{"id":530494,"date":"2025-10-27T04:56:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T04:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/530494\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T04:56:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T04:56:20","slug":"giant-148kg-bath-rookie-among-36-man-italy-quilter-nations-series-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/530494\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant 148kg Bath rookie among 36-man Italy Quilter Nations Series squad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Italy<\/a> head coach Gonzalo Quesada<\/a> has named a 36-man squad for the upcoming Quilter Nations Series, with three potential debutants included ahead of Tests against Australia, South Africa<\/a> and Chile.<\/p>\n

The Azzurri assembled in Parma on Sunday, with preparations officially getting underway for their first match of the autumn against the Wallabies in Udine on November 8.<\/p>\n

Quesada\u2019s group will be joined early in the week by France-based stars Tommaso Allan<\/a> and Ange Capuozzo<\/a>, while all foreign-based players are expected to return to their clubs after Wednesday\u2019s final full training session.<\/p>\n

The Argentina-born coach has selected a largely settled group drawn primarily from Benetton<\/a> Rugby, but with fresh faces pushing through.<\/p>\n

Bath<\/a> lock Enoch Opoku Gyamfi is one of the uncapped players named in the squad. The second-row is only nineteen years old but stands 6\u20195 and tips the scales at 148kg (23st 4lb\/326lbs).<\/p>\n

Born in Italy to Ghanaian parents, the powerhouse forward came through Benetton\u2019s academy before joining Gallagher PREM side, impressing with his physicality and setpiece work.<\/p>\n

He is joined by Zebre<\/a> centre Damiano Mazza<\/a> and Northampton<\/a> wing Edoardo Todaro<\/a> are all in line for possible first caps.<\/p>\n

There are recalls for the likes of Marco Riccioni<\/a> and Tommaso Allan<\/a>, while captain Michele Lamaro<\/a> once again leads a back row featuring Sebastian Negri and Lorenzo Cannone.<\/p>\n

Italy will face Australia<\/a> in Udine on 8 November, before hosting South Africa in Turin on 15 November and rounding off their campaign against Chile<\/a> in Genoa on 22 November.<\/p>\n

Italy squad for the Quilter Nations Series (36 players)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Props:<\/strong> Simone Ferrari<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 66 caps); Danilo Fischetti<\/a> (Northampton Saints, 55); Muhamed Hasa<\/a> (Zebre Parma, 3); Marco Riccioni (Saracens, 34); Mirco Spagnolo<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 16).<\/p>\n

Hookers:<\/strong> Tommaso Di Bartolomeo<\/a> (Zebre Parma, 3); Pablo Dimcheff<\/a> (Colomiers<\/a> Rugby, 2); Giacomo Nicotera<\/a> (Stade Fran\u00e7ais, 34).<\/p>\n

Locks:<\/strong> Niccol\u00f2 Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 55); Riccardo Favretto<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 7); Enoch Opoku Gyamfi (Bath, debut); Federico Ruzza<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 64); Andrea Zambonin<\/a> (Exeter Chiefs, 12).<\/p>\n

Back row:<\/strong> Lorenzo Cannone<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 30); Alessandro Izekor<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 6); Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby, 48); Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby, 65); Manuel Zuliani<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 35); Ross Vintcent<\/a> (Exeter Chiefs, 17).<\/p>\n

Scrum-halves:<\/strong> Alessandro Garbisi<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 18); Martin Page-Relo<\/a> (Bordeaux, 18); Stephen Varney<\/a> (Exeter Chiefs, 34).<\/p>\n

Fly-halves:<\/strong> Tommaso Allan (Perpignan, 86); Giacomo Da Re<\/a> (Zebre Parma, 5); Paolo Garbisi<\/a> (Toulon, 47).<\/p>\n

Centres:<\/strong> Juan Ignacio Brex<\/a> (Toulon, 46); Leonardo Marin<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 15); Damiano Mazza (Zebre Parma, debut); Tommaso Menoncello<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 31).<\/p>\n

Back three:<\/strong> Ange Capuozzo<\/a> (Stade Toulousain, 28); Monty Ioane<\/a> (Lyon, 39); Louis Lynagh<\/a> (Benetton Rugby, 7); Lorenzo Pani<\/a> (Zebre Parma, 8); Edoardo Todaro (Northampton Saints, debut).<\/p>\n

Additional invite:<\/strong> Mirko Belloni<\/a> (Zebre Parma, 2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada has named a 36-man squad for the upcoming Quilter Nations Series, with three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-530494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115444360744615470","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}