Mallett gambles on Mauro

Italy coach Nick Mallett has gambled by naming flanker Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half for Saturday's clash against England.

Flanker Bergamasco to start at scrum-half

Italy coach Nick Mallett has gambled by naming flanker Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half for Saturday's RBS Six Nations opener against England at Twickenham. Mallett had toyed with the idea of switching the Stade Francais forward to the No.9 shirt as cover, with Simone Piccone and Pietro Travagli out for the entire tournament through injury. However Mallett, who last season experimented with playing Andrea Masi at fly-half, has now been forced into making the move for the trip to England after Pablo Canavosio failed to recover from a knee injury in time. Mallett has also called Martin Castrogiovanni back into the side after a 12-month absence, while Toulouse-born Jean-Francois Montauriol will make his debut off the bench. Italy: 15 A Masi (Biarritz), 14 K Robertson (Viadana), 13 G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), 12 G Garcia (Calvisano), 11 Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), 10 A Marcato (Benetton Treviso), 9 Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), 1 F Ongaro (Saracens), 2 S Perugini (Toulouse), 3 M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), 4 S Dellape (Toulon), 5 M Bortolami (Gloucester), 6 J Sole (Viadana), 7 A Zanni (Calvisano), 8 S Parisse (Stade Francais).
Replacements: 16 C Festuccia (Racing Metro Paris), 17 C Nieto (Gloucester), 18 T Reato (Femi Rovigo), 19 J-F Montauriol (Venezia), 20 G Toniolatti (Capitolina), 21 L McLean (Calvisano), 22 M Pratichetti (Calvisano).