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Italy has named a strong roster for Rugby World Cup 2019. The Southern Europeans are to be captained by veteran N8 Sergio Parisse, a native of Argentina.
The Italians are to complete in Pool B, a highly challenging prospect with their opposition to be Canada, Namibia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Of the four Canada, and Namibia are to be considered matches in which Italy should not only win but win well. The remaining part of the path to the Quarter Finals is for Italy to claim a win over either the All Blacks or Springboks.
It is not mission impossible as in November 2016 Parisse lead Italy to a victory over South Africa. The RWC match between these teams will be on Friday, October 04 in Shizuoka. It is to be Italy’s third pool match with the final one being against New Zealand eight days later in Toyota.
Before taking on the two heavyweight opponents the Italians will begin their RWC campaign on Sunday, September 22 against Namibia in Osaka. Just four days later they will face Canada in Fukuoka.
Italy’s World Cup roster sees Parisse named as one of five back-rowers. The others are Maxime Mbanda, Sebastian Negri, Jake Pollerdi, and Abraham Steyn. Cover will come from former flanker Alessandro Zanni who is now playing second-row.
The trio of Parisse, Zanni and hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini have over 100 test caps each making them not only Italy’s most capped players at the World Cup but also being among the most capped of all players. Zanni currently has 113 caps; Ghiraldini 104; and Parisse 139. The captain will be the most capped player in the tournament.
Head Coach Conor O’Shea has named three scrum halves but just two fly halves in his roster for the tournament. This sees Callum Braley, Guglielmo Palazzani and Tito Tebaldi included in the former position and Tommaso Allan and Carlo Canna in the later. As a result Irish import Ian McKinley misses out.
The overall make-up of the roster is 18 forwards and 13 backs. Of the 31 players 25 play in Italy for either Benetton or Zebre in the Pro 14. The remaining six players play their rugby in the English Premiership and the Top 14.
For a comprehensive look at the Italian roster and RWC schedule click here.
ITALY
FORWARDS: Simone Ferrari (Benetton), Andrea Lovotti (Zebre), Tiziano Pasquali (Benetton), Nicola Quaglio (Benetton), Marco Riccioni (Benetton), Federico Zani (Benetton), Luca Bigi (Zebre), Oliviero Fabiani (Zebre), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Toulouse, FR), Dean Budd (Benetton), Federico Ruzza (Benetton), David Sisi (Zebre), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton), Maxime Mbanda (Zebre), Sebastian Negri (Benetton), Sergio Parisse (Toulon, FR), Jake Polledri (Gloucester, UK), Abraham Steyn (Benetton)
BACKS: Callum Braley (Gloucester, UK), Guglielmo Palazzani (Zebre), Tito Tebaldi (Benetton), Tommaso Allan (Benetton), Carlo Canna (Zebre), Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton), Michele Campagnaro (Harlequins, UK), Luca Morisi (Benetton), Mattia Bellini (Zebre), Giulio Bisegni (Zebre), Jayden Hayward (Benetton), Matteo Minozzi (Wasps, UK), Edoardo Padovani (Zebre)
