ItalyItaly head coach Conor O’Shea has selected a matchday 23 with youth and experience for their clash against the All Blacks in Rome on Saturday.

For his first Test in charge on home soil, O’Shea has handed Treviso’s Giorgio Bronzini an international debut at scrum as part of an untested halfback partnership with Carlo Canna, who has only 12 caps to his name.

Skipper Sergio Parisse will win his 120th cap in the back row, breaking the appearances record he had shared with prop Martin Castrogiovanni.

Zebre’s  player Andries van Schalkwyk has been selected to start alongside Marco Fuser in the second row. This is an interesting selection as the player, who played for many South African unions, normally plays in the back row.

Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Angelo Esposito, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Maxime Mbanda, 5 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lovotti.
Replacements: 16 Ornel Gega, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 George Biagi, 20 Francesco Minto, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Tommaso Boni.

Date: Saturday, November 12
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT; 03.00 NZDT Sunday, November 13)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Alex Ruiz (France), Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)

One Response to End of Year Tours 2016: Sergio Parisse to captain Italy against New Zealand

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