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Italy beef up for Samoa Test

Nelspruit - Italy restored stalwarts Martin Castrogiovanni, Marco Bergamasco and flyhalf Luciano Orquera to the starting line-up to play Samoa in Nelspruit on Saturday.

Castrogiovanni and Orquera were used as replacements last Saturday as Italy lost 44-10 to South Africa in Durban in the first of three internationals this month.

Bergamsco was not in the match squad.

Italy made seven chances for the match at the Mbombela Stadium with experienced centres Gonzalo Canale and Gonzalo Garcia also restored and winger Tomasso Iannone getting his third cap.

Only one uncapped player was named in the match-day 23 with hooker Andrea Manici set for his debut off the bench.

"It's a good mix of experience," coach Jacques Brunel told a news conference on Thursday.

"We want to try and see as many players as we can on this trip."

Italy trip ends on June 22 with a test match against either Samoa, Scotland or South Africa depending on the points standings after the first two rounds of matches.

Teams:

Italy:
15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Marco Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Valerie Bernabo, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Alberto De Marchi

Substitutes: 16 Andrea Manici, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Antonio Pavanello, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Alberto di Bernardo, 23 Luke McLean

Samoa:
15 James Sooialo, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Paul Williams (captain), 12 John Leota, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tusiata Pisi, 9 Jeremy Sua, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 5 Daniel Leo, 4 Teofilo Paulo, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Wayne Ole Avei, 1 Sakaria Taulafo

Substitutes: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Logovii Mulipola, 18 James Johnston, 19 Kane Thompson, 20 Junior Poluleuligaga, 21 Brando Vaaulu, 22 Seilala Mapusua, 23 Piula Faasalele



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