Kieran Crowley has made five changes to the Italy team that started their Autumn Nations Series defeat to New Zealand for this weekend’s showdown with Argentina.
Two of the changes come in the backline, where Benetton’s Edoardo Padovani comes in for Federico Mori to form the back three with Matteo Minozzi and Monty Ioane.
Marco Zanon has also been replaced by Luca Morisi, who forms an all-Benetton centre pairing with Juan Ignacio Brex having last played for Italy in October 2020.
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The backline is completed by Paolo Garbisi and Stephen Varney, who continue their half-back partnership after also starting the 47-9 defeat to the All Blacks.
Up front, Ivan Nemer has been handed his second cap, replacing Danilo Fischetti at loosehead, where he will pack down alongside Gianmarco Lucchesi and Marco Riccioni.
There is also one change in the second row, with Niccolò Cannone coming in for Marco Fuser to join David Sisi, while the final change sees Giovani Licata replace Renato Giammarioli at No.8.
Licata will be flanked by Sebastian Negri and captain Michele Lamaro. The bench also features two rookies in Giovanni Pettinelli and Alessandro Fusco.
Saturday’s game sees the Azzurri return to Stadio Comunale di Monigo 20 years after their last outing at the ground – a 66-10 victory over Fiji on November 10, 2001.
Crowley’s side will look to end a losing streak against the Pumas that has lasted since 2008, when the Azzurri team then led by Nick Mallett stormed the Cordoba stadium at the end.
“We have drawn a line: we want to look ahead and show progress right away,” said Crowley.
“The attitude shown against New Zealand was good, but in the next game it will be necessary to do even more to bring home an important result against Argentina.”
Italy starting XV: 15 Matteo Minozzi (Wasps Rugby, 23 caps), 14 Edoardo Padovani (Benetton Rugby, 28 caps) 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps), 12 Luca Morisi (Benetton Rugby, 34 caps), 11 Monty Ioane (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps), 10 Paolo Garbisi (Montpellier, 11 caps), 9 Stephen Varney (Gloucester Rugby 8 caps); 1 Ivan Nemer (Benetton Ruby, 1 cap), 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps), 3 Marco Riccioni (Saracens, 16 caps), 4 Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps), 5 David Sisi (Zebre Parma, 16 caps), 6 Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby, 34 caps), 7 Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps) – captain, 8 Giovanni Licata (Zebre Parma, 11 caps)
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi (Zebre Parma 38 caps), 17 Danilo Fischetti (Zebre Parma, 13 caps), 18 Pietro Ceccarelli (Brive, 15 caps), 19 Marco Fuser (Newcastle Falcons, 34 caps), 20 Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps), 21 Giovanni Pettinelli(Benetton Rugby, uncapped), 22 Alessandro Fusco (Zebre Parma, uncapped), 23 Federico Mori (Bordeaux, 10 caps)
Argentina: 15. Emiliano Boffelli, 14. Santiago Cordero, 13. Matias Moroni, 12. Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11. Mateo Carreras, 10. Santiago Carreras, 9. Tomas Cubelli, 1. Thomas Gallo, 2. Julian Montoya (c), 3. Francisco Gomez Kodela, 4. Marcos Kremer, 5. Tomas Lavanini, 6. Pablo Matera, 7. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8. Facundo Isa
Replacements: 16. Facundo Bosch, 17. Ignacio Calles, 18. Santiago Medrano, 19. Lucas Paulos, 20. Santiago Grondona, 21. Gonzalo Bertranou, 22. Nicolas Sanchez, 23. Lucio Cinti
