Castrogiovanni dropped as Italy make four changes for Canada

Italy coach Jacques Brunel has made four changes to his team for the Rugby World Cup Pool D game against Canada in Leeds on Saturday.

Props Michele Rizzo and Lorenzo Cittadini replace Matias Aguero and Martin Castrogiovanni who started the opening 32-10 loss to France.

Centres Gonzalo Garcia and Tommaso Benvenuti have been brought in for Andrea Masi, who will miss the rest of the tournament with an Achilles injury, and Michele Campagnaro.

Meanwhile Canada captain Tyler Ardron has been recalled to the side for the fixture at Elland Road,

Ardron, who missed the opening 50-7 loss to Ireland, returns at number eight and brothers Phil and Jamie Mackenzie, both left out of the match-day squad against Joe Schmidt’s side, start against the Italians.

Jebb Sinclair will partner Jamie Cudmore in the second row and Connor Braid will start at inside centre.

Italy: Luke McLean, Leonardo Sarto,Tommaso Benvenuti, Gonzalo Garcia, Giovanbattista Venditti, Tommaso Allan, Edoardo Gori, Michele Rizzo, Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain), Lorenzo Cittadini, Quintin Geldenhuys, Josh Furno, Alessandro Zanni, Francesco Minto, Samuela Vunisa.

Replacements: Davide Giazzon, Matias Aguero, Martin Castrogiovanni, Marco Fuser, Mauro Bergamasco, Guglielmo Palazzani, Carlo Canna, Michele Campagnaro.

Canada: Matt Evans, Phil Mackenzie, Ciaran Hearn, Connor Braid, DTH Van Der Merwe, Nathan Hirayama, Jamie Mackenzie, Hubert Buydens, Ray Barkwill, Doug Wooldridge, Jebb Sinclair, Jamie Cudmore, Nanyak Dala, John Moonlight, Tyler Ardron (captain).

Replacements: Aaron Carpenter, Djustice Sears-Duru, Andrew Tiedemann, Evan Olmstead, Kyle Gilmour, Phil Mack, Conor Trainor, Harry Jones.