SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Italy winger Denis Dallan is confident he will shake off a thigh injury and line up in the team announced yesterday for Saturday's Six Nations game against Ireland at Lansdowne Road.
Dallan picked up the problem during training on Tuesday but he expects to recover in time. "It is only a small injury. I'm sure that I will be 100 per cent fit for Saturday's game," he said.
Roberto Pedrazzi and Nicola Mazzucato, who has been called up from the A squad, will line up on the wings if Dallan does not make it.
Diego Dominguez, Italy's record points scorer, returns after missing the defeat to Wales because of a groin strain.
Brian Ashton, England's assistant coach, has taken temporary leave from the management team and will not be involved either for the Wales game on Saturday or the tournament finale against Italy in Rome on April 7th.
The decision has been made for unspecified personal reasons. Ashton (55) previously worked with Bath and Ireland.
ITALY: G Peens (Piacenza); N Mazzucato (Benetton Treviso) or R Pedrazzi (Arix Viadana), C Stoica (Castres), G Raineri (Roma), D Dallan (Benetton Treviso), D Dominguez (Stade Francais), A Troncon (Montferrand); M Phillips (Arix Viadana), M Bergamasco (Benetton Treviso), A Persico (Arix Viadana), M Giacheri (Sale Sharks), M Bortolami (Padova), S Perugini (Conad L'Aquila), A Moscardi (Benetton Treviso, captain), G De Carli (Calvisano). Replacements: A Moretti (Calvisano), F Pucciarello (Gloucester), S Dellaph (Arix Viadana), A De Rossi (Calvisano), M Mazzantini (Benetton Treviso), R Pez (Rotherham), C Zanoletti (Calvisano)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)