ITALY BOSS CONOR O’Shea has unveiled his 31-man squad for this year’s Six Nations, with one uncapped player among the ranks.
The Azzurri begin this year’s campaign away to Scotland on 2 February before hosting Wales and Ireland in rounds two and three.
Dublin native Ian McKinley is included again and will hope to build on the four Test caps he has won to date.
The sole uncapped player in the squad is former England U20 lock David Sisi, who came through the ranks with London Irish before moving to Zebre from Bath ahead of last season.
The great Sergio Parisse captains the squad, while Leonardo Ghiraldini is on the verge of completing a century of international appearances.
“We know the challenge but also know when we get our levels to where they need to be we can be more than just competitive. But we need to work even harder now to ensure the big moments in these matches go our way,” said O’Shea, who will gather his players at Rome’s Olympic Preparation Centre on 20 January.
“We have played and beaten teams like Fiji, Japan and Georgia over the past 18 months but have not been able to get the victory against the top tier teams that will really springboard what we are doing in Italian Rugby and also lift the confidence to go to the next level.”
“We are working and will continue to work and play with an ambition to achieve the goals we all have for Italian Rugby.”
Italy squad for 2019 Six Nations
Forwards: Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby), Andrea Lovotti (Zebre Rugby), Tiziano Pasquali (Benetton Rugby), Cherif Traore (Benetton Rugby), Giosuè Zilocchi (Zebre Rugby), Luca Bigi (Benetton Rugby), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Stade Toulousian), Dean Budd (Benetton Rugby), Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby), David Sisi (Zebre Rugby Club), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Rugby), Marco Barbini (Benetton Rugby), Maxime Mbanda (Zebre Rugby Club), Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais), Abraham Jurgens Steyn (Benetton Rugby), Jimmy Tuivaiti (Zebre Rugby)
Backs: Guglielmo Palazzani (Zebre Rugby), Tito Tebaldi (Benetton Rugby), Tommaso Allan (Benetton Rugby), Carlo Canna (Zebre Rugby), Ian McKinley (Benetton Rugby), Giulio Bisegni (Zebre Rugby), Michele Campagnaro (Wasps), Tommaso Castello (Zebre Rugby), Luca Morisi (Benetton Rugby), Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Rugby), Angelo Esposito (Benetton Rugby), Jayden Hayward (Benetton Rugby), Edoardo Padovani (Zebre Rugby), Luca Sperandio (Benetton Rugby)
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