Italy have handed teenage scrumhalf Stephen Varney a start against the country of his birth as they take on Wales in Saturday’s Autumn Nations Cup clash in Llanelli.
The 19-year-old, who plays for Gloucester and was born in Carmarthen, qualifies for Italy through his mother and has won two caps after coming through Italy's junior teams.
He comes in for Marcello Violi and reprises his halfback partnership with 20-year-old flyhalf Paolo Garbisi, another promising graduate of the Italian under-20 side.
Coach Franco Smith also moved Jacopo Trulla to fullback to replace Matteo Minozzi with Montanna Ioane coming onto the wing for his first cap.
Italy lost to Scotland at home and France away in their two games in the competition with the other against Fiji called off when the islanders suffered a COVID-19 infection in their squad.
“We want to end the tournament in the best possible way. We have a new opportunity to be able to take the field and try to show our worth. Wales are an experienced team and need no introduction. The focus must be on our performance,” said Smith.
Team:
15-Jacopo Trulla, 14-Luca Sperandio, 13-Marco Zanon, 12-Carlo Canna, 11-Montanna Ioane, 10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Stephen Varney, 8- Braam Steyn, 7-Johan Meyer, 6-Maxime Mbanda, 5-Niccolo Cannone, 4-Marco Lazzaroni, 3-Giosue Zilocchi, 2-Luca Bigi (capt), 1-Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16-Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17-Simone Ferrari, 18-Pietro Ceccarelli, 19-Cristian Stoian, 20-Michele Lamoro, 21-Guglielmo Palazzani, 22-Tomasso Allan, 23-Federico Mori.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)
