Meet Italy's new Diego - Ramiro

Beware of scrum-halves wearing scrum caps. Alessandro Troncon has spent much of his career fighting a lost cause but remains one of the most combative players in international rugby. "Passion is what I'm looking for,'' John Kirwan, the coach of Italy, said, "and no one is more passionate than Alessandro.''

The Italian captain, who received a red card for punching the Ireland scrum-half Peter Stringer in the 2001 Six Nations, has won 73 caps, and it would have been more had he not endured as turbulent a relationship with Brad Johnstone, Kirwan's predecessor, as he did with Stringer. When Johnstone dropped Troncon last season there was uproar. The president of the Italian Federation travelled to the training ground and persuaded Johnstone to change his mind. Troncon has survived, Johnstone did not.

When Italy last visited Fortress Twickenham England won 80-23, Jonny Wilkinson scoring a record 35 points. Troncon, who at 29 could become the most capped scrum-half in history, was absent that day, but this afternoon he teams up with Diego Dominguez Mark II. Ramiro Pez, like Dominguez, was born in Cordoba in Argentina. On the grounds that Italy's need is greater than that of the Pumas, both men left Argentina.

Pez, a useful left-footed kicker, played for Roma before the club ran into financial difficulty, while Dominguez was a star for Stade Français. Two seasons ago, Pez moved from Rome to Rotherham. They must have made him an offer he could not refuse. From the Coliseum to Clifton Lane takes a leap of the imagination. "It was a big change,'' he said with a smile.

The same journey had earlier been made by Jason Keyter, the former Harlequins wing. "I got a call from Jason saying that Rotherham needed a fly-half,'' Pez said. Jim Kilfoyle, the chief executive of Rotherham, liked what he saw when he studied a video of Pez playing for Italy A against Argentina.

"The Italians were badly beaten but Ramiro never gave up,'' Kilfoyle said. "He's settled down well with us. He's very reliable. He has good hands and is a self-taught kicker who's modelled himself on Jonny Wilkinson. He makes brave decisions and, like Wilkinson, plays in the face of opponents. The first word he learnt here was an Anglo-Saxon expletive.''

That, finding yourself in Rotherham rather than the Eternal City, is hardly surprising. "I'm learning all the time,'' Pez said. "Rotherham are playing good rugby. The level is not the best, but it will get better if we go into the Premiership.''

Rotherham should have been promoted from National League One last season but failed the membership test. As it stands, one club drops down, one is promoted. Interestingly, Pez doesn't see it like that. "I think two teams will go up and nobody will go down. We want to go into the Premiership because that is like playing a Test match every week.''

Pez, who qualifies for the Azzurri through an Italian grandfather, will today be opposite Wilkinson. "He is a big, big player,'' Pez says. "I look at him because if you want to get better you have to take from the best. But it is important I try not to think too much about him. I have to do my own work. We have a young team with many new players. We are getting better, but it will take time.''

Italy will field two Bergamascos in their back three, the 20-year-old Mirco, who studies agriculture when he isn't playing for Padova, joining his elder brother Mauro. Mirco comes in at full-back and will be in close proximity to Mauro following Kirwan's decision to move the world-class openside flanker to the right wing. Italy will miss Christian Stoica, injured in a French club match last week. Paolo Vaccari, full-back in the win over Wales, moves to outside-centre. Before the Wales game, Kirwan enlisted the coaching skills of Pat Howard, the former Wallabies and Leicester centre; last week Eddie Jones, the Australian coach, attended a training session.

Pez was on the bench for Italy two years ago when England ran riot in the second half, and his only playing appearance at Twickenham came at the end of last season when he helped Rotherham beat Exeter in the final of the Powergen Shield.

As for Dominguez, his Test future, again, is a mystery. He was due to retire two years ago but made a comeback. "I don't know whether he's injured or if he'll return,'' Pez said. "He's not with us at the moment.'' Pez is 24 and Dominguez will be 37 next month. Only Neil Jenkins has scored more Test points. Italy without Dominguez is like England without Wilkinson.

At the start of the season, Dominguez said he would hang up his boots after the World Cup to concentrate on shooting, with the aim of representing Italy in the Olympics. If goal-kicking had been an Olympic sport, Dominguez would already be a medallist.