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Parisse boost for Italy

The 32-year-old No.8, who missed the first two games following surgery to drain a haematoma on his calf, is one of five changes to the starting XV who scraped a 23-18 win over Canada last weekend.

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Parisse's aura is such that the Irish have said they fear the impact he could have on reviving his side's morale as they drive for a victory needed to maintain any hope of reaching the quarter-finals.

Parisse comes into the team for Samuela Vunisa and takes captaincy duties back from Leonardo Ghiraldini, who misses the match with a thigh muscle injury.

Parisse, who becomes the sixth Italy player to participate in four World Cups, is joined in the back row by Simon Favaro with whom he has formed a potent partnership.

Italy have won three of the last four tests when Parisse and Favaro started together in the back row, a sequence that began with Italy's first ever Six Nations win over Ireland, 22-15 in Rome in 2013.

That was prior to present Ireland coach Joe Schmidt taking over and guiding the Irish to two successive Six Nations titles (2014/15).

There are 13 players in Italy's match-day squad that were involved that day.

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Aside from Parisse and Favaro three of them come in the pack, tighthead Lorenzo Cittadini, and locks Quintin Geldenhuys and Josh Furno.

A win for Ireland at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday would see both them and France qualify out of Pool D for the knockout stages.

Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Capagnaro, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Ouintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Matias Aguero.     

Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Tommaso Benvenuti.

Date: Sunday, October 4

Venue: Olympic Stadium, London

Kick-off: 16.45 (15.45 GMT; 17.45 Italian time)

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)

Assistant referees: Pascal Gauzère (France), Angus Gardner (Australia)

TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

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