Old heads to lead Italian charge
Italy have replaced nine players to select their second oldest World Cup side ever to run out against the United States in their Pool C clash in Nelson on Tuesday.
Captain and No.8 Sergio Parisse, 28, and fullback Andrea Masi, 30, are the only players to have featured in every match for an Italian side with an average age of 28 years 316 days.
The team is only a few weeks younger than team thrashed by 60 points by England in 1999.
In addition to Parisse and Masi, wing Tommaso Benvenuti and forwards, Mauro Bergamasco (flank), Quintin Geldenhuys (lock) and Salvatore Perugini (prop) also return from the Russia game.
Coach Nick Mallett said although the team played well to beat Russia 53-17, defensive lapses counted against several players and he has reverted to the same backline that lost to Australia 32-6 in their opening game.
“We’ve got to win these next two games (against USA and Ireland) to go through to the quarterfinals and we don’t have much time to give too many opportunities to players,” he said.
“I did look at a number of players who did well in that (Russia) game but I was disappointed with our defence and our backline again.
“It is the same backline that played (pre-tournament) against Japan and I think to concede three tries against Japan and to concede three tries against Russia was not satisfactory,” explained the Italy coach.
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Cornelius van Zyl, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Edoardo Gori, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Luke McLean.
Date: Tuesday, September 27
Venue: Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Kick-off: 19.30 (06.30 GMT)
Referee: TBC
