Italy named their final squad for the 2023 Rugby World Cup this week and will now look to enter the tournament off the back of another victory as they take on Japan in Treviso in the Summer Nations Series.
Kieran Crowley’s side secured a convincing win over Romania last time out, while the Brave Blossoms were beaten by Fiji in their most recent outing in the final round of the Pacific Nations Cup.
Italy team news
Italy have made four changes to the team that beat Romania 57-7 in San Benedetto del Tronto, with Tommaso Allan coming into the starting line-up at full-back.
That sees Ange Capuozzo shift to the wing, while the other change in the backline is the return of Stephen Varney at scrum-half.
Up front, Federico Ruzza gets the nod in the second row with Lorenzo Cannone starting at No.8.
Crowley said: “The game against Japan will complete our preparations for the World Cup, giving us more important feedback ahead of the most important part of the season. We have prepared for the game as well as we can and we want to finish off these Test matches with a win in front of our fans.”
Italy side to take on Japan:
15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 1 Ivan Nemer, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 8 Lorenzo Cannone
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Giovanni Pettinelli, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Martin Page-Relo, 23 Paolo Odogwu
Japan team news
Three weeks on from their defeat to Fiji in the Pacific Nations Cup, Japan have made eight changes for this clash with Italy.
Among those changes is a return from suspension for long-time skipper Michael Leitch, who comes into the back row alongside rising star Shota Fukui and new captain Kazuki Himeno.
Yutaka Nagare and Lee Seung-Sin form a new half-back pairing, while Shota Horie returns in the front row.
Japan side to take on Italy:
15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Semisi Masirewa, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Tomoki Osada, 11 Jone Naikabula, 10 Lee Seung-Sin, 9 Yutaka Nagare, 1 Craig Millar, 2 Shota Horie, 3 Koo Ji-Won, 4 Jack Cornelsen, 5 Uwe Helu, 6 Michael Leitch, 7 Shota Fukui, 8 Kazuki Himeno (c)
Replacements: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Keita Inagaki, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Amanaki Saumaki, 20 Ben Gunter, 21 Naoto Saito, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Ryoto Nakamura
