonel, 23 Damian Penaud.
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