Mattia Dolcetto has named his 26-man squad for the sophomore edition of the Under-18s Six Nations Festival as Italy look to steal the crown away from Scotland.
The Azzurrini will play the defending champions on the opening day of fixtures, on Saturday 13 April at Gillman’s Ground, Hartpury, before they face France and Sixways and Wales at Kingsholm to round off the tournament.
The Italians lost to Wales and were edged out by Ireland but notched an impressive win over England in last year’s competition.
Italy faced France in their first Test match of the season on 29 March, where second-half scores from Stephen Varney, Simone Gesi and Filippo Drago – all of whom made Dolcetto’s squad – weren’t enough to force a dramatic comeback as they fell short in a 34-22 defeat against France.
Each of the six countries will play three games in the tournament, which comes to an end on Sunday, April 21, at the home of Kingsholm, where Varney plies his trade with Gloucester Rugby.
One of two players based outside of Italy – the other being Luca Filippo Gruttadauria, who plays for Toulouse – the rest of the squad are selected from across the country’s domestic pyramid.
Two others to watch will be Riccardo Favretto and Tommaso Menoncello, both of whom are based at Italian giants Benetton.
Italy U18 squad: Luca ADORNI (RUGBY PARMA FC1931), Manfredi ALBANESE GINAMMI (SS LAZIO RUGBY 1927), Luca ANDREANI (RUGBY ROVATO), Andrea ANGELONE (AVEZZANO RUGBY), Matteo BALDELLI (CAVALIERI UNION R.PRATO SESTO), Nicholas BORDIN (FEMI-CZ ROVIGO), Lorenzo CANNONE (FLORENTIA RUGBY), Tommaso DI BARTOLOMEO (ARGOS PETRARCA RUGBY), Filippo DRAGO (MOGLIANO RUGBY 1969), Riccardo FAVRETTO (BENETTON RUGBY TREVISO), Mattia FERRARIN (AROGS PETRARCA RUGBY), Simone GESI (LIVORNO RUGBY), Luca Filippo GRUTTADAURIA (STADE TOULOUSAIN – FRANCE), Leonardo MARIN (MOGLIANO RUGBY 1969), Umberto MAROCCHI (SPRING RUGBY), Matteo MEGGIATO (CUS PADOVA), Tommaso MENONCELLO (BENETTON R. TREVISO), Ion NECULAI (KNIGHTS UNION R.PRATO SESTO), Andrea PANCINI (CAVALIERI UNION R.PRATO SESTO), Giacomo RAVAGNAN (PESARO RUGBY), Marco RUFFATO (RUGBY BASSANO), Matteo SASSI THOMAS (TUSCANY AIRPORTS I MEDICEI), Fabio SCHIABEL (LAFERT SAN DONA ‘), Dorin TICA (KAWASAKI ROBOT CALVISANO), Daniele ULISSE (SS LAZIO RUGBY 1927), Stephen VARNEY (GLOUCESTER RUGBY – ENGLAND)
2019 U18 Six Nations Festival fixtures
Matchday one – Saturday 13 April
KO Gillman’s Ground, Gloucester
12:00 England v Wales
14:30 Ireland v France
17:00 Scotland v Italy
Matchday two – Wednesday 17 April
KO Sixways Stadium, Worcester
11:00 France v Italy
13:30 Ireland v England
16:00 Wales v Scotland
Matchday three – Sunday 21 April
KO Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester
11:00 Scotland v Ireland
13.30 England v France
16:00 Italy v Wales
