Ange Capuozzo (L) made his Italy debut in 2022
Rome (AFP) - Dazzling winger Ange Capuozzo has been ommitted from Italy’s Six Nations squad due to injury, the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) announced on Wednesday.
Capuozzo, 26, suffered a fractured finger in club Toulouse’s Top 14 win over La Rochelle in late-December but has not featured since.
Head coach Gonzalo Quesada will also be without the likes of experienced players such as fly-half Tommaso Allan, hooker Gianmarco Lucchesi and back-rower Sebastian Negri.
Former Argentina fly-half Quesada has called up two uncapped Zebre players, back-rower Samuele Locatelli and centre Damiano Mazza.
Italy finished fifth in the table last season, losing 22-15 to Ireland to finish their campaign before wins over Australia and Chile sandwiched either side of a defeat to South Africa in November.
“Our last match in the 2025 Six Nations left a bitter taste because of the result, but we delivered an excellent performance,” Quesada said.
“We need to capitalise on the form we showed last November, when we changed some working methods, so we can quickly rediscover our patterns in just a few training sessions,” he added.
The Azzurri open their Six Nations campaign by hosting Scotland in Rome on February 7.
Squad
Backs
Matt Gallagher (Treviso), Monty Ioane (Lyon/FRA), Louis Lynagh (Treviso), Lorenzo Pani (Zebre), Edoardo Todaro (Northampton/ENG); Juan Ignacio Brex (Toulon/FRA), Leonardo Marin (Treviso), Damiano Mazza (Treviso), Tommaso Menoncello, Paolo Odogwu (both Treviso); Giacomo Da Re (Zebre), Paolo Garbisi (Toulon/FRA); Alessandro Fusco (Zebre), Martin Page-Relo (Bordeaux-Begles/FRA), Stephen Varney (Exeter/ ENG)
Forwards
Lorenzo Cannone, Alessandro Izekor, Michele Lamaro (capt) (all Treviso), Samuele Locatelli, David Odiase (both Zebre), Manuel Zuliani (Treviso); Niccolo Cannone, Riccardo Favretto, Federico Ruzza (all Treviso), Andre Zambonin (Exeter/ENG); Simone Ferrari (Treviso), Danilo Fischetti (Northampton/ENG), Muhamed Hasa (Zebre), Marco Riccioni (Saracens/ENG), Mirco Spagnolo (Treviso); Tommaso Di Bartolomeo (Zebre), Pablo Dimcheff (Colomiers/FRA), Giacomo Nicotera (Stade Francais/FRA)