Manuel Zuliani

AN OUTSTANDING AUTUMN UNDERLINED THE ITALIAN FLANKER'S VALUE TO AN AZZURRI TEAM SHOWING NEW LEVELS OF MATURITY

- MARK PALMER

IT'S NOT easy to prove your mettle when your main rival for the shirt happens to be your captain with both club and country. As such, the fact that Manuel Zuliani has forged such a strong reputation despite - and, he maintains, because of - the presence of Michele Lamaro makes his inexorable rise hit just as hard as one of his signature big tackles. The 25-year-old Benetton and Italy openside comes into the Six Nations with the tailwind of an outstanding autumn, during which he delivered a Man of the Match performance in the win over Australia. He backed it up with another standout display in the narrow defeat by South Africa. Lamaro missed those two games through injury. But for all the Roman's many qualities, there is a strong case for Zuliani being given the No 7 shirt when Scotland visit the Stadio Olimpico on 7 February. The pair have started a Test together before - against Ireland in the 2024 Six Nations, when Lamaro switched to No 8. Marco Bortolami, the former Benetton head coach, often found room for them in the same back row as well, but Gonzalo Quesada must consider the competing claims of Lorenzo Cannone and Ross Vintcent, another who produced a stellar November.

Add in the supporting cast of Riccardo Favretto, Alessandro Izekor and David Odiase and it’s clear that the Italy loose-forward stocks are at an all-time high, and that’s before we consider the gnarly claims of Sebastian Negri, the long-established starter who missed the Autumn Nations Series with a knee complaint.