Who has Franco Smith selected for this new tournament?
Italy Autumn Nations Cup Squad 2020
Italy picked up the unwanted ‘Wooden Spoon’ for a fifth straight year in the Six Nations having not won a championship game since 2015. Now they will be hoping for a change in fortunes in the Autumn Nations Cup, which runs from 13 November to 6 December.
Italy started their pool campaign with a defeat at home against Scotland and their second match was cancelled due to a Covid-19 outbreak in the Fiji squad, so they had two weeks to prepare for their final group game against France in Paris.
Defeat in that match means they play Wales in the fifth-place play-off and Franco Smith has made two personnel changes and one positional switch for this match.
Benetton wing Monty Ioane will make his debut, with Jacopo Trulla moving to full-back, and Stephen Varney makes his first start at scrum-half.
Italy Team to Play Wales – Saturday 5 December
Jacopo Trulla; Luca Sperandio, Marco Zanon, Carlo Canna, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Luca Biga (captain), Giosué Zilocchi, Marco Lazzarone, Niccolò Cannone, Maxime Mbandà, Johan Meyer, Braam Steyn.
Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Simone Ferrari, Pietro Ceccarelli, Cristian Stoian, Michele Lamaro, Guglielmo Palazzani, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.
Italy Team to Play France – Saturday 28 November
Matteo Minozzi; Jacopo Trulla, Marco Zanon, Carlo Canna, Luca Sperandio; Paolo Garbisi, Marcello Violi; Danilo Fischetti, Luca Bigi (captain), Giosue Zilocchi, Marco Lazzaroni, Niccolo Cannone, Maxime Mbanda, Johan Meyer, Braam Steyn.
Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Simone Ferrari, Pietro Ceccarelli, Cristian Stoian, Michele Lamaro, Stephen Varney, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.
Italy Team to Play Scotland – Saturday 14 November
Matteo Minozzi; Jacopo Trulla, Marco Zanon, Carlo Canna, Mattia Bellini; Paolo Garbisi, Marcello Violi; Danilo Fischetti, Luca Bigi (captain), Giosue Zilocchi, Marco Lazzaroni, Niccolo Cannone, Seb Negri, Braam Steyn, Jake Polledri.
Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Simone Ferrari, Pietro Ceccarelli, Johan Meyer, Maxime Mbanda, Stephen Varney, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.
Italy Autumn Nations Cup Squad 2020
Forwards
Luca Bigi
Pietro Ceccarelli
Niccolo Cannone
Simone Ferrari
Danilo Fischetti
Leonardo Ghiraldini
Marco Lazzaroni
Gianmarco Lucchesi
Maxime Mbanda
Johan Meyer
Sebastian Negri
Jake Polledri
Daniele Rimpelli
David Sisi
Abraham Steyn
Nicolae Cristian Stoian
Giosue Zilocchi
Backs
Tommaso Allan
Mattia Bellini
Carlo Canna
Paolo Garbisi
Matteo Minozzi
Federico Mori
Luca Morisi
Guglielmo Palazzani
Luca Sperandio
Jacopo Trulla
Stephen Varney
Marcello Violi
Marco Zanon
Italy Autumn Nations Cup Fixtures 2020
Dates, kick-off times and TV details for Italy’s four Autumn Nations Cup matches…
Round One
Saturday 14 Nov, Italy 17-28 Scotland Related: Zander Fagerson scores bizarre try as Scotland beat Italy
Round Two
Saturday 21 Nov, Italy v Fiji CANCELLED due to Covid-19 outbreak
Round Three
Saturday 28 Nov, France 36-5 Italy Related: France book place in Autumn Nations Cup final
Finals Weekend
Saturday 5 Dec, Wales 38-18 Italy Related: Old heads come to the fore as Wales beat Italy
Head here for the full Autumn Nations Cup fixtures list.
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