The two returns are in the pack. Marco Bortolami will skipper the team from the second row for the first time in the season (11th overall).
Roberto Santamaria - Aironi captain during the World Cup - starts from the bench, Fabio Ongaro is at hooker in a front row completed by props Fabio Staibano and Matias Aguero. In the second row Joshua Furno plays alongside Bortolami, while an unfamiliar back row takes the field in Cork.
Aironi must do without Nick Williams, former Munsterman and top try scorer in this PRO12 season with 5. Josh Sole takes his place at number 8, with Simone Favaro and Nicola Cattina at flanker.
Three other members of the Azzurri - Salvatore Perugini, Quintin Geldenhuys and Giulio Toniolatti - return from the World Cup and start from the bench.
AIRONI
15 Ruggero Trevisan; 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Gilberto Pavan, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti; 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Tyson Keats; 8 Josh Sole, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Nicola Cattina; 5 Marco Bortolami (cap), 4 Joshua Furno; 3 Fabio Staibano, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Roberto Santamaria, 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Luca Redolfini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Filippo Ferrarini, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Naas Olivier, 23 Giulio Toniolatti.
Coach: Rowland Phillips.