The Italy coach, Nick Mallett, has been forced to employ flanker Mauro Bergamasco as a makeshift scrum-half for Saturday's Six Nations opener against England at Twickenham.

With Pablo Canavosio failing to recover from a knee problem and Simone Piccone and Pietro Travagli out for the entire tournament through injury, Mallett revealed he had little choice but to shift the Stade Français forward to the No9 role.

The Azzurri welcome back the Leicester Tigers prop Martin Castrogiovanni, who returns to the squad after a one-year absence, while Mallett has included the uncapped Venezia player, Jean-François Montauriol, in the squad.

Italy team to face England: A Masi (Biarritz), K Robertson (Viadana), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), G Garcia (Calvisano), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français); A Marcato (Benetton Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français); F Ongaro (Saracens), S Perugini (Stade Toulousain), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), S Dellape (Toulon), M Bortolami (Gloucester), J Sole (Viadana), A Zanni (Calvisano), S Parisse (Stade Français),

Replacements: C Festuccia (Racing Metro Paris), C Nieto (Gloucester), T Reato (Femi Rovigo), J-F Montauriol (Venezia), G Toniolatti (Capitolina), L McLean (Calvisano), M Pratichetti (Calvisano).