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Italy captain Giacomo Nicotera ruled out of second Springboks Test
By Josh Raisey
Italy hooker Giacomo Nicotera has been ruled out of their Test with South Africa on Saturday in Gqeberha with a rib injury.
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The 28-year-old was named captain by Gonzalo Quesada ahead of the tour, and lead them in the 73-6 victory over Namibia last month. However, he was ruled out of the 42-24 defeat to the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Lock Niccolò Cannone captained his country in Nicotera’s place, with Italy confirming the day after the defeat that the hooker will miss the remainder of the tour.
Uncapped Zebre hooker Giampietro Ribaldi has been flown in as a replacement.
Updated Italy squad
Props
Pietro Ceccarelli (USAP Perpignan, 34 caps)
Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby, 65 caps)
Danilo Fischetti (Northampton Saints, 54 caps)
Muhamed Hasa (Zebre Parma, 2 caps)
Mirco Spagnolo (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps)
Hookers
Tommaso Di Bartolomeo (Zebre Parma, 2 caps)
Pablo Dimcheff (Colomiers Rugby, 1 cap)
Giampietro Ribaldi (Zebre Parma, uncapped)
Second-row
Matteo Canali (Zebre Parma, 1 cap)
Niccolò Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 54 caps)
Leonard Krumov (Zebre Parma, uncapped)
Andrea Zambonin (Exeter Chiefs, 11 caps)
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Back-row
Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)
Alessandro Izekor (Benetton Rugby, 5 caps)
Sebastian Negri (Benetton Rugby, 64 caps)
David Odiase (Zebre Parma, 1 cap)
Ross Vintcent (Exeter Chiefs, 16 caps)
Manuel Zuliani (Benetton Rugby, 34 caps)
Scrum-halves
Alessandro Fusco (Zebre Parma, 20 caps)
Alessandro Garbisi (Benetton Rugby, 17 caps)
Stephen Varney (Exeter Chiefs, 33 caps)
Fly-halves
Giacomo Da Re (Zebre Parma, 4 caps)
Giovanni Montemauri (Zebre Parma, uncapped)
Centres
Giulio Bertaccini (Zebre Parma, 3 caps)
Damiano Mazza (Zebre Parma, uncapped)
Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton Rugby, 30 caps)
Marco Zanon (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps)
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Back three
Mirko Belloni (Zebre Parma, 1 cap)
Simone Gesi (Zebre Parma, 5 caps)
Louis Lynagh (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)
Paolo Odogwu (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
Jacopo Trulla (Zebre Parma, 16 caps)
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