Castrogiovanni to set Italy record in RWC opener

Italy coach Jacques Brunel has named prop Martin Castrogiovanni to become Italy’s
most capped player when he starts against France in World Cup Pool D on Saturday.

The former Leicester Tigers prop ‘Castro’ who is now 33 will win his 114th
cap, edging Italy’s injured captain Sergio Parisse by one Test cap

Italy’s front row will also be setting their own record.

Castrogiovanni with fellow prop Matias Aguero and stand-in skipper Leonardo
Ghiraldini total 227 Test appearances.

That is 12 more than the previous mark of 215 when Gurthro Steenkamp, John
Smit and CJ van der Linde started South Africa’s 87-0 win over Namibia at the
2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

Ghiraldini captains the side for the 10th time. The last time he skippered
them against the French, Italy were humbled 46-20 at the Stade de France in
2010.

The halfback partnership consists of promising duo of scrum-half Edoardo Gori
and Italo-Scot Tommaso Allan.

Gori is one of seven of the starting XV who played some role in Italy’s last
World Cup match, a pool defeat to Ireland — who they meet again at this edition
— in 2011 when the Italians lost 36-6 and once again failed to reach the knockout
stages.

The other two teams in the pool are Canada and Romania.

Italy

Luke McLean; Leonardo Sarto, Michele Campagnaro, Andrea Masi, Giovanbattista
Venditti; Tommaso Allan, Edoardo Gori; Samuela Vunisa, Francesco Minto, Alessandro
Zanni; Josh Furno, Quintin Geldenhuys; Martin Castrogiovanni, Leonardo Ghiraldini
(capt), Matias Aguero

Replacements: Andrea Manici, Michele Rizzo, Lorenzo Cittadini, Valerio Bernabo,
Simone Favaro, Guglielmo Palazzani, Carlo Canna, Enrico Bacchin