Sergio’s Parisse’s Italy are going to Ireland with three changes. Coming off an opening round Six Nations defeat against England, Italians have made three changes to their line-up to face Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
Head Coach Conor O’Shea has named two changes to the front-row. At Loose Head Andrea Lovotti makes way for Nicola Quaglio while Luca Bigi starts ahead of the veteran Leonardo Ghiraldini at hooker. At flanker South African Braam Steyn has been named at flanker. He takes over from Renato Giammarioli. Sebastien Negri and Parisse complete the back-row.
A veteran of four Rugby World Cups, Parisse is to earn his 131st test cap for Italy on Saturday. The Argentine no 8 left his home country to move to Italy at the age of 17. He has gone on to leave his mark on the international game, with him being among the greatest Italian players of all-time.
ITALY
15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt.), 7 Braam Steyn, 6 Sebastien Negri, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Nicola Quaglio
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Maxime Mata Mbanda, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Jayden Hayward