ROME – Gonzalo Quesada, Technical Commissioner of the Italian National Men’s Rugby Team, has made official a pre-list of thirty-nine athletes for the meeting scheduled in L’Aquila from 19 to 22 June, in preparation for the 2024 summer tour which will see Italy engaged in a triptych of tests- match in the South Pacific and Japan in July. This is the first overseas tour since 2018, when Italy faced the XV of the Rising Sun on two occasions.
Of the thirty-nine athletes pre-selected by the Italian staff, thirty-three will meet in L’Aquila from 19 to 22 June to prepare for the tour, bringing Italrugby back to train in the Abruzzo capital nine years after the approach to the 2015 English Rugby World Cup which took place right on the “Fattori” lawn.
Three intense days that Italrugby will experience in Abruzzo, where there will be a moment of meeting with the passionate local public thanks to open training, with free entry, scheduled for Friday 21 June from 10am.
Eight absolute debutants in the list of thirty-nine pre-summits, five Azzurri making their first ever call-up: these are the Parma Zebre prop Muhamed Hasa and his front-line teammate and hooker from the ducal franchise Giampietro Ribaldi, the Italian-French hooker from Castres Loris Zarantonello, the Oyonnax flanker David Odiase – among the protagonists of the Italian Under 20 team in 2023 – and Bath Rugby fullback Matt Gallagher, who from next season will reinforce the Benetton Rugby backline.
First meeting with Italrugby for Giulio Marini: third line with Moglianohad been called up at the beginning of the year for the training sessions scheduled in Verona but an injury prevented him from taking part in the preparations for the Six Nations.
Also included in the provisional squad are rookies Mey and Montemauri – already present in the January gathering in Verona – and Jacopo Trulla who for the first time will work with the staff led by Gonzalo Quesada after two years away from the international scene.
The attacking midfielders Mori and Pani – winner of the best try of the 2024 Six Nations award – and the second row Lamb are unavailable due to injury.
The national team will move to Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday 22 June, which will be the Azzurri’s base for the first part of the Summer Tour. After the first two test matches scheduled against Samoa in Apia and against Tonga in Nuku’Alofa on 5 and 12 July respectively, the Azzurri will fly from Auckland to Tokyo on 14 July where they will begin the march towards the third and final match in Sapporo, Sunday 21 July, against the hosts Japan.
“We have chosen a quality, strong and very balanced squad for this Summer Tour. We know the value of our opponents, especially when they play at home: they won’t be easy games. This tour comes at the end of a very long season which still sees Benetton Rugby involved in the URC playoffs and the TOP14 with Capuozzo and Paolo Garbisi protagonists with their clubs. The squad available will reflect the same principle as the Six Nations where some young players will be included within a tested and experienced group – as in the recent past, for example, Vintcent, Izekor or Lynagh – with the double objective of being viewed for the present and for the future. It will be a great opportunity for this group to live an important collective experience – the second of this new cycle – from a human and technical point of view and which fits into the growth path we have set for ourselves. I am confident that all members of the group will take advantage of the context to develop our character, strengthen our team identity and improve our rugby specifically in the areas where we know we can do even better” declared Gonzalo Quesada.
This is the calendar of Italy’s matches in the 2024 Summer Tour:
Samoa v Italy 05.07.24, Apia
Tonga v Italy 12.07.24, Nuku’Alofa
Japan v Italy 21.07.24, Sapporo
This is the list of thirty-nine pre-summoned athletes:
Pylons
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 53 caps)
Danilo FISCHETTI (Zebre Parma, 41 caps)
Muhamed HASA (Zebre Parma, debutant)
Marco RICCIONI (Saracens, 26 caps)
Mirco SPANISH (Benetton Rugby, 5 caps)
Giosuè ZILOCCHI (Benetton Rugby, 21 caps)
Hookers
Gianmarco LUCCHESI (Benetton Rugby, 22 caps)
Giacomo NICOTERA (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps)
Giampiero RIBALDI (Zebre Parma, debutant)
Loriz ZARANTONELLO (Castres, debutant)
Second Lines
Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 41 caps)
Riccardo FAVRETTO (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Edoardo IACHIZZI (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 54 caps)
Andrea ZAMBONIN (Zebre Parma, 7 caps)
Third Lines
Lorenzo CANNONE (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps)
Alessandro IZEKOR (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps)
Michele LAMARO (Benetton Rugby, 38 caps)
Giulio MARINI (Mogliano Veneto Rugby, debutant)
Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 55 caps)
David ODIASE (Oyonnax, newcomer)
Ross VINTCENT (Exeter, 4 caps)
Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton Rugby, 21 caps)
Scrum midfielders
Alessandro GARBISI (Benetton Rugby 8 caps)
Martin PAGE-RELO (Lyon, 8 caps)
Stephen VARNEY (Gloucester, 29 caps)
Opening midfielders
Paolo GARBISI (Toulon, 36 caps)
Leonardo MARIN (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps)
Giovanni MONTEMAURI (Zebre Parma, debutant)
Centers
Juan Ignacio BREX (Benetton Rugby, 35 caps)
Tommaso MENONCELLO (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
Francois MEY (Clermont, debutant)
Marco ZANON (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps)
Wingers/Fullbacks
Ange CAPUOZZO (Stade Toulousain, 19 caps)
Matt GALLAGHER (Bath Rugby, debutant)
Simone GESI (Zebre Parma, 1 cap)
Monty IOANE (Lyon 30 caps)
Louis LYNAGH (Harlequins, 2 caps)
Jacopo TRULLA (Zebre Parma, 8 caps)
