Del Fava back for Italy

Italy coach Nick Mallett has named lock Carlo Antonio Del Fava in his 24-man squad for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash with Scotland in Rome.

Del Fava missed the 17-12 defeat against England after undergoing surgery on an injury to his right knee which looked set to sideline him for four weeks.

But the Viadana forward now looks set to be included in Mallett’s matchday squad when the Azzurri go in search of their first Six Nations win since their 23-20 victory in this fixture two years ago.

Scrum-half Simon Picone is not fit enough to return from a muscle strain so Pablo Canavosio retains his place.

Paulo Buso, Manoa Vosawai, Simone Favaro, Michele Sepe, Matteo Pratichetti and Valerio Bernabo have been dropped from Mallett’s initial 30-man selection and will join the Italy A squad to face their Scottish counterparts on Friday night.

Italy squad:

Forwards: M Aguero (Saracens), Ma Bergamasco (Stade Francais), M Bortolami (Gloucester), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), C Antonio Del Fava (Viadana), P Derbyshire (Petrarca Padova), L Ghiraldini (Treviso), L Cittadini (Treviso), Q Geldenhuys (Viadana), F Ongaro (Saracens), S Perugini (Bayonne), J Sole (Viadana), A Zanni (Treviso).

Backs: M Bergamasco (Stade Francais), R Bocchino (Rovigo), G Canale (Clermont), P Canavosio (Viadana), A Masi (Racing Metro Paris), L McLean (Treviso), G Garcia (Treviso), C Gower (Bayonne), K Robertson (Viadana), A Sgarbi (Treviso), T Tebaldi (Gran Parma).