Week three in the 2023 Rugby World Cup will kick off with Group A action as Italy square off against Uruguay at the Allianz Riviera in Nice on Wednesday night.
With the competition standings starting to take shape, Italy were forced out of second place in Pool A last weekend by the All Blacks, while the South Americans will be looking to build on an impressive opening performance against the French.
Match preview
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Gli Azzurri made the perfect start to their 2023 World Cup campaign by securing a solid opening match victory, beating Nambia 52-8 two weeks ago, which also included a crucial bonus point.
Lorenzo Cannone, Paolo Garbisi, Dino Lamb, Ange Capuozzo, Hame Faiva, Manuel Zuliani and Paolo Odogwu all got over the try line for the Italians, while Tommaso Allan stuck away 17 points off the boot with seven conversions and a penalty.
While they were not at their absolute best against the team from Africa, the manner in which the Italians went about their business was admirable and underlined just how much of an improvement they have made over the last 12 months.
Kieran Crowley's side are now on a three-match winning streak, which included victories over Romania and Japan during the warm-up matches, while they also put on excellent performances against Ireland and Scotland at the start of last month.
Italy will know that France and New Zealand are expected to qualify from Pool A for the knockout stages and that they will need to beat one of those two in order to have a chance of progressing. However, they will also be fully aware that this is an ideal opportunity to put some pressure on the two fancied teams.
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Meanwhile, Uruguay were carrying good form into their last match, which included a 26-25 win over Chile and a 26-18 victory over Namibia in the lead-up to the competition.
The South American side come into this match off the back of a 27-12 defeat to France last week, and while the scoreline may suggest it was a relatively easy win for the host nation, it does not tell the full story of the match.
Los Teros took the lead against Les Bleus through a Nicolas Freitas try six minutes into the match, and it looked as though they were going to pull off a huge upset until France turned on the class in the closing stages and pulled away in the final 10 minutes.
Still, Esteban Meneses and his team would have been able to take many more positives from their performance than negatives and if they can deliver something similar in this one, they will be well in with a chance of securing their first points of the tournament.
Italy Rugby World Cup form:
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Italy form (all competitions):
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Uruguay Rugby World Cup form:
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Uruguay form (all competitions):
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Team News
Italy have made four changes to the side they put out against Namibia last week, with Lorenzo Pani, Alessandro Garbisi, Niccolo Cannone and Marco Riccioni all set to make their first start of the World Cup.
Capuozzo moves from the flank to number 15, with Pani taking up the role on the wing, while Allan will switch to flyhalf, with Alessandro Garbisi completing the halves pairing.
Paolo Garbisi, who is the brother of Alessandro, will move into midfield to be joined by Luca Morisi in the centre partnership.
Considering the performance they put on against the French last week, it is not surprising that Meneses has opted for just two changes to his team, with Gaston Mieres and German Kessler coming into the starting 15.
Santiago Arata was excellent last week as he beat eight defenders and will be central to Uruguay's attacking play again here, along with Felipe Etcheverry at flyhalf.
Manuel Diana occupies the number eight role, while Manuel Ardao and Santiago Civetta round out the loose-forward trio with Kessler.
Italy starting lineup: 15. Ange Capuozzo, 14. Lorenzo Pani, 13. Juan Ignacio Brex, 12. Paolo Garbisi, 11. Montanna Ioane, 10. Tommaso Allan, 9. Alessandro Garbisi, 8. Lorenzo Cannone, 7. Michele Lamaro (c), 6. Sebastian Negri, 5. Federico Ruzza, 4. Niccolo Cannone, 3. Marco Riccioni, 2. Giacomo Nicotera, 1. Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16. Luca Bigi, 17. Federico Zani, 18. Pietro Ceccarelli, 19. Dino Lamb, 20. Manuel Zuliani, 21. Giovanni Pettinelli, 22. Alessandro Fusco, 23. Paolo Odogwu
Uruguay starting lineup: 15. Baltazar Amaya, 14. Gaston Mieres, 13. Tomas Inciarte, 12. Andres Vilaseca (c), 11. Nicolas Freitas, 10. Felipe Etcheverry, 9. Santiago Arata, 8. Manuel Diana, 7. Santiago Civetta, 6. Manuel Ardao, 5. Manuel Leindekar, 4. Felipe Aliaga, 3. Ignacio Peculo, 2. German Kessler, 1. Mateo Sanguinetti
Replacements: 16. Guillermo Pujadas, 17. Facundo Gattas, 18. Diego Arbelo, 19. Ignacio Dotti, 20. Carlos Deus, 21. Agustin Ormaechea, 22. Felipe Berchesi, 23. Bautista Basso
Head To Head
These sides only met once in the past, in an international friendly back in 2021. Italy won the match 17-10.
We say: Italy 28-21 Uruguay
Based on both teams' performances in their first match, this looks like it could be a very close game. Both sides have improved notably since the last World Cup, and it would come as no surprise if this one remains on a knife edge until the closing stages of the match.
We fancy Gli Azzurri to get up to claim the win, but Los Teros could get a bonus point here for keeping the scoreline within a seven-point margin.
No Data Analysis info
Devesh Jaganath
