Conor O’Shea has chosen a squad of 44 to train for Italy’s World Cup campaign, with only 10 having previous experience at a finals.
PROPS
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 22 caps)
Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 34 caps)
Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
Nicola QUAGLIO (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps)
Marco RICCIONI (Benetton Rugby, uncapped)
Cherif TRAORE’ (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps)
Federico ZANI (Benetton Rugby 7 caps)
Giosuè ZILOCCHI (Zebre Rugby Club, 2 caps)
HOOKERS
Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps)
Oliviero FABIANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 7 caps)
Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousian 104 caps)
Engjel MAKELARA (Benetton Rugby, uncapped)
SECOND ROW
Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
Marco FUSER (Benetton Rugby, 33 caps)
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 12 caps)
David SISI (Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)
Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 111 caps)
BACK ROW
Renato GIAMMARIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 3 caps)
Marco LAZZARONI (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Giovanni LICATA (Zebre Rugby Club, 7 caps)
Maxime MBANDA’ (Zebre Rugby Club, 16 caps)
Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)
Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 138 caps) – captain
Jake POLLEDRI (Gloucester, 8 caps)
Abraham STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)
Jimmy TUIVAITI (Zebre Rugby Club, 3 caps)
SCRUM-HALF
Callum BRALEY (Gloucester, uncapped)
Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 31 caps)
Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 32 caps)
Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 15 caps)
OUT-HALF
Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 48 caps)
Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 32 caps)
Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
CENTRE
Tommaso BENVENUTI (Benetton Rugby, 56 caps)
Michele CAMPAGNARO (Wasps, 42 caps)
Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 18 caps)
Luca MORISI (Benetton Rugby, 25 caps)
Marco ZANON (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap)
BACK THREE
Mattia BELLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 17 caps)
Giulio BISEGNI (Zebre Rugby Club, 11 caps)
Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)
Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
Matteo MINOZZI (Zebre Rugby Club, 10 caps)
Edoardo PADOVANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 20 caps)