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BORTOLAMI TO CAPTAIN ITALY

VETERAN lock Marco Bortolami will captain Italy in Dublin tomorrow.

Italy coach Jacques Brunel has left skipper Sergio Parisse out of the squad in the hope he will recover from a thigh injury in time to face England in Rome on March 15. Benetton Treviso's Robert Barbieri will take Parisse's place at number eight.

Bortolami, a former Italy captain, is alongside Paul Derbyshire and Luciano Orquera in a trio of players that Azzurri coach Brunel has promoted to the starting XV having all been benched against Scotland. Derbyshire replaces injured flanker Alessandro Zanni, who sustained a knee injury in Italy's 21-20 loss to Scotland in Rome two weeks ago. Tito Tebaldi returns to the Italy fold for the first time since June 2012 and will start at scrum-half.