Argentine Hooker Set to Debut for Italy

Argentina will officially lose a hooker on Saturday. Pablo Dimcheff has been named on Italy for the test match against South Africa. It marks a first appearance at the capped level for the Argentine born and raised front-rower. He is now captured by Italy.

Dimcheff was selected by Head Coach Gonzalo Quesada for the tour. Quesada is a former Puma. He side to face South Africa features seven changes to the starting line-up from the 73-6 win over Namibia last Friday.

ITALY LINE-UP

1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Niccolo Cannone (capt.), 5 Andrea Zambonin, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 11 Simone Gesi, 12 Marco Zanon, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 14 Louis Lynagh, 15 Jacopo Trulla

Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Giulio Bertaccini

PLAYER ELIGIBILITY LAWS

Italy have selected Dimcheff based on regulation 8 of World Rugby Player Eligibility Laws. Regulation 8 requires players to meet at least one of three criteria: (a) be born in the country; (b) have one parent or grandparent from the country; (c) complete 5 years consecutive residency immediately before representative duty; or (d) ten years cumulative residency preceding the time of selection.

Dimcheff qualifies via his maternal grandparents who are of Calabrian origin. He joins three years after having been on Argentina XV roster for the July 2022 tour of Portugal and Georgia. He did not receive game time on the tour which means he is eligible to play for Italy. Santiago Socino and Bautista Bernasconi were the hookers used on the 2022 tour.

Another homegrown Argentine has captained Italy this year. Juan Ignacio Brex captained the Azzurri against New Zealand in November and led the team against Ireland in the 2025 Six Nations. Brex has been rested from the African tour. Italian-capped Argentine prop Ivan Nemer is also not on the roster. Dimcheff, Brex and Nemer all played for Argentine teams other than Los Pumas.

CAREER – PABLO DIMCHEFF

The 25-year-old Dimcheff is a product of Pucará in Buenos Aires. He went through the Argentine High Performance system which included him playing for Argentina at the 2019 World Rugby Junior World Championship. He played alongside Pumas including Thomas Gallo Juan Martín González, Bautista Pedemonte, Gonzalo García, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Chocobares, and Ignacio Mendy.

Following the Junior World Championship on home soil Dimcheff played for Los Jaguares XV in the Currie Cup First Division; the Argentine team went unbeaten. Then he joined Los Ceibos for the Súper Liga Americana de Rugby (SLAR); now Super Rugby Americas.