Italy coach Quesada wants continuity before new identity ahead of Six Nations

Quesada took over an Italy side broken and bruised after last year's World Cup, a 96-17 mauling at the hands of New Zealand was followed by a 60-7 thumping by hosts France, but the new coach is not yet ready to dismantle Kieran Crowley's work.

"First thing is that we will certainly have a bit of continuity, I have a lot of respect for stuff that has been done before," Quesada told reporters.

"What is especially important now is the team preparation and to arrive as ready as we can for the first game."

The Argentinian doesn't want to impose his identity on the squad, but rather bring out the passion that has previously been a part of Italian rugby.

"My plan us to work deeply with them to define together the kind of identity, it's not Gonzalo's identity," Quesada said.

"The Italian team today, we have a kind of identity when we talk about rugby style, but I think we have to define even deeper the identity of the team.

"I'm a Latin, I have an Anglo-Saxon way of thinking but I feel like emotions are really important, like any human being, but for us it's a little bit more, especially when we talk about rugby."

Quesada confirmed that Monty Ioane's injury in Lyon's Champions Cup loss to Saracens at the weekend means the wing will be out for 12 days and Edoardo Padovani has been called up to the squad.

Italy's training camp begins in Verona on Monday, where Quesada will make his choices ahead of their Six Nations opener against England in Rome on February 3rd.

"Today, everyone that comes to camp has a chance," Quesada said.

"We're going to use this week of training to evaluate, especially finish the decision of who is going to play, with which team we want to start and with which team we want to finish the game against England."