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Juan Ignacio Brex will make his test debut on Saturday. The 28-year-old will start for Italy at inside center in round one of the 2021 Six Nations against France in Rome.
The Argentine midfielder is eligible despite his prior representative duty for Argentina. Brex played for Argentina in capturing matches for the Argentina XV and Los Pumas 7’s. He is eligible via the grandparent rule and qualifies via the Olympic Loophole.
Brex will form the mid-field with Benetton Treviso teammate Marco Zanon. The selection sees Carlo Canna named on the bench. Canna played eight test matches in 2020 at inside center. His regular position is at fly half.
Brex is one of seven foreign-born / produced players in Italy’s line-up.
ITALY
1 Cherif Traoré, 2 Luca Bigi, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 David Sisi, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Johan Meyer, 8 Michele Lamaro, 9 Stephen Varney, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 12 Juan Ignacio Brex, 13 Marco Zanon, 14 Luca Sperandio, 15 Jacopo Trulla
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Maxime Mbanda, 22 Gugliemo Palazzani, 23 Carlo Canna
