Italy's Cannone set for debut, Allan starts at fullback

Italy's Lorenzo Cannone will make his debut when they host Samoa in their opening autumn international on Saturday with Harlequins' Tommaso Allan set to start at fullback, head coach Kieran Crowley announced on Thursday.

Scrumhalf Stephen Varney returns from injury while wingers Pierre Bruno and Montanna Iaone were also named in the starting lineup as Crowley retained six of the 15 players who featured in Italy's last international against Georgia in July.

Italy have won two of their previous seven meetings against Samoa, coming out on top 24-13 the last time they met in November 2014.

Crowley's side will also take on Australia and South Africa as part of the autumn international series.

Team: 15 Tommaso Allan (Harlequins, 63 caps), 14 Pierre Bruno (Zebre Parma, 4 caps), 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (Benetton Rugby, 15 caps), 12 Luca Morisi (London Irish, 36 caps), 11 Montanna Ioane (Melbourne Rebels, 14 caps), 10 Paolo Garbisi (Montpellier, 20 caps), 9 Stephen Varney (Gloucester Rugby, 12 caps), 8 Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton Rugby, rookie), 7 Michele Lamaro (Benetton Rugby, 18 caps) - captain, 6 Manuel Zuliani (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps), 5 Federico Ruzza (Benetton Rugby, 33 caps), 4 David Sisi (Zebre Parma, 24 caps), 3 Simone Ferrari (Benetton Rugby, 37 caps), 2 Giacomo Nicotera (Benetton Rugby, 4 caps), 1 Danilo Fischetti (London Irish, 22 caps)

Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps), 17 Ivan Nemer (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps), 18 Pietro Ceccarelli (CA Brive, 21 caps), 19 Niccolo Cannone (Benetton Rugby, 22 caps), 20 Toa Halafihi (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps), 21 Manfredi Albanese (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps), 22 Enrico Lucchin (Zebre Parma, newcomer), 23 Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps).