British and Irish Lions

The Stade Francais star will make the unusual switch from flanker after his country's three first-choice No9s were ruled out through injury.

Pablo Canavosio had been expected to be fit in time for the trip to Twickenham but his failure to recover from a knee injury, together with the absence of Simone Piccone and Pietro Travagli for the entire Six Nations, has led to Bergamasco being forced into emergency cover.

Bergamasco has spent time training with legendary Italian scrum-half and now coach Alessandro Troncon after a possible change of position was mooted but the speed of the switch has come as a shock.

Italy head coach Nick Mallett had publicly mentioned looking at Bergamasco as a possible No9 ahead of the 2011 World Cup but the 30-year-old has instead been thrown into the deep end far earlier than expected.

Leicester Tigers prop Martin Castrogiovanni returns to the Italian starting line up after a year's absence through injury, while Sergio Parisse captains the side from the back row.

French-born forward Jean-Francois Montauriol could make his debut from the replacements bench as the Italians look to pile more pressure on England.

Italy

A Masi (Biarritz); K Robertson (Viadana), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), G Garcia (Calvisano), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), A Marcato (Benetton Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais); F Ongaro (Saracens), S Perugini (Stade Toulousain), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), S Dellape (Toulon), M Bortolami (Gloucester), J Sole (Viadana), A Zanni (Calvisano), S Parisse (Stade Francais)

Replacements: C Festuccia (Racing Metro Paris), C Nieto (Gloucester), T Reato (Femi Rovigo), J-F Montauriol (Venezia), G Toniolatti (Capitolina), L McLean (Calvisano), M Pratichetti (Calvisano)

Welcome to our new 'Behind The Scenes' look at the 2013 British & Irish Lions Tour.

The footage will give fans the opportunity to sample a truly Behind the scenes look at the greatest touring side in the world.

This opening video is from the first day the squad got together in London.

Visit www.autographer.com for more.

British & Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton says he's been struck by the level of professionalism and dedication within the squad as they prepare to head to Hong Kong and Australia.

Lions skipper Sam Warburton says the lessons he and his Welsh colleagues learnt in Australia last summer will stand them in good stead for their return visit with Britain and Ireland's elite next month.