Italy name 34 man squad to prepare for Six Nations - Ruck

Italy name 34 man squad to prepare for Six Nations

Conor O’Shea has called up 34 players to prepare for the NatWest 6 Nations 2018 that will take place at the Center of “Giulio Onesti” Olympic Preparation in Rome

The Azzurri meet for the first meets up of the year from Sunday 21st to Wednesday 24th January.

Italy kick off their Six Nations against England at ‘Olimpico di Roma before heading to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to face Ireland the following week

There is first call-up for Jake Polledri, the 22-year-old flanker from Gloucester Rugby who has already worn blue with Italy U20 and Italia Emergenti.

The two young Benetton Rugby forwards Marco Riccioni and Cherif Traorè were invited to take part in the three-day training session.

ITALY SQUAD
Prop
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebras Rugby Club, 20 caps) *
Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps)
Nicola QUAGLIO (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps) *
Hookers
Luke BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousain, 89 caps)
Oliviero FABIANI (ZEBRE Club, 4 caps)
Second-rows
George BIAGI lines (Zebre Rugby Club, 19 caps)
Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
Marco FUSER (Benetton Rugby, 27 caps) *
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps) *
Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 99 caps)
Flanker / n.8
Renato GIAMMARIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 1 cap) *
Giovanni LICATA (Rugby Gold Flames, 3 caps) *
Maxima Mata MBANDA ‘(Zebras Rugby Club, 11 caps) *
Sebastian NEGRI DA OLEGGIO (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps )
Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 129 caps) – captain
Jake POLLEDRI (Gloucester Rugby, rookie)
Abraham STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
Backs
mediators Edoardo GORI (Benetton Rugby, 65 caps) *
Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps)
Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 8 caps) *
Medias Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 33 caps)
Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 25 caps)
Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Mattia BELLINI  Clubs (Zebre Rugby Club, 8 caps) *
Tommaso BENVENUTI (Benetton Rugby, 45 caps) *
Giulio BISEGNI (Zebre Rugby Club, 7 caps)
Tommaso BONI (Zebre Rugby Club, 8 caps) *
Tommaso CASTELLO ( Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)
Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Matteo MINOZZI (Zebras Rugby Club, 3 caps) *
Edoardo PADOVANI (Zebras Rugby Club, 14 caps) *
Leonardo SARTO (Glasgow Warriors, 34 caps) *
Invited players
Marco RICCIONI (Benetton Rugby, debutant) * – Cherif pylon
TRAORE (Benetton Rugby, rookie) * – pylon