Marco Riccioni and Stephen Varney named in Italy squad

22.08.2023 - 11:47 rte.ie

Prop Marco Riccioni and scrum-half Stephen Varney are both included in Italy's 33-man squad for next month's Rugby World Cup, despite suffering injuries against Ireland in their recent warm-up game.Coach Kieran Crowley delayed naming his official squad due to injury concerns, as Ange Capuozzo had also been sidelined since February.

The full-back made an impressive comeback in Italy's win over Romania on Saturday, scoring two tries.English-born pair Paolo Odogwu and Dino Lamb also scored in that 57-7 win and are both included in the final squad.

Italy have two sets of brothers in their panel, Niccolo Cannone and his brother Lorenzo, along with the Garbisi siblings, Alessandro and Paolo.

The Garbisi brothers started their first game together for Italy in Saturday's victory."It was not easy to arrive at the choice of the 33 athletes called up for the Rugby World Cup and all the players who participated in the preparation worked in the best way." Crowley said.

international rugby Rugby World Cup Sport Rugby Kieran Crowley Stephen Varney France Italy Scotland Romania Namibia Japan Ireland New Zealand Uruguay

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