ITALY RUGBY WORLD CUP SQUAD NAMED TODAY IN TURIN MAURO BERGAMASCO REACHES LIMA AS HE’S SELECTED FOR HIS FIFTH RWC

Torino – Italy Head Coach Jacques Brunel and Team Manager Luigi Troiani named today the 31-man Rugby World Cup Squad in a press conference which took place in Turin, at the NH Lingotto Congress Hotel, where the Azzurri are currently assembled ahead of their incoming warm-up tour to Scotland and Wales.
Today’s announcement represents the final act of a two-month process which involved fifthy players selected for the preliminary squad, fourty of them assembling mid-June in Villabassa, in the Dolomiti area, for the season’s first training camp.
The Azzurri later reconvened in L’Aquila, Fiuggi and finally Turin where they faced Scotland on Saturday (12-16 for the highlanders) to continue their approach to Rugby’s showcase event.
Seventeen forwards and fourtheen backs has been selected by Brunel in the Rugby World Cup squad, sixteen of them chasing the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time in their career.
Three players – captain Sergio Parisse and veterans Castrogiovanni and Masi – will attend the RWC for the fourth time while 36-year-old flanker Mauro Bergamasco is set to reach the samoan legend Brian Lima as a five-time participant.
The three players who will leave the training camp today after being selected ahead of Saturday’s test-match versus Scotland are veteran lock Marco Bortolami, flanker Robert Barbieri and wing Michele Visentin.
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“I’d like to pay tribute to the boys for their great efforts and their commitment to the italian jersey during the last two months. All of them worked hardly to secure a spot in the squad and it wasn’t easy to make this final call” the Azzurri Manager Luigi Troiani said.
“Since my appointment as Italy Head Coach – Head Coach Brunel said – we worked on finding the right balance for this team and the Rugby World Cup selection has been made with this in mind. Our ambition is to advance to the Rugby World Cup knock-out stages, a goal Italy hasn’t reached in the past editions: our decisions and our energies are driven by this final target”.
“We’re conscious it won’t be easy to progress through the pool phase – Brunel added – as France and Ireland are both above us in the World Rugby ranking, but we must keep in mind we defeated both of them in the 2013 6 Nations. At the same time, we can’t underestimate Canada and Romania, two sound teams that will certainly do their best to achieve a positive result against someone who’s above them in the ranking during the tournament”.
Italy 31-man RWC squad will travel to Edinburgh on Thursday 27th to face Scotland on Saturday 29th and will then move to Cardiff where they’ll face Wales on Saturday, September 5th in their third and final warm-up match.
The Azzurri will then gather again in Rome on September 12th, flying out to London and to the Rugby World Cup on Sunday 13th.
Italy Rugby World Cup Squad is as follows:
Props
Matias AGUERO (unattached, 34 caps)
Martin CASTROGIOVANNI (Racing-Metro ‘92, 111 caps)
Dario CHISTOLINI (Zebre Rugby, 10 caps)
Lorenzo CITTADINI (Wasps, 39 caps)
Michele RIZZO (Leicester Tigers, 17 caps)
Hookers
Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Leicester Tigers, 76 caps)
Davide GIAZZON (Benetton Treviso, 21 caps)
Andrea MANICI (Zebre Rugby, 11 caps)*
Locks
Valerio BERNABO’ (Zebre Rugby, 24 caps)
Joshua FURNO (Newcastle Falcons, 29 caps)*
Marco FUSER (Benetton Treviso, 4 caps)*
Quintin GELDENHUYS (Zebre Rugby, 55 caps)
Flankers/n.8s
Mauro BERGAMASCO (unattached, 103 caps)
Francesco MINTO (Benetton Treviso, 17 caps)
Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais Paris, 112 caps) – captain
Samuela VUNISA (Saracens, 6 caps)
Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Treviso, 88 caps)
Scrumhalves
Edoardo GORI (Benetton Treviso, 42 caps)*
Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebre Rugby, 9 caps)
Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby, 1 cap)*
Flyhalves
Tommaso ALLAN (USAP Perpignan, 15 caps)
Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby, 1 cap)
Centers/Wingers/Fullbacks
Tommaso BENVENUTI (Bristol Rugby, 31 caps)*
Michele CAMPAGNARO (Exeter Chiefs, 13 caps)*
Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Treviso, 5 caps)*
Gonzalo GARCIA (Zebre Rugby, 36 caps)
Andrea MASI (Wasps, 92 caps)
Luke MCLEAN (Benetton Treviso, 69 caps)
Luca MORISI (Benetton Treviso, 14 caps)*
Leonardo SARTO (Zebre Rugby, 17 caps)*
Giovanbattista VENDITTI (Newcastle Falcons, 28 caps)*
*former FIR “Ivan Francescato” Academy member
Com. Stam.