Rubgy:Italy coach Jacques Brunel has made four changes to face Ireland in Saturday's Six Nations match at the Aviva Stadium (1.30pm).
Outhalf Tobias Botes will make his first Azzurri start, with Kristopher Burton relegated to the bench alongside Gonzalo Canale, whose place at number 12 is taken by Alberto Sgarbi.
Benetton Treviso loosehead prop Michele Rizzo will make his Six Nations debut in Dublin, replacing veteran Andrea Lo Cicero, who drops to the bench.
Lorenzo Cittadini will make his first appearance in this year’s tournament replacing injured Leicester prop Martin Castrogiovanni.
Castrogiovanni will miss the rest of the tournament after sustaining a fractured rib in the defeat by England.
Aironi prop Fabio Staibano has also been included in Brunel’s 24-man squad for the first time since the summer of 2009.
Italy began their Six Nations campaign with a 30-12 loss at France and fell 19-15 to England in Rome in the last round. Ireland coach Declan Kidney yesterday named the same side that was scheduled to start the postponed game in Paris almost two weeks ago.
Ireland (v Italy):R Kearney; T Bowe, K Earls, G D'Arcy, A Trimble; J Sexton, C Murray; C Healy, R Best, M Ross; D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell; S Ferris, S O'Brien, J Heaslip.
Replacements:S Cronin, T Court, D Ryan, P O'Mahony , E Reddan, R O'Gara, F McFadden.
Italy (v Ireland): A Masi (Aironi Rugby); G Venditti (Aironi Rugby), T Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), A Sgarbi (Benetton Treviso) , L McLean (Benetton Treviso); T Botes (Benetton Treviso), E Gori (Benetton Treviso); M Rizzo (Benetton Treviso), L Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), L Cittadini (Benetton Treviso), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi Rugby), M Bortolami (Aironi Rugby), A Zanni (Benetton Treviso), R Barbieri (Benetton Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais).
Replacements:T D'Apice (Aironi Rugby),F Staibano (Aironi Rugby), A Pavanello (Benetton Treviso), S Favaro (Aironi Rugby), F Semenzato (Benetton Treviso), K Burton (Benetton Treviso), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), A Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro Paris), G Toniolatti (Aironi Rugby).
