Parisse Leads Italy against Fiji in Sicily

Sergio Parisse leads Italy against Fiji in Sicily this weekend. The Argentine-Italian will captain the Azzurri from No 8 in Catania on Saturday.

The match is the opening fixture for both countries in the November Internationals. It is also to be the second time they meet this year. In the June Internationals Fiji completed a 22-19 win with fly half Ben Volavola landing a drop-goal on full-time to secure victory.

Volavola is to start against Italy again this weekend. Howe will play inside Pau star center, Jale Vatubua. Top 14 classy wingers Josua Tuisova and Timoci Nagusa also both start. All players are expected to face Americas 2 in Rugby World Cup 2019.

Fiji’s June victory was the second in-a-row over Italy. Fiji also won 25-14 in Suva in 2014. Prior to that Italy won 37-31 in Cremona in 2013 and 24-14 in Italy in Modena. The overall record is five wins for Fiji and four for Italy. Fiji last won in Italy in 1999.

Parisse is the surviving Argentine player in the Italian side. In Rugby World Cup 2007 he was joined by Gonzalo Canale, Martín Castrogiovanni, Santiago Dellape and Ramiro Pez in the knock-out pool fixture against Scotland.

The arrival of PladAR and Italy’s inclusion in the Guinness Pro 14 have been contributing factors to this change. Parisse, though, remains playing for Italy. He does so at the age of 34 and a place in Rugby World Cup 2019 is very much on the cards.

Against Fiji the La Plata native will earn his 127th cap. Additional caps are likely against Argentina and South Africa in subsequent November Internationals.

127 is the same number of caps earned by the legendary Victor Matfield. With one more he will become the 7th most capped player of all time. Richie McCaw leads the list with 148.

ITALY
15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tomasso Castello, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Sergio Parisse (Capt.), 7 Abraham Steyn, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Andrea Lovotti

Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Marco Lazzaroni, 20 Giovanni Licara, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Matteo Minozzi

FIJI
15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 12 Jale Vatubua, 11 Timoci Nagusa, 10 Ben Volavola, 9 Frank Lomani, 8 Nemani Nagusa, 7 Akapusi Qera (Capt.), 6 Semi Kunatani, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Apisalome Ratuniyarawa, 3 Manasa Saulo, 2 Tuapati Talemaitoga, 1 Campese Ma’afu

Replacements: 16 Sunia Koto, 17 Peni Ravai, 18 Ropate Rinakama, 19 Sikeli Nabou, 20 Mosese Voka, 21 Henry Seniloli, 22 Levani Botia, 23 Vereniki Goneva