Scrumhalf Paul Griffen will make his Italy debut against world champions England in the Six Nations on Sunday after he was named in coach John Kirwan's team today.
The New Zealander replaces regular skipper Alessandro Troncon, who was ruled out of the match at the Stadio Flaminio because of a knee injury. Flanker Andrea De Rossi had already been selected as stand-in captain.
Kirwan delayed the naming of his team to allow him to assess the fitness of winger Denis Dallan (knee), lock Santiago Dellape (ankle), uncapped flanker Silvio Orlando (back) and fullback/winger Mirco Bergamasco (thigh).
All have been included in the 22-man squad but Bergamasco has been named on the bench with centre Andrea Masi dropping back to fill in at fullback.
In addition to Orlando, Kirwan picked two other uncapped players among his replacements in flyhalf Roland De Marigny and scrumhalf Simon Picone.
Team: 15-Andrea Masi; 14-Nicola Mazzucato, 13-Cristian Stoica, 12-Manuel Dallan, 11-Denis Dallan; 10-Rima Wakarua, 9-Paul Griffen; 8-Sergio Parisse, 7-Aaron Persico, 6-Andrea De Rossi (captain), 5-Marco Bortolami, 4-Santiago Dellape, 3-Martin Castrogiovanni, 2-Fabio Ongaro, 1-Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16-Carlo Festuccia, 17-Salvatore Perugini, 18-Carlo Checchinato, 19-Silvio Orlando, 20-Simon Picone, 21-Roland De Marigny, 22-Mirco Bergamasco.