Italy call for Campagnaro

By Mark Stevens
10/5/17

Exeter Chiefs star Michele Campagnaro has been named in Italy's 31-man squad to face Scotland, Fiji and Australia in June.

Conor O'Shea has opted to include the talented centre in his squad, but has left out skipper Sergio Parisse.

Italy's talisman No.8 along with hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini, flank Simone Favaro and prop Lorenzo Cittadini are all being rested due to an intense international schedule of late including an exhausting Six Nations campaign.

O'Shea is giving them a break with the November internationals in mind. Meanwhile, the Irish coach has named four uncapped players in his squad and has recalled prop Simone Ferrari and wing Leonardo Sarto to the squad following their omission from the Six Nations group due to injuries.

"The goal for this group of players joining the tour is to seize the opportunities that we certainly have," said O'Shea. "Once we do this and once we play with the intensity and concentration that we want, we will become the team that we want to be and that all our supporters expect."

Forwards: Pietro Ceccarelli (Zebre Rugby), Simone Ferrari (Benetton Treviso), Andrea Lovotti (Zebre Rugby), Sami Panico (Patarò Calvisano), Tiziano Pasquali (Benetton Treviso), Luca Bigi (Benetton Treviso), Ornel Gega (Benetton Treviso), Luhandre Luus (Patarò Calvisano), George Fabio Biagi (Zebre Rugby), Dean Budd (Benetton Treviso), Marco Fuser (Benetton Treviso), Federico Ruzza (Zebre Rugby), Andries Van Schalkwyk (Zebre Rugby), Robert Julian Barbieri (Benetton Treviso), Maxime Mbanda' (Zebre Rugby), Francesco Minto (Benetton Treviso), Abraham Jurgen Steyn (Benetton Treviso)

Backs: Edoardo Gori (Benetton Treviso), Tito Tebaldi (Benetton Treviso), Marcello Violi (Zebre Rugby), Tommaso Allan (Benetton Treviso), Carlo Canna (Zebre Rugby), Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), Tommaso Boni (Zebre Rugby), Michele Campagnaro (Exeter Chiefs), Giulio Bisegni (Zebre Rugby), Angelo Esposito (Benetton Treviso), Leonardo Sarto (Glasgow Warriors), Giovanbattista Venditti (Zebre Rugby), Edoardo Padovani (Zebre Rugby), Luca Sperandio (Benetton Treviso)