Italy Name Argentines Brex and Nemer on World Cup Roster

Italy have confirmed their 33-man roster for Rugby World Cup 2023. The Italians will compete in Pool A of the tournament. The group also contains France, Namibia, New Zealand, and Uruguay. Italy enter the group as the third seeds behind the host country and the All Blacks.

Italian Head Coach Kieran Crowley has named a roster containing 19 forwards and 14 backs. There are two Argentines included: center Juan Ignacio Brex and loose head prop Iván Nemer. Both players are products of Argentine rugby who moved to Italy on professional contracts as adults.

There is no place on the roster for Sergio Parisse. Italy’s most capped player in history has retired. The N8 played at Rugby World Cups 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. Had he appeared at Rugby World Cup 2023 then it would be a world record of a player taking to the field in six Rugby World Cups. Such a feat is highly unlikely to ever happen.

Italy has been preparing for the World Cup with a series of warm-up matches. Italy fell to a 25-13 away loss against Scotland in July. It was followed by a 33-17 defeat against Ireland in Dublin. Italy then hosted and defeated Romania 57-7 this past weekend, doing so with Brex scoring a try. Italy’s final warm-up match will be a home match in Treviso this coming Saturday against Japan.

Italy’s World Cup fixtures are in a convenient order and will be played at convenient locations. Italy start against Namibia in St. Etienne on September 09. Game two will be against Uruguay in Nice on September 20. Game’s three and four are to both be in Lyon. Italy face New Zealand on September 29 and France on October 06.

Italy’s pathway to an historic place in the Quarter Finals is simple: win three out of the four pool matches. It is a difficult, albeit not impossible task. Italy defeated both Wales and Australia in 2022. Italy also defeated South Africa in 2016, less than three years before South Africa won the World Cup.

 

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 – ITALY ROSTER

PROP
Pietro CECCARELLI (Perpignan, 28 caps)
Simone FERRARI (Benetton, 46 caps)
Danilo FISCHETTI (Zebre Parma, 32 caps)
Ivan NEMER (Benetton, 12 caps)
Marco RICCIONI (Saracens, 22 caps)
Federico ZANI (Benetton, 23 caps)

HOOKER
Luca BIGI (Zebre Parma, 47 caps)
Epalahame FAIVA (Unattached, 7 caps)
Giacomo NICOTERA (Benetton, 14 caps)

SECOND-ROW
Niccolò CANNONE (Benetton, 32 caps)
Dino LAMB (Harlequins, 2 caps)
Federico RUZZA (Benetton, 44 caps)
David SISI (Zebre Parma, 28 caps)

BACK-ROW
Lorenzo CANNONE (Benetton, 11 caps)
Toa HALAFIHI (Benetton, 11 caps)
Michele LAMARO (Benetton, 28 caps) – capitano
Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton, 47 caps)
Giovanni PETTINELLI (Benetton, 13 caps)
Manuel ZULIANI (Benetton, 12 caps)

SCRUM-HALF
Alessandro FUSCO (Zebre Parma, 15 caps)
Alessandro GARBISI (Benetton, 6 caps)
Martin PAGE-RELO (Lyon, 1 cap)
Stephen VARNEY (Gloucester, 20 caps)

FLY HALF
Tommaso ALLAN (Perpignan, 74 caps)
Giacomo DA RE (Benetton, 2 caps)
Paolo GARBISI (Montpellier, 26 caps)

CENTER
Juan Ignacio BREX (Benetton, 25 caps)
Luca MORISI (Unattached, 46 caps)

BACK-THREE
Pierre BRUNO (Zebre Parma, 13 caps)
Ange CAPUOZZO (Toulouse, 11 caps)
Montanna IOANE (Lyon, 20 caps)
Paolo ODOGWU (Benetton, 2 caps)
Lorenzo PANI (Zebre Parma, 3 caps)

 

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023 – ITALY POOL FIXTURES

Sat Sep 09   vs (Saint-Etienne, FR)

Wed Sep 20 vs (Nice, FR)

Fri Sep 29    vs (Lyon, FR)

Fri Oct 06    vs (Lyon, FR)