The Italians had an encouraging summer in which they split their two-Test series with the Pumas in Argentina and though they crashed to a heavy defeat against Australia in their next match, the Azzurri did score three tries against one of the sports heavyweights.

The Azzurri face Test matches against Tonga, Argentina and Fiji in successive weeks as preparation for the RBS 6 Nations campaign, which takes place at the beginning of next year.

''We are going to call the most in-form players for the November Test matches, Italy team manager Marco Bollesan said.

We are following all the teams in whatever competitions they play - the Super 10, European Cup or even abroad.

So we are going to pick the most fit players for November without any doubt.''