Jake Polledri will make his Italian debut at the Stadio Olimpico as the Azzurri prepare to take on Scotland in the NatWest 6 Nations on Super Saturday.
The 22-year-old comes in at flanker to replace Maxime Mbanda in the only change to Conor O’Shea’s starting XV from the one that lost to Wales last weekend.
Polledri will join Sebastian Negri and captain Sergio Parisse in the back row in Rome to face Scotland, who lost in Dublin last weekend.
In-form Zebre star Giulio Bisegni keeps his place in the starting XV, joining Tommaso Castello in midfield while the back three of Matteo Minozzi, Mattia Bellini and Tommaso Benvenuti remains unchanged.
Minozzi has enjoyed a breakout tournament and dotted down his third try of the Championship in Cardiff last time out.
Elsewhere, there’s a second row of Alessandro Zanni and Dean Budd while Leonardo Ghiraldini is at hooker with Andrea Lovotti and Simone Ferrari the props. Starting line-up 15. Matteo Minozzi – Zebre 14. Tommaso Benvenuti – Benetton 13. Giulio Bisegni – Zebre 12. Tommaso Castello – Zebre 11. Mattia Bellini – Zebre 10. Tommaso Allan – Benetton 9. Marcello Violi – Zebre 1. Andrea Lovotti – Zebre 2. Leonardo Ghiraldini – Toulouse 3. Simone Ferrari – Benetton 4. Alessandro Zanni – Benetton 5. Dean Budd – Benetton 6. Sebastian Negri – Benetton 7. Jake Polledri – Gloucester Rugby 8. Sergio Parisse – Stade Francais
Replacements: 16. Oliviero Fabiani – Zebre 17. Nicola Quaglio – Benetton 18. Tiziani Pasquali – Benetton 19. Abraham Steyn – Benetton 20. Giovanni Licata – Fiamme Oro 21. Guglielmo Palazzani – Zebre 22. Carlo Canna – Zebre 23. Jayden Hayward – Benetton
