Wests Tigers rookie of the year James Tedesco has been named to play for Italy against Wales in front of a likely crowd of seventy thousand.
Tedesco will play in the centres with premiership winner Anthony Minichiello captaining from fullback.
Italy are coming off a shock 15-14 defeat of England in a World Cup warm up match.
Italy head coach Carlo Napolitano has named his 19 man squad to play Wales at Millenium Stadium on Saturday (16:30)
1. Anthony Minichiello (C)
2. Joshua Mantellato
3. James Tedesco
4. Aiden Guerra
5. Chris Centrone
6. Ben Falcone
7. Ryan Ghietti
8. Anthony Laffranchi
9. Dean Parata
10. Paul Vaughan
11. Mark Minichiello
12. Cameron Ciraldo
13. Joel Riethmuller
Interchange
14. Sam Gardel
15. Ryan Tramonte
16. Brendan Santi
17. Raymond Nasso
18. Tim Maccan
19. Gavin Hiscox
Italy captain Anthony Minichiello wants his side to refocus after their historic Rugby League World Cup 2013 warm-up win against England as they prepare to face Wales at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on Saturday (4.30pm).
The Azzurri play Wales after England and Australia battle out the tournament opener, which follows the highly-anticipated opening ceremony, with all of the days events performed in front of an electric atmosphere underneath the stadiums closed roof.
Italys captain is wary of the threat that Wales pose and, despite his sides victory over England, believes that the Welsh will be a big challenge for his team.
We are playing against Wales away in Cardiff and it is going to be tough because it is Waless spiritual home and they are going to have their home support behind them but we are looking forward to that one, said Minichiello.
Obviously we want to win every game that we play and it will probably take three wins to get out of the group. It is tough, it is not going to be easy.
There are a lot of tough games but I hope there will be a few upsets, we are going to be strong and we want to be competitive, as competitive as the other nations.
The captain is proud of how far his national team has come, and has set his sights on denying the big three of England, Australia and New Zealand as much success as possible.
We want to try and make sure that the big three are not always winning, said Minichiello. There are a lot of NRL and Super League players who will be performing for their countries but now we are just looking forward to the tournament starting.
It feels important that it was this group of players who got Italy to the World Cup. A number of the guys who played for the team two years ago in qualifying are back in the squad now so it feels like we have all been part of a journey over the last three years to get here.
There are young guys in the team in the now for who the win against England is a career highlight.
Obviously the guys have to soak that up and enjoy it, but now we have to refocus for the match against Wales.
Tedesco will play in the centres with premiership winner Anthony Minichiello captaining from fullback.
Italy are coming off a shock 15-14 defeat of England in a World Cup warm up match.
Italy head coach Carlo Napolitano has named his 19 man squad to play Wales at Millenium Stadium on Saturday (16:30)
1. Anthony Minichiello (C)
2. Joshua Mantellato
3. James Tedesco
4. Aiden Guerra
5. Chris Centrone
6. Ben Falcone
7. Ryan Ghietti
8. Anthony Laffranchi
9. Dean Parata
10. Paul Vaughan
11. Mark Minichiello
12. Cameron Ciraldo
13. Joel Riethmuller
Interchange
14. Sam Gardel
15. Ryan Tramonte
16. Brendan Santi
17. Raymond Nasso
18. Tim Maccan
19. Gavin Hiscox
Italy captain Anthony Minichiello wants his side to refocus after their historic Rugby League World Cup 2013 warm-up win against England as they prepare to face Wales at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on Saturday (4.30pm).
The Azzurri play Wales after England and Australia battle out the tournament opener, which follows the highly-anticipated opening ceremony, with all of the days events performed in front of an electric atmosphere underneath the stadiums closed roof.
Italys captain is wary of the threat that Wales pose and, despite his sides victory over England, believes that the Welsh will be a big challenge for his team.
We are playing against Wales away in Cardiff and it is going to be tough because it is Waless spiritual home and they are going to have their home support behind them but we are looking forward to that one, said Minichiello.
Obviously we want to win every game that we play and it will probably take three wins to get out of the group. It is tough, it is not going to be easy.
There are a lot of tough games but I hope there will be a few upsets, we are going to be strong and we want to be competitive, as competitive as the other nations.
The captain is proud of how far his national team has come, and has set his sights on denying the big three of England, Australia and New Zealand as much success as possible.
We want to try and make sure that the big three are not always winning, said Minichiello. There are a lot of NRL and Super League players who will be performing for their countries but now we are just looking forward to the tournament starting.
It feels important that it was this group of players who got Italy to the World Cup. A number of the guys who played for the team two years ago in qualifying are back in the squad now so it feels like we have all been part of a journey over the last three years to get here.
There are young guys in the team in the now for who the win against England is a career highlight.
Obviously the guys have to soak that up and enjoy it, but now we have to refocus for the match against Wales.
