Italy's captain Alessandro Troncon (Montferrand), lock Mark Giacheri (Brive) and young scrum half Ezio Galon (Bourgoin) have decided to honour their commitment to their French clubs and have pulled out of the national squad for the forthcoming tour to Fiji and Samoa.

However FIR (the Italian Federation) President Giancarlo Dondi expects that, in line with international rules, the three players will not be allowed to play for their French clubs throughout the tour period. "The rules are clear - a player who is not available for his national squad is not eligible for the club either. We expect the French Federation to observe this rule, and in the event they fail to this will lead to a major upset which we do not even want to think about," said Dondi.

Troncon said that a choice between the club he captains and the Italian jersey is like having to choose between your mother and your father. He added that the Italian Federation had been informed of his parallel commitments a long time ago and he had asked for a special concession to be made to allow him to play for his club.

Also out of the original 32 man squad named for the tour is flanker Mauro Bergamasco, Grenoble prop Sebastian Rondinelli and centre Luigi Salvan, all injured, while Denis Dallan is tied up with studies.

Last minute new comer is Rome Olimpic star, Argentinean born Ramiro Pez. Pez, 21, was the man of the match in last Saturday's Italian Club Championship final and has impressed many in the few games he has played for Rome. Considered the possible heir of Diego Dominguez he is eligible to play for both Argentina and Italy.

The full squad that will leave to the South Pacific on Friday June 23rd is:
Carlo Caione, Andrea Castellani, Andrea Lo Cicero, Giovanni Raineri, Fabio Roselli, Ramiro Pez (Rome Olimpic), Carlo Checchinato, Manuel Dallan, Andrea Gritti, Francesco Mazzariol, Nicola Mazzucato, Alessandro Moscardi, Corrado Pilat, Giacomo Preo (Benetton Treviso) Simone Stocco (Petrarca Padova), Andrea De Rossi (Livorno), Luca Martin (Begles - France), Matteo Mazzantini, Salvatore Perugini, Maurizio Zaffiri (L'Aquila), Tino Paoletti (Piacenza), Andrea Benatti, Aaron Persico, Juan Sebastian Francesio, Lisandro Villagra, Juan Manuel Queirolo (Viadana), Andrea Scanavacca, David Dal Maso (Rovigo), Cristian Stoica (Narbonne - France), Giampiero De Carli (Stade Francais - France), Luca Mastrodomenico (Calvisano).