Italy change two for Americas tour

Conor O’Shea has made two changes to his Italian team headed to the Americas, one enforced. Veteran hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini has dropped out with a chest injury, while Benetton Treviso prop Matteo Zanusso has been told to stay home and work on his conditioning with new coach Kieran Crowley to prepare for next season.

Former Gloucester hooker Tommaso D’Apice, now with Zebre, takes the place of Ghiraldini. A member of the 2011 World Cup side, D’Apice has struggled with injury in recent years limiting his Azzurri participation to only 10 caps.

Replacing Zanusso is 22-year-old Sami Panico. The uncapped Calvisano loosehead prop is a graduate of the national u20 program and has a handful of European Challenge Cup appearances to his name, but has never been called up by Zebre or Treviso to play in a Guinness Pro 12 match.

Italy will start their Americas tour in Argentina, playing the Pumas in Santa Fe on June 11, followed by the Eagles in San Jose on June 18 and finally Canada in Toronto on June 26.

FORWARDS
Pietro Ceccarelli (Zebre), Lorenzo Cittadini (Wasps), Simone Ferrari (Benetton Treviso), Andrea Lovotti (Zebre), Sami Panico (Calvisano), Tommaso D’Apice (Zebre), Oliviero Fabiani (Zebre), Ornel Gega (Benetton Treviso), Valerio Bernabo (Zebre), Marco Fuser (Benetton Treviso), Quintin Geldenhuys (Zebre), Robert Barbieri (Benetton Treviso), Simone Favaro (Glasgow Warriors), Maxime Mbandà (Calvisano), Braam Steyn (Benetton Treviso), Dries van Schalkwyk (Zebre)

BACKS
Edoardo Gori (Benetton Treviso), Alberto Lucchese (Benetton Treviso), Guglielmo Palazzani (Zebre), Tommaso Allan (Perpignan), Carlo Canna (Zebre), Giulio Bisegni (Zebre), Tommaso Boni (Zebre), Michele Campagnaro (Exeter Chiefs), Tommaso Castello (Calvisano), Angelo Esposito (Benetton Treviso), Leonardo Sarto (Zebre), Giovanbattista Venditti (Newcastle Falcons), Luke McLean (Benetton Treviso), David Odiete (Mogliano)