Italy v Namibia - Teams and Prediction
PREVIEW: Namibia’s head coach Allister Coetzee picked an experienced line-up for the African nation’s World Cup opener against Italy in Saint-Etienne this weekend.
The South African has selected eight players who played against Italy at the last World Cup in Japan, four years ago.
Former Bayonne hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld, 36, is in the starting line-up alongside props Aronas Coetzee, 35, and 30-year-old Desiderius Sethie.
Lock Tjiuee Uanivi, 32, also starts while 35-year-old prop Casper Viviers is on the replacements bench.
A notable inlusion in the starting team is Richard Hardwick, who won two caps for Australia.
He will wear the No.8 jersey.
Hardwick was a standout in defence for the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby this season, forcing the most breakdown penalties of any player with 10.
He made his Test debut for the Wallabies in 2017.
Captain Johan Deysel is Namibia’s third-most capped captain with 14 tests, trailing only Gerhard Mans (26) and Jacques Burger (17).
Meanwhile, Italy coach Kieran Crowley has named an exciting backline with dynamic French-born Ange Capuozzo set to make his World Cup bow at right wing.
Tommaso Allan has been selected at fullback with Paolo Garbisi taking the flyhalf jersey and Australian-born Monty Ioane on the left wing after his three-try salvo against Japan in Italy’s last warm-up match.
The sides have won two each of their previous four encounters.
They line up in Pool A alongside tournament favourites France and New Zealand, and minnows Uruguay.
Prediction
@rugby365com: Italy by 22 points.
Teams:
Italy: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Dino Lamb, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Martin Page-Relo, 22 Paolo Odogwu, 23 Pierre Bruno.
Namibia: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Gerswin Mouton, 13 Johan Deysel (captain), 12 Danco Burger, 11 JC Greyling, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Damian Stevens, 8 Richard Hardwick, 7 Johan Retief, 6 Wian Conradie, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Desiderius Sethie.
Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 Jason Benade, 18 Casper Viviers, 19 Tiaan De Klerk, 20 Prince Gaoseb, 21 Jacques Theron, 22 Andre van der Bergh, 23 Le Roux Malan.
Date: Saturday, September 9
Venue: Stade Geoffrey-Guichard, Saint-Étienne
Kick-off: 13.00 (11.00 GMT; 13.00 CEST; 13.00 CAT)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Chris Busby (Ireland)
TMO: Joy Neville (Ireland)
AFP & @WorldRugby
