Italy name provisional 43 man World Cup squad

[psychic duck]

Nick Mallett has named his preliminary 43 man squad for the World Cup

Loosehead Props:
Alberto de Marchi (25, Aironi, Uncapped)
Andrea Lo Cicero (35, Racing-Métro, 86 caps)
Salvatore Perugini (33, Aironi, 80 caps)

Hookers:
Tommaso d'Apice (22, Aironi, Uncapped)
Carlo Festuccia (30, Racing-Métro, 51 caps)
Leonardo Ghiraldini (26, Treviso, 37 caps, vice captain)
Fabio Ongaro (33, Aironi, 76 caps)

Tighthead Props:
Martín Castrogiovanni (29, Leicester, 76 caps)
Lorenzo Cittadini (28, Treviso, 4 caps)

Locks:
Marco Bortolami (30, Aironi, 84 caps)
Carlo Antonio del Fava (29, Aironi, 52 caps)
Joshua Furno (21, Aironi, Uncapped)
Quintin Geldenhuys (29, Aironi, 21 caps)
Corniel van Zyl (32, Treviso, Uncapped)

Blindside Flankers:
Valerio Bernabò (27, Treviso, 19 caps)
Alessandro Zanni (27, Treviso, 52 caps)

Openside Flankers:
Robert Barbieri (26, Treviso, 14 caps)
Mauro Bergamasco (32, Stade Français, 84 caps)
Paul Derbyshire (24, Treviso, 10 caps)

Number 8's:
Sergio Parisse (27, Stade Français, 77 caps, captain)
Manoa Vosawai (27, Treviso, 8 caps)

Scrum Halves:
Pablo Canavosio (29, Unattached, 36 caps)
Edoardo Gori (21, Treviso, 3 caps)
Fabio Semenzato (25, Treviso, 4 caps)

Fly Halves:
Riccardo Bocchino (23, Aironi, 6 caps)
Kris Burton (30, Treviso, 9 caps)
Durandt Gerber (29, GranDucato Parma, Uncapped)
Craig Gower (33, Unattached, 14 caps)
Luciano Orquera (29, Aironi, 22 caps)

Centres:
Gonzalo Canale (28, Clermont, 66 caps)
Gonzalo García (27, Treviso, 21 caps)
Gilberto Pavan (24, Aironi, Uncapped)
Andrea Pratichetti (22, Treviso, Uncapped)
Matteo Pratichetti (25, Aironi, 22 caps)
Alberto Sgarbi (24, Treviso, 12 caps)

Wingers:
Tommaso Benvenuti (20, Treviso, 6 caps)
Mirco Bergamasco (28, Racing-Métro, 81 caps)
Denis Majstorovic (21, Cavalieri Prato, Uncapped)
Michele Sepe (24, Treviso, 3 caps)
Giulio Toniolatti (27, Aironi, 5 caps)

Full Backs:
Andrea Masi (30, Aironi, 60 caps)
Luke McLean (23, Treviso, 28 caps)
Ruggero Trevisan (21, Aironi, Uncapped)

There are 9 uncapped players in the squad, although all have been involved with Italy or Italy A squads previously. Two players who appeared in the 6 nations miss out, Santiago Dellapè who retired this month and Josh Sole. The omission of Sole comes as a surprise as he has been a regular in the Italy squad over the last 5 or 6 years, but has had injury problems this season. Another regular who has had injury problems this season is Kaine Robertson who also misses out.

Italy will play two warm up matches before the World Cup, against Japan on August the 13th and Scotland on the 20th. The Azzurri have Australia, Ireland, Russia and the USA in their pool in the World Cup, with Ireland, who they nearly beat in the 6 nations the team they will be targeting to defeat to reach the quarter finals.

 

[iWin]

No Josh Sole?
Also, whatever happened to Andrea Marcato? He just sort of disappeared after playing 1 six nations

 

[danit]

whatever happened to Andrea Marcato? He just sort of disappeared after playing 1 six nations

he joined Treviso squad last november, to see if he could play in CL on a regular basis

in fact, he never played at decent level, never near to what Burton or De Waal have done this season, never in real shape, never showed to be able to play international rugby

he has been choosen just for two games (vs. Ospreys and at Leinster) but was really poor, so he has been sent back to the domestic league (Padova) where he also played poorly, so that even in Padova he was regulary behind Walsh or Mecier

 

[AfakasiAssasin]

Not a bad squad, definatly a very formidable pack......I think Italy have the talent to push for a quarter final berth. I hope Gower stays available for Italy instead of going back to league before the world cup. He is certainly their best option at fly half.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

Squad reduced to 36: http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3818_6998323,00.html

The seven dropped are: Carlo Festuccia, Kris Burton, Durandt Gerber, Gilberto Pavan, Denis Majstorovic, Michele Sepe and Ruggero Trevisan.

 

[Darwin]

Surprised to see Burton dropped from the squad; I would have thought he would have been close to being the starting 10 for Italy (though that likely reflects my lack of knowledge of Italian rugby!)

 

[Aedaphon]

Italy really showed they have a lot in them this 6 nations, a little bit of luck and they could easily have come in 3rd this year. I really do hope they make it out of the pool stages, Parisse is possibly the best no.8 in the world and I want to see what this Italian side can do with him leading them from the front.

 

[skeep81]

Some interesting omissions from the reduced squad.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Sounds as a decent squad. I hope the new blood can add some spice to the mix. I see them end 3rd. but I hope they advance.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

Final list of 30:
Forwards: M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), L Cittadini (Treviso), A Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro),S Perugini (Aironi), T D'Apice (Roma), L Ghiraldini (Treviso), F Ongaro (Aironi), M Bortolami (Aironi), C Del Fava (Aironi), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi), C Van Zyl (Treviso), R Barbieri (Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), P Derbyshire (Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais), A Zanni (Treviso)
Backs: T Benvenuti (Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Racing-Metro) G Canale (Clermont), G Garcia (Treviso), A Masi (Racing-Metro), L McLean (Treviso), M Pratichetti (Aironi), A Sgarbi (Treviso), G Toniolatti (Aironi), P Canavosio (Aironi), E Gori (Treviso), F Semenzato (Treviso), L Orquera (Brive), R Bocchino (Aironi)

 

[psychic duck]

Italy final 30 man Rugby World Cup squad (likely first choice starting XV in bold):

​

[TABLE="class: outer_border"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD]Position
[/TD]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]Age
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Team
[/TD]
[TD]Debut
[/TD]
[TD]Caps
[/TD]
[TD]Tries
[/TD]
[TD]Pts
[/TD]
[TD]Past RWC's
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Looseheads
[/TD]
[TD]Andrea Lo Cicero[/TD]
[TD]35[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Racing-Métro[/TD]
[TD]2000[/TD]
[TD]86[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]35[/TD]
[TD]2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Salvatore Perugini[/TD]
[TD]33[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]2000[/TD]
[TD]80[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hookers
[/TD]
[TD]Tommaso D'Apice[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Leonardo Ghiraldini[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2006[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Fabio Ongaro[/TD]
[TD]33[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]2000[/TD]
[TD]76[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tightheads
[/TD]
[TD]Martín Castrogiovanni[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Leicester[/TD]
[TD]2002[/TD]
[TD]76[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]50[/TD]
[TD]2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Lorenzo Cittadini[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2008[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Locks
[/TD]
[TD]Marco Bortolami[/TD]
[TD]31[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]2001[/TD]
[TD]84[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]35[/TD]
[TD]2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Carlo Antonio del Fava[/TD]
[TD]30[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]2004[/TD]
[TD]52[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Quintin Geldenhuys[/TD]
[TD]30[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]2009[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Corniel van Zyl[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Flankers
[/TD]
[TD]Robert Barbieri[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2006[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Mauro Bergamasco[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Unattached[/TD]
[TD]1998[/TD]
[TD]84[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]70[/TD]
[TD]1999, 2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Paul Derbyshire[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2009[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Alessandro Zanni[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2005[/TD]
[TD]52[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Number 8
[/TD]
[TD][BLINK]Sergio Parisse[/BLINK][/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Stade Français[/TD]
[TD]2002[/TD]
[TD]77[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]33[/TD]
[TD]2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scrum Halves
[/TD]
[TD]Pablo Canavosio[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Calvisano[/TD]
[TD]2005[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]30[/TD]
[TD]2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Edoardo Gori[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2010[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Fabio Semenzato[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2011[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Fly Halves
[/TD]
[TD]Riccardo Bocchino[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Cavalieri Prato[/TD]
[TD]2010[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Luciano Orquera[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]2004[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Centres
[/TD]
[TD]Gonzalo Canale[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Clermont[/TD]
[TD]2003[/TD]
[TD]66[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]35[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Gonzalo García[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2008[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Matteo Pratichetti[/TD]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]2004[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Alberto Sgarbi[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2008[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Wingers
[/TD]
[TD]Tommaso Benvenuti[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2010[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Mirco Bergamasco[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Racing-Métro[/TD]
[TD]2002[/TD]
[TD]81[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]229[/TD]
[TD]2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Giulio Toniolatti[/TD]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]2008[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Full Backs[/TD]
[TD]Andrea Masi[/TD]
[TD]30[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Aironi[/TD]
[TD]1999[/TD]
[TD]60[/TD]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]65[/TD]
[TD]2003, 2007[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Luke McLean[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Treviso[/TD]
[TD]2008[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]54[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

 

[Amobokoboko]

A solid team, didn't know Perugini was younger then Lo Cicero