Italy tweak team for England showdown

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Italy have made three changes for this Sunday’s Six Nations match against England.

Following last Sunday’s 37-10 loss to France in Paris, Italy head coach Kieran Crowley tweaked his team for the Round two clash in Rome.

One switch comes in the backs with Federico Mori coming in on the right wing for Tommaso Menoncello.

The other two starting XV changes are in the pack with Braam Steyn returning in place of Seb Negro at blindside and Pietro Ceccarelli taking over at tighthead from Tiziano Pasquali. Both forwards drop to the bench for the round two match.

“The match against France gave us indications on our work done so far. During the week the focus was on certain actions: with the right attitude and greater precision we have the possibility to continue on our path of growth,” declared Italy boss Kieran Crowley.

Last weekend’s loss to France was the 33rd successive defeat for Italy in the Six Nations, a miserable run dating back to 2015.

Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Federico Mori, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Braam Steyn, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti

Replacements: 16 Epalahame Faiva, 17 Cherif Traore’, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 David Sisi, 20 Sebastian Blacks, 21 Giovanni Pettinelli, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Leonardo Marin

Date: Sunday, February 13

Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Kick-off: 16.00 (15.00 GMT)

Referee: Damon Murphy

Assistant referees: Andrew Brace; TBC

TMO: Brian MacNeice