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Even Italy talisman Sergio Parisse is getting a rest versus Canada
By Online Editors
Italy head coach Conor O’Shea has defended his decision to rest captain Sergio Parisse as they look to make it two wins out of two in the World Cup against Canada.
The 36-year-old became only the third man to play in five World Cups when he led out the Azzurri in a straightforward 47-22 victory over Namibia in their Pool B opener on Sunday.
Parisse earned his 141st international cap to move within seven of the all-time record held by former New Zealand captain Richie McCaw but the Toulon forward will not get the chance to add to his tally on Thursday.
O’Shea has made wholesale changes, with only Jayden Hayward, Luca Bigi, Tommaso Allan, Tommaso Benvenuti and Braam Steyn keeping their places in the starting line-up and Dean Budd skippering the side.
With crunch fixtures against heavily fancied pair South Africa and New Zealand to come after Canada, O’Shea is taking no risks with one of his star assets.
(Continue reading below...)
“It was a choice we made before the first match to balance out the teams over the two matches. We did it during the warm-up matches," explained O'Shea. “I have confidence in all our players and all our players are worth a place in the team. This is the best team for the match.
“Dean has twice captained the team. Sergio wanted to play and that is the same for all the players. Two matches in four days meant we had to use all our squad. He would be ready to play and was magnificent for us against Namibia but I want him at 100 per cent for every match.”
O’Shea feels Italy lacked a clinical edge against Namibia, adding: “We wasted chances, but we created chances. “It is in the past. It was the first match of the tournament and as (England coach) Eddie Jones said, ‘just win it’.”
Ahead of Canada’s first match of the tournament, coach Kingsley Jones said: “They made a few changes to their team, but what we can’t do is get lost in ourselves and beat ourselves up. “We’ve got to prepare well and, yes, we will try a couple of things like every team does against opposition of this level but, ultimately, it’s about us playing to our best. I felt the team’s grown with each training session.
“”We’ve seen huge improvements in every department and we have just got to look forward at challenging ourselves against a very good Italian team and see where we’re at.”
- Press Association
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Latest Comments
I didn't mean to sound down on Dmac. Just looking hard at the bench sub's role of providing impact. I don't think he can do that at 15, and the bench is not really about injury cover anymore (you need to maximise it's use more than that).
He's my first choice of any New Zealander for the 10 jersey with the All Blacks.
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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