O'Shea names the Italian squad of 26 he is taking with him to London

Sergio Parisse is in line for an Italy recall after Conor O’Shea included him in the 26-strong squad that flies to London on Wednesday to take on England next Saturday. 

There were fears that the Italian talisman might not make the cut as the concussion that ruled him out of the Italians’ round three loss to Ireland in Rome also kept him out of Stade Francais’ Top 14 match last weekend.

However, the veteran No8 appears to have made a full recovery as he has made O’Shea’s travelling party. 

Instead, the eight players excluded – Oliviero Fabiani, Marco Barbini, Jake Polledri, Jimmy Tuivaiti, Callum Braley, Carlo Canna, Giulio Bisegni and Luca Sperandio – will now return to their clubs.

Italy come into the game at Twickenham on the back of 20 successive Six Nations, but their confidence is high following competitive February performances against Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

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But for a missed kick in the game’s final action, they would have secured a losing bonus point in their last outing versus the Irish.

Italy squad (v England)

Props

Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 20 caps)

Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 32 caps) *

Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)

Marco RICCIONI (Benetton Rugby, rookie) *

Cherif TRAORE ‘(Benetton Rugby, 8 caps) *

Hookers

Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)

Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousian, 102 caps)

Second Row 

Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps)

Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 10 caps) *

David SISI (Zebre Rugby Club, 3 chaps)

Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 110 caps)

Flanker/No8

Maxime MBANDA ‘(Zebre Rugby Club, 16 caps) *

Sebastian NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps)

Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 136 caps) – captain

Abraham Jurgens STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 28 caps)

#Italrugby: i 26 atleti in partenza oggi per la trasferta inglese ? https://t.co/F7IWKDmBWL
Sabato, a Twickenham, la Nazionale sarà in campo per il quarto turno del @SixNationsRugby 2019#ENGvITA #insieme #rugbypassioneitaliana pic.twitter.com/GXsjVbsz3e

— Italrugby (@Federugby) March 6, 2019

Scrum-half

Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebras Rugby Club, 30 caps)

Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)

Out-half 

Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 46 caps)

Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)

Centres

Michele CAMPAGNARO (Wasps, 41 caps) *

Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 17 caps)

Luca MORISI (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps) *

Marco ZANON (Benetton Rugby, rookie) *

Back three

Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)

Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps)

Edoardo PADOVANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 18 caps) *