New men’s head coach Gioele Celerino takes charge of Italy for the first time as they face Malta for the Medieval Shield in Bagnaria Arsa tomorrow (Saturday), kick off 3pm local time. He will look to hand debuts to up to nine players in the senior international for world ranking points, which comes just before the restart of the domestic championship in Italy.
The clash marks the beginning of a restructure by the Federazione Italiana Rugby League. “We have embarked on a new cycle, and I am happy with this new beginning,” said Celerone, Italy men’s most capped player. “We have many young quality players involved and some more experienced athletes such as Simone Boscolo and Ippolito Occhialini who took part in the last World Cup. We are here to build one game at a time.”
Malta play their first game in Europe since visiting Montenegro and Bulgaria last year, their cosmopolitan squad containing two brothers and two cousins. Men’s head coach, Phillip Humphrey, noted: “Karl (Cassar) has been a mainstay in the Malta side for many years and his cousin Josh has had a stellar season this summer. Similarly, Alfie (Jewitt) has very much been a regular for the last few years, and now after his Malta XIII debut in June against Oxford University, his brother Harrison joins the senior squad after a full season in the Castleford Tigers Academy. We have always stressed our family ties as being part of our foundation.”
ITALY SQUAD:
Alessandro Corte, Francesco Speggiorin, Mattia Saoncella, Ryan Solda, Simone Boscolo (Leoni Veneti), Francesco Vallone, Giona Toffolett, Giacomo Civino, Ippolito Occhialini, Liam Signorini, Lorenzo Sosta, Samuele Bertolini (Lignano Sharks), Davide Colla, Emiliano Buraschi, Marco Forno, Nicola Cannato, Omar Lai, Stefano Godoleshi (Milano Mustang)
MALTA SQUAD
Robin Cutajar, Kyle Gauci, Jean-Pierre Zarb (Black Knights), William Watts, Shaun Chircop (Blue Knights), Harrison Jewitt (Castleford Tigers), Alfie Jewitt (Featherstone Lions), Kaine Dimech (Cornwall RLFC), Zac Vella (Picton Magpies), Jon Micallef (Red Knights), Karl Cassar (Royal Air Force RL), Josh Cassar (Stanley Rangers), Nicholas Maylor (Stompers RFC), Justin Davenport (Tampa Mayhem), Dean Zammit (Wigan St Patricks), Zarrin Galea (Workington Town) Josh Gatt (N/A)