Georgia head for Italy
Georgia, fresh from their triumph over the Argentina Jaguars, now take on Italy A on Friday night at Palmanova in northeastern Italy.
Palmanova is a small town in the Friuli province of Italy, about 20km beyond Udine where Italy will play South Africa on Saturday afternoon.
Italy A will not be without confidence going into the match, having beaten Romania 33-6 in Piacenza when Italy scored four tries. Romania and Georgia would be considered of similar strength.
Italy A have made two changes – one to the starting XV and pone to the bench. Lock Tommaso Reato, who has several caps for Italy replaces Antonio Pavanello who has been promoted to the bench for the South African Test and Agustín Cavalieri comes onto the bench.
Tim Lane reports from Italy that he is expecting a tough match as nine of his first-choice players are unavailable “for various reasons” and so he will start with some younger players to give them the opportunity.
Malkhaz Urjukashvili, Tedo Zibzibadze, Irakli Abuseridze (captain), Mamuka Gorgodze, Gia Labadze, Goderdzi Shvelidze, Akvsenti Giorgadze and Rati Urushadze are missing from last week’s team.
Teams
Italy A: 15 Paolo Buso, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Andrea Pratichetti, 11 Michele Sepe, 10 Riccardo Bocchino, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Manoa Vosawai, 7 Paul Derbyshire, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Valerio Bernabò, 4 Tommaso Reato, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Davide Giazzon, 1 Michele Rizzo
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Massimiliano Ravalle, 18 Plinio Sciamanna, 19 Manyvydas Tveraga, 20 Agustín Cavalieri, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Enrico Patrizio
Georgia: 15 Merab Kvirikashvili (Figeac, France), 14 Irakli Machkhaneli (StEtienne, France), 13 David Kacharava (Nice Cote d’Azur, France), 12 Revaz Gigauri (Cennac, France), 11 Alexander Todua (Lelo), 10 Lasha Malaguradze (Beziers, France), 9 Bidzina Samkharadze (Farul Constanta, Romania), 8 Dimitri Basilaia (Le Bugue, France), 7 Rati Urushadze (Enissey-STM, Russia), 6 Giorgi Chkhaidze (Montpellier, France), 5 Giorgi Nemsadze (Massy Essonne, France), 4 Ilia Zedginidze (Carquerraine Hyeres, France), 3 David Kubriashvili (Toulon, France), 2 Irakli Natriashvili (Farul Constanta, Romania), 1 David Khinchagishvili (Brive, France),
Replacements: David Dadunashvili (Perigueux, France), Jaba Bregvadze (Kochebi), Vasil Kakovin (Brive, France), Simon Maisuradze (Villeurban, France), Lasha Tavartkiladze (Farul Constanta, Romania), Viktor Kolelishvili (Lelo), Irakli Abuseridze (Auxerre, France), Irakli Chkhikvadze (Aia), Lasha Khmaladze (Lelo)
Coaches: Tim Lane, Johnny Ngauamo, Ilia Maisuradze
Date: Friday, 20 November 2009
Kick-off: 19.00 (local time)
Venue: Palmanova, Udine
Expected weather conditions: Clear with a high of 17°C, dropping to 4°C and a light wind from the west
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
