Italy change three for encounter against France

Italy head coach Conor O'Shea has made three changes to the starting line-up for the upcoming clash against France to be played this weekend.

O'Shea's men will head to Stade de France after beating Russia 85-15 at San Benedetto del Tronto and it is Alessandro Zanni replacing Dave Sisi at second row.

The other changes see Marco Riccioni and Simone Ferrari taking position at tighthead and loosehead props respectively with Andrea Lovotti and Tiziano Pasquali dropping to the bench.

“We want to continue from where we left off. The victory against Russia gave us some good points but it is in the past now. Our next objective is France," said O'Shea.

“It will be a tough match and very interesting for a number of reasons. We want to show our true worth and try to take home a positive result, which will get us closer to peak form with regards to the Rugby World Cup.”

Italy starting XV: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Matteo Minozzi, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Abraham Steyn, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Simone Ferrari

Reserves: 16 Federico Zani, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Dean Budd, 20 Sebastian Negri, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Tommaso Benvenuti