South Africa v Italy: Teams
Italy are determined to play to their strengths as they bid to beat South Africa for the very first time on Saturday.
Last Updated: 18/06/10 2:57pm
Italy are determined to play to their strengths as they bid to beat world champions South Africa for the first time on Saturday.
The RBS Six Nations wooden spoonists have not beaten their hosts in eight meetings and face a daunting task in the first-ever Test to be held at Witbank, a coal mining town east of Pretoria.
But Italy's South African coach Nick Mallett, who has also coached the Springboks, said the tourists would try to achieve dominance in the scrums.
"We have a very good front row. It would be stupid not to utilise our strength," said Mallett, although he acknowledged it would be tough.
"They are the best team in the world."
Parisse boost
The Italians have been boosted by the return of captain and number eight Sergio Parisse, who missed the entire Six Nations because of injury.
But, on a less positive note, a finger injury has forced experienced flanker Mauro Bergamasco out of the tour.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has made 11 changes from the 22-man squad on duty for the impressive 42-17 win against Six Nations champions France in Cape Town last weekend.
The South Africans still have a host of potential match-winners, though, as they build towards the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
Flanker Schalk Burger was originally named in the starting line-up but has since picked up an ankle sprain, with Francois Louw coming in to take his place.
Burger joins South Africa skipper John Smit on the sidelines after the captain picked up a hamstring injury in the win over Les Bleus.
Lock Victor Matfield has been named captain in the absence of Smit, with Chiliboy Ralepelle taking over the hooking duties.
Tight tussle
Matfield, who will be skippering the side for the first time since 2008, is anticipating a tight tussle between the sides.
He said: "They have a strong scrum and we expect them to keep the ball close and try to force penalties.
"I worked with (Italy coach) Nick (Mallett) with the Barbarians and expect him to use a kicking game and look to put pressure on our back three with up-and-unders."
Matfield added the world champions have spent the week trying to improve on the display against France.
"We have focused on a lot of technical things this week," he added.
"We have taken the approach of improving a lot of things by a few percent rather than one thing by 100 percent."
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jean de Villiers, 12 Butch James, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield (capt), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Bjorn Basson
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Valerio Bernabo, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini 1 Salvatore Perugini
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Simon Picone, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Gonzalo Canale