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Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 12:39 GMT

Galon starts in only Italy change

Ezio Gallon in action for Italy Italy coach Nick Mallett has made just one change to his starting line-up to face England in their RBS Six Nations clash in Rome on Sunday.

Ezio Galon replaces Pablo Canavosio, who injured his left shoulder against Ireland, on the left wing.

Alberto Sgarbi comes onto the bench, where Carlos Nieto also takes over from Lorenzo Cittadini.

The Gloucester prop missed the 16-11 defeat in Dublin because of the death of his father.

Italy have never beaten England in the Six Nations or any of their 13 meetings at international level, while England have scored an average of 46 points on their four previous trips to Rome.

"It's useful to have Galon as he can be a help with the defensive kicking"
Italy coach Nick Mallett

Mallett conceded his first game in charge against Ireland was an eye-opener and that the Azzurri will need to improve if they are to challenge England for victory.

"There are really large areas of our game that we need to improve," he said.

"Any reasonable team would have put 40 points past us last week. Ireland missed opportunities and didn't play towards where we were weak which was fortunate.

"I'm sure any other team wouldn't make that mistake. We've obviously looked at England but my concern is trying to improve our performance."

Mallett said Galon, who can also play centre or full-back, should help ease the kicking burden on Andrea Masi after his switch to fly-half.

"Galon is a very experienced player," Mallett added. "He had a good 50 minutes last weekend. It's useful to have him as he is left-footed so he can be a help with the defensive kicking.

"I want to take one step at a time. I have to teach him (Masi) to play fly-half first. So I didn't want to increase the pressure on him with the kicking duties. But he can kick very well."

Captain Sergio Parisse will earn his 50th cap on Saturday.


Italy team:
David Bortolussi (Montpellier); Kaine Robertson (Viadana), Gonzalo Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), Ezio Galon (Overmach Parma); Andrea Masi (Biarritz), Pietro Travagli (Overmach Parma); Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Calvisano), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester), Santiago Dellape (Biarritz), Carlo Antonio Del Fava (Ulster), Josh Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais - capt).
Replacements: Carlo Festuccia (Racing-Metro), Salvatore Perugini (Toulouse), Carlos Nieto (Gloucester), Alessandro Zanni (Calvisano), Simon Picone (Treviso), Andrea Marcato (Treviso), Alberto Sgarbi (Treviso).



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Related to this story:

Injured England quartet ruled out (03 Feb 08 |  Rugby Union )
Ashton dismay at England collapse (03 Feb 08 |  Rugby Union )
Six Nations photos (02 Feb 08 |  Rugby Union )
England 19-26 Wales (02 Feb 08 |  Rugby Union )
Ireland 16-11 Italy (02 Feb 08 |  Rugby Union )

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