Franco Smith believes Italy are building a strong nucleus for the future with an exciting core of young players ahead of their Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland.
Smith has handed a debut to exciting fly-half Paolo Garbisi, who has excelled in the PRO14 this season for club side Benetton, while full-back Jayden Hayward is the only starter over 30.
Starting props Danilo Fischetti and Giosue Zilocchi have eight caps between them, while second row pairing Niccolo Cannone and Marco Lazzaroni have nine ahead of the trip to Dublin.
However, Smith is excited to work with a young group and expects them to grow during the Championship and the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup that follows.
“We work day after day to improve ourselves but in no sport can you increase your strength and quality in one day,” he said.
“We have an excellent base to work from and be able to grow step by step. The group has a very young average age and thanks to our two domestic teams, we can make a qualitative leap, but we must remember that Rome was not built in a day.
“This for us is a beginning and an opportunity to create our new culture, with an enlarged group that will form the basis for the future of the national team.
“The long period we will spend together in these six weeks of living together and working will help us to get to know each other better and work together to improve ourselves.”
Smith has also called on the Azzurri to be more physical against Ireland, as they go in search of their first win of the 2020 Championship.
Italy have suffered away defeats to Wales and France, before losing to Scotland in Rome last time out.
“Intensity for us is a very important parameter to try to become increasingly competitive. It is a factor that we want to improve to have an extra weapon in our favour,” he added.
“We also need to be more physical. That’s an aspect we have focussed on in our preparation for these last two matches.”
