Stephen Varney: Welsh-born scrum-half set for first Italy start
- Published
Stephen Varney is the Welsh-speaker hoping to play against Wales
Autumn Nations Cup: Fifth-place play-off - Wales v Italy |
|---|
Venue: Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli Date: Saturday, 5 December Kick-off: 16:45 GMT |
Coverage: Listen to commentary on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru; watch on S4C and follow live text on the BBC Sport website and app. |
Welsh-born teenage scrum-half Stephen Varney will make his first Italy international start against the country of his birth on Saturday in Llanelli.
Varney was brought up in Pembrokeshire but qualifies for Italy through his Italian-born grandparents on the side of his mother Valeria.
The 19-year-old played for Italy Under-18s and Under-20s.
He made senior replacement appearances against Scotland and France and will win his third cap against Wales.
The Gloucester scrum-half is the son of former Neath flanker Adrian.
"It was never a big call," said Italy head coach Franco Smith.
"He is a very level-headed guy who is a pleasure to work with. His work ethic is excellent.
"If you are good enough you are old enough. He has put his hand up for responsibility.
"We have kept things reasonably normal. We have had a chat and we know there is a lot of emotion but the more you talk about it, the more it becomes an issue.
"He must think on what he can do to have a good game and his emotional intelligence must not take over. He has excluded everything on the outside and just focused on what he has to do.
"It is beneficial there will be no crowd and he can just find his feet."
There is also a debut for Monty Ioane, nephew of former Australian wing Digby.
Australian-born Benetton wing Ioane has just qualified through residency. Jacopo Trulla switches to full-back.
Italy: Jacopo Trulla; Luca Sperandio, Marco Zanon, Carlo Canna, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Luca Bigi (capt), Giosuè Zilocchi, Marco Lazzaroni, Niccolo Cannone, Maxime Mbanda, Johan Meyer, Braam Steyn.
Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Simone Ferrari, Pietro Ceccarelli, Cristian Stoian, Michele Lamaro, Guglielmo Palazzani, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.