Italy stick to winning combination for Wales clash
Scrum-half Edoardo Gori returns to the Italy team for Sunday's RBS 6 Nations clash against Wales in Rome
©PA
In-form Exeter centre Michele Campagnaro has been named on the bench as Italy boss Conor O'Shea unveiled the line-up for the Six Nations opener against Wales on Sunday.
The XV contains 10 of the players from the game Italy defeated Springboks during the November Tests while Edoardo Gori is included in the scrum-half at the expense of Giorgio Bronzini.
The squad will continue to be captained by Sergio Parisse, who is set to make his 122nd appearance for the country while Luke McLean and Tommaso Benvenuti will continue with the midfield association.
In the 24 encounters between the two teams, Italy have won just two and their last victory came way back in 2007 when they claimed a 23-20 triumph in Rome.
Italy team versus Wales:
E Padovani (Zebre); G Bisegni (Zebre), T Benvenuti (Treviso), L McLean (Treviso), G Venditti (Zebre); C Canna (Zebre), E Gori (Treviso); A Lovotti (Zebre), O Gega (Treviso), L Cittadini (Bayonne), M Fuser (Treviso), G Biagi (Zebre), A Steyn (Treviso), M Mbanda (Zebre), S Parisse (Stade Francais, capt).
Replacements: L Ghiraldini (Toulouse), S Panico (Calvisano), P Ceccarelli (Zebre), J Furno (Zebre), F Minto (Treviso), G Bronzini (Treviso), T Allan (Treviso), M Campagnaro (Exeter).
