{"id":290868,"date":"2026-02-10T17:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/290868\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T17:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:38:12","slug":"capuozzo-returns-but-brex-ruled-out-for-italy-in-dublin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/290868\/","title":{"rendered":"Capuozzo returns but Brex ruled out for Italy in Dublin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italy have been handed a boost with the return to their squad of full-back Ange Capuozzo as \u2060they prepare to take on Ireland in the Six Nations, but must do without Nacho Brex in midfield for the Aviva Stadium clash.<\/p>\n

Capuozzo fractured a finger playing for his French club Toulouse in December and missed Italy’s 18-15 win over Scotland in their opening match of the tournament.<\/a><\/p>\n

Scrum-half Stephen Varney was not considered for the clash in Rome as he recovered from an adductor injury but has been declared fit for the trip to Dublin.<\/p>\n

Winger Simone \u2060Gesi has also been included in the squad, but Brex sits out for \u2060family reasons after winning his 50th cap against Scotland.<\/p>\n

“Nacho is a player of great value to \u2060the team, both \u2060on and off the pitch, but in managing the team, the human aspect and family will always be a priority in my \u2060opinion,” said coach Gonzalo Quesada.<\/p>\n

“We discussed it with him, and the decision we made is the best one. To stay focused on your work, it’s important to remain calm: in every area, with players and staff, we work with individuals first, rather than with professionals,” he added.<\/p>\n

Ulster back row Bryn Ward has joined the Ireland squad ahead of Saturday’s clash at Aviva Stadium, while Tadhg Furlong could start.<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch Ireland v Wales in the Under-20 Six Nations on Friday from 7.25pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Watch Scotland v England on RT\u00c9 Player<\/p>\n

Follow a live blog on Ireland v Italy in the Six Nations on Saturday from 2.10pm on the RT\u00c9 News App and on rte.ie\/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy have been handed a boost with the return to their squad of full-back Ange Capuozzo as \u2060they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-290868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}