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Strugglers Italy name team for France clash

Rome - Italy coach Conor O'Shea announced five changes on Thursday and brings in centre Marco Zanon for his first cap with the side to face France in their final Six Nations tie.

Zanon, 21, who plays for Treviso, comes in for Michele Campagnaro, who will miss Saturday's Rome match following injury in the 57-14 hammering by England last week.

He joins a team that have lost all four games in the championship so far and are hoping a weakened French side will offer them a better chance of scoring a rare Six Nations win at home.

Four changes upfront see Toulouse hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini coming in for Luca Bigi, who drops to the bench, while prop Tiziano Pasquali is selected ahead of Simone Ferrari.

David Sisi starts at lock and will earn a fifth cap while English-born Gloucester flanker Jake Polledri is preferred to Sebastian Negri, who drops to the bench.

Teams:

Italy

15 Jayden Hayward; 14 Edoardo Padovant, 13 Marco Zanon, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Angelo Esposito; 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi; 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Abraham Jurgens Steyn; 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 David Sisi; 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lovotti

Substitutes: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Sebastian Negri, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Luca Sperandio

France

15 Maxime Medard, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Gregory Alldritt, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Félix Lambey, 3 Demba Bamba, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Etienne Falgoux.

Substitutes: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Dany Priso, 18  Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Paul Gabrillagues, 20 Arthur Iturria, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Camille Lopez, 23 Thomas Ramos

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