HIGHLY-RATED fly-half Paolo Garbisi is fit to make his first start of the Six Nations when Italy host table-topping Ireland in Rome on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Montpellier star sat out the opening losses to France and England with a knee injury but is fit enough to be named by coach Kieran Crowley in the starting line-up unveiled on Thursday.
Garbisi will partner Stephen Varney at half-back with his replacement for the French and English matches Tommaso Allan moving to the bench.
Garbisi will have another reason to be happy about his return because he won’t have to pit his wits against Ireland’s talismanic fly-half Johnny Sexton.
The 37-year-old Sexton was ruled out on Wednesday due to a groin injury.
Crowley has made two other changes to the starting line-up from the 31-14 loss to England a fortnight ago.
He has recalled wing Pierre Bruno and experienced prop Simone Ferrari. Both started the match against 2022 champions France who they pushed all the way before losing 29-24.
Thanks to that losing bonus point the Italians are second from bottom of the table — crisis-hit Wales hold it up without a point.
The Irish by contrast arrive still as world number one and on the back of two convincing victories against the Welsh and French, scoring more than 30 points against both.
Ireland have lost just once to Italy in the Six Nations — 22-15 in 2013 in Rome.
Crowley, though, has engineered a marked improvement, guiding Italy to a win over Wales in Cardiff last year — ending a 36 Six Nations match losing streak — and then to an historic home win over Australia last November.
“It will be a difficult match against the number one ranked side in the world,” said Crowley.
“However, each match is a different story: we will confront Ireland with the ambition of us improving in certain sectors so we are more competitive,” added the 61-year-old New Zealander.
Team (15-1)
Ange Capuozzo; Edoardo Padovani, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Pierre Bruno; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Lorenzo Cannone; Michele Lamaro (capt), Sebastian Negri; Federico Ruzza, Niccolo Cannone; Simone Ferrari, Giacomo Nicotera, Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: Luca Bigi, Federico Zani, Marco Riccioni, Edoardo Iachizzi, Giovanni Pettinelli, Alessandro Fusco, Luca Morisi, Tommaso Allan.
Coach: Kieran Crowley (NZL)
