ROME (AFP) - Italy will welcome back three of their leading players for the Test match against Argentina in Cordoba this Saturday.

Captain Sergio Parisse and the Bergamasco brothers, Mauro and Mirco, will join up with their international teammates after their club side Stade Francais were knocked out of the French league play-offs on the weekend.

It is a big boost for an inexperienced Italy team that lost 26-0 to South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday and news that has delighted coach Nick Mallett.

"Sergio is a fundamental point of reference for this team and was the second best player in the last Six Nations," Mallett said.

"I believe that any national team, including the All Blacks would want to have a number 8 like him.

"Leonardo Ghiraldini did fantastically well as captain against South Africa, but on Saturday the armband will return to Parisse."

Mallett said he hoped that the team who took the field in Cape Town maintain their progress and don't just rely on the more experienced heads.

He is also aware that Argentina will benefit from a number of players whose teams were eliminated from the Top 14 semi-finals as well, notably Stade Francais fly half Juan Martin Hernandez and fullback Ignacio Coreto.

"To get Sergio, Mauro and Mirco back for such an important and difficult match is extremely crucial for us, but I remain convinced that in the match against the Springboks the team did fantastically well considering who was missing and who we were playing," Mallett said.

"Now we must move on to beat Argentina and having three of the starting players from the Six Nations will definitely help even if, like us, the Pumas will also be reinforced by players from Stade Francais and Perpignan."

There will be a welcome return to playing action for Mauro, the elder of the Bergamasco brothers. The flanker was banned for 13 weeks after he was found guilty of eye gouging on Wales fullback Lee Byrne at the end of Italy's 47-8 defeat in Cardiff.

Whilst he may be lacking in match fitness, Mallett feels it will be negated by the energy and athleticism he will bring to the team.

"Mauro Bergamasco has not played much at all these past months having been banned after the third round of matches in the Six Nations.

"I think he will go out there refreshed physically and with the desire to make up for lost time."