Louis Lynagh, eldest son of Australian rugby legend Michael Lynagh, has been called up for the first time by Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada for the Six Nations Tournament match against France, the Italian Federation announced on Wednesday. The winger, who joined the Treviso franchise at the start of the week, is part of the group of 33 players who will meet in Rome from February 18.
Quesada, who will lead Italy for the third time against France on February 25 in Lille, also called Clermont winger (Top 14) François Mey, already summoned for the first 2024 gathering, but never yet selected. Lynagh, 23, trained at Harlequins and wore the English Premier League club’s jersey from 2019 until the start of the year.
Born in Treviso, to an Italian mother and father, Michael Lynagh, a 1991 World Cup winner with Australia, he first represented England in the youth teams, before opting for Italy.
Quesada will be deprived of several executives due to injury, the third lines of Treviso Sebastian Negri and Lorenzo Cannone, as well as the second line Edoardo Iachizzi (Treviso) and the pillar of Perpignan (Top 14) Pietro Ceccarelli. Another notable absentee, by personal choice this time, the Perpignan opener (Top 14) Tommaso Allan who asked “to benefit from a period of rest in the selection, after having taken part in all international windows since 2023”, explained the Italian Federation.
The Nazionale began the 2024 Tournament with a narrow defeat at home against England (27-24), before sinking in Dublin against Ireland (36-0) last Sunday. Before facing France, the Azzurri are last in the 2024 Tournament standings with one point. They finished in 6th place in the eight previous editions.
Forwards (18): Matteo Canali (Parma), Niccolò Cannone (Trevise), Riccardo Favretto (Trevise), Simone Ferrari (Trevise), Danilo Fischetti (Parma), Alessandro Izekor (Trevise), Michele Lamaro (Trevise), Gianmarco Lucchesi ( Treviso), Marco Manfredi (Parma), Giacomo Nicotera (Trevise) Matteo Nocera (Parma), Luca Rizzoli (Parma), Federico Ruzza (Trevise), Mirco Spagnolo (Trevise), Ross Vintcent (Exeter/ENG), Andrea Zambonin (Parma) ), Giosuè Zilocchi (Trévise), Manuel Zuliani (Trévise)
Backs (15): Juan Ignacio Brex (Trévise), Ange Capuozzo (Stade Toulouse/FRA), Alessandro Garbisi (Trévise), Paolo Garbisi (Montpellier/FRA), Simone Gesi (Parma), Monty Ioane (Lyon/FRA), Louis Lynagh (Trévise), Leonardo Marin (Trévise), Tommaso Menoncello (Trévise), François Mey (Clermont/FRA), Federico Mori (Bayonne/FRA), Martin Page-Relo (Lyon/FRA), Lorenzo Pani (Parma), Stephen Varney (Gloucester/ENG), Marco Zanon (Trévise)
