Italy’s Padovani rewarded with start against Wales

Edoardo Padovani and Nicola Quaglio have been named in the Italy team to face Wales as Conor O’Shea makes two changes to the XV that lost in Scotland.

Italy were beaten 33-20 in their Six Nations opener, but Padovani scored a try from the bench at Murrayfield and has been rewarded with a start this week in Rome.

His call-up on the wing sees Michele Campagnaro move inside to centre, with Tommaso Castello left out of the matchday squad.

Quaglio, the other new face, joins Simone Ferrari and Leonardo Ghiraldini in the front row as Andrea Lovotti misses out with illness.

Scrum-half Tito Tebaldi strained his back in the warm-up before the Scotland game and has not recovered in time to face Wales, meaning Guglielmo Palazzani starts again.

#Italrugby : annunciati i titolari in campo sabato all’Olimpico per #ITAvWAL , secondo appuntamento del @SixNationsRugby 2019 https://t.co/w5dGkNxx9q #insieme #rugbypassioneitaliana @SeiNazioniRugby pic.twitter.com/XUrfBBCw7l

— Italrugby (@Federugby) February 7, 2019

Italy: Jayden Hayward, Edoardo Padovani, Michele Campagnaro, Luca Morisi, Angelo Esposito, Tommaso Allan, Guglielmo Palazzani; Nicola Quaglio, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Simone Ferrari, David Sisi, Dean Budd, Sebastian Negri, Abraham Steyn, Sergio Parisse (captain).

Replacements: Luca Bigi, Cherif Traore, Tiziano Pasquali, Federico Ruzza, Marco Barbini, Edoardo Gori, Ian McKinley, Tommaso Benvenuti.

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