Italy to take Brex to Japan, Samoa and Tonga

Gonzalo Quesada has named his roster for the July Internationals. Italy will tour Japan, Samoa and Tonga, playing one test match against each country. Juan Ignacio Brex is on the roster. The former Argentina XV and Los Pumas 7’s player is one of 34 names for the tour.

The tour comes following Italy’s highly successful Six Nations campaign. The Italians defeated Wales 24-21 and Scotland 31-29 in addition to drawing 13-13 against France. Combined the results gave Italy their greatest ever return in Six Nations history.

For the July Internationals Quesada has selected players from United Rugby Championship (URC), the English Premiership, the French Top 14 and the Pro D2.

TOUR FIXTURES

Fri, July 06  vs (Apia Park, Apia)

Fri, July 12   vs (Teufaiva Sport Stadium, Nuku’alofa)

Sun, July 21 vs (Sapporo Dome, Sapporo)

 

ITALY ROSTER – FORWARDS

PROP
Simone Ferrari (Benetton, 53 caps)
Danilo Fischetti (Zebre Parma, 41 caps)
Marco Riccioni (Saracens, 26 caps)
Mirco Spagnolo (Benetton, 5 caps)
Giosuè Zilocchi (Benetton, 21 caps)

HOOKER
Gianmarco Lucchesi (Benetton, 22 caps)
Giacomo Nicotera (Benetton, 23 caps)
Loris Zarantonello (Castres, uncapped)

SECOND-ROW
Niccolò Cannon (Benetton 41 caps)
Edoardo Iachizzi (Benetton, 6 caps)
Federico Ruzza (Benetton, 54 caps)
Andrea Zambonin (Zebre Parma, 7 caps)

BACK-ROW
Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton, 19 caps)
Alessandro Izekor (Benetton, 2 caps)
Michele Lamaro (Benetton, 38 caps)
Sebastian Negri (Benetton, 55 caps)
David Odiase (Oyonnax, uncapped)
Ross Vintcent (Exeter Chiefs, 4 caps)
Manuel Zuliani (Benetton, 21 caps)

 

ITALY ROSTER – BACKS

SCRUM-HALF
Alessandro Garbisi (Benetton 8 caps)
Martin Page-Relo (Lyon, 8 caps)
Stephen Varney (Gloucester, 29 caps)

FLY HALF
Paolo Garbisi (Toulon, 36 caps)
Leonardo Marin (Benetton, 9 caps)
Giovanni Montemauri (Zebre Parma, uncapped)*

CENTER
Juan Ignacio Brex (Benetton, 35 caps)
Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton, 17 caps)
François Carlo Mey (Clermont, uncapped)
Marco Zanon (Benetton, 14 caps)

WING
Monty Ioane (Lyon 30 caps)
Louis Lynagh (Harlequins, 2 caps)
Jacopo Trulla (Zebre Parma, 8 caps)

FULLBACK
Ange Capuozzo (Toulouse, 19 caps)
Matt Gallagher (Bath, uncapped)

* Invitational

 

MISSING AND RETURNING NAMES

In relation to the initial longest, there are six changes. Quesada has left out Mohamed Hasa, Giampietro Ribaldi, Riccardo Favretto, Giulio Marini and Simone Gesi. Giovanni Montemauri is included as an invited player.

Luca Bigi, Marco Manfredi, Tomasso Allan, and Lorenzo Pani are all absent. The roster also excludes Iván Nemer. The Argentine prop missed the Six Nations though injury. He underwent surgery last month on his Achilles tendon.

 

UNCAPPED PLAYERS

Quesada’s roster includes five uncapped players. Hooker Loris Zarantonello is from France. He was born and raised in France and played for France u20’s. Flanker David Odiase is also selected from France; however, he is a homegrown Italian player.

Uncapped center François Carlo Mey was born in Parma. He plays his rugby for Clermont. He played in Parma as well as for Colorno before debuting for Italy u20’s. Giovanni Montemauri is homegrown though spent a season abroad in France as a teenager.

Matt Gallagher has been called-up from England; his mother is Italian. Gallagher played for England u20s and is a product of English Rugby system. His father was an All Black; John Gallagher won the inaugural Rugby World Cup with New Zealand in 1987. Ireland was also a real possibility; Matt Gallagher previously played for Munster and expressed interest in playing for Ireland, qualifying via John Gallagher’s Irish parents.

FOREIGN-BORN AND HOMEGROWN PLAYERS

Italy’s Rugby World Cup 2023 roster had four more foreign-born players than that from 2019. The total number of 13 was 38.2%. 21 of the players were homegrown. This represented 61.7% which was notably more than Scotland with 47% foreign-born and 50% homegrown players.

Quesada’s selections for the 2024 Six Nations saw significant changes. The percentage of homegrown players increased to 81.3%. It meant Italy had 8 foreign-born players in the Six Nations compared to Scotland with 24. Italy’s investments in the junior program are part of the change, so too is Quesada’s vision.

As noted, the uncapped names on the roster for the July Internationals are a mixture of homegrown and non-homegrown players. Homegrown refers to the country that is primarily responsible for the player’s development. Of the five new caps François Carlo Mey, Giovanni Montemauri and David Odiase are homegrown.