Pre-match thoughts – Sebastian Negri
Sebastian Negri shared his excitement about facing France.
He said: “Excited. I think it’s been a really good week after a difficult performance against New Zealand. We’ve kept positive, we’ve dusted ourselves off and the boys are really excited to showcase what this team is about. I can’t wait.
“We’ve forgotten about New Zealand. We had a short review on it but our immediate focus has been on France. It’s another massive opportunity for us. We are not thinking about what’s happened; we are thinking about the future and what we can control, and that starts tomorrow at 9:00 pm.”
Player stats – Italy
– Pierre Bruno starts on the right wing for the first time at RWC2023.
– Tommaso Allan has not missed a kick at goal so far this tournament, slotting all 15 of his attempts.
– Federico Ruzza made 13 tackles against France in February and had 100% success rate.
-Simone Ferrari makes his 50th appearance for Italy and Luca Morisi will reach the same milestone if he is used from the bench.
– Ferrari starts at loose-head for the first time since 2019.
Player stats – France
– Charles Ollivon captains France for the 14th time this evening, his first time doing so since November 2022 when they played against Japan in Toulouse.
– Since Antoine Dupont made his international debut in 2017, this will be the third time France will have faced Italy without him.
– Matthieu Jalibert scored the winning try against Italy at this year’s Six Nations. He starts at fly-half this evening.
– If Damian Penaud scores a try, he will be the first Frenchman to score 13 tries in a calendar year. He is currently level with Phillipe Saint-André on 12 tries (1995).
Pre-match thoughts – Andrea Moretti
Italian scrum coach Andrea Moretti spoke about the loss to New Zealand and how they home to right the wrongs against France.
He said: “Once you have a setback, it’s always hard in the beginning, whatever happens to you. We were gutted because we let down, first, ourselves as players and staff, and all the people that were waiting to see what Italy could bring against the All Blacks.
“There is a moment where you have to feel shame but, like I said, then you have to bounce back; that’s what life teaches you and that’s what rugby is all about. So, we are lucky that we have another chance.
“For some of the players that won’t be involved this week, their last chance was against the All Blacks so we want to make sure that we also commit and play for those players that haven’t got the chance this week.”
“First thing we want to show is our identity, which is not the one we’ve shown against the All Blacks. Each one of us knows we have to show better of ourselves to the world and the first thing is showing that Italy is not that team – in terms of attitude, in terms of ability to handle the pressure. [We must] make sure that under pressure we are going to be composed and believe that what we are going to do are the things that are going to help us perform against France.”
Pre-match thoughts – Gaël Fickou
French centre Gaël Fickou shared his thoughts about facing Italy on the evening before the match. He said: “We can’t wait to get out on the pitch. Fifteen days is a long time, but it’s allowed us to recover and regenerate well for tomorrow’s match.
“It’s up to us to be ready. We’ve been working on it for a week now. But we’ll know the truth tomorrow. We’ve had a lot of trouble against them in the past, especially in the last game. That’s what we’ve been working on.”
“They play very well, despite their slip-up against New Zealand. We know they’ll be keen to make up for that. But we’ve been thinking about this match for a fortnight, and we’re determined to play a big game.
“They have a plenty of belief and character. You can hear it when they sing the anthem, you can see what wearing the jersey does to them. They’re going to push themselves hard against us because we’re neighbours, and a lot of their players play in our league or would like to. They know how to make things difficult for us.
“Italy make their opponents make mistakes. It’s up to us to do what we’ve been working on all week. We mustn’t give away any easy penalties, because they play a lot and can attack from a long way out. It’s up to us to respect that; we know what we need to focus on because we’ve studied these situations a lot during the week.”
Head to head
The two sides have met 47 times with France winning on 44 of those occasions. Despite facing each other multiple times at the Six Nations, they have only played once at a RWC. France won the only meeting between the two at a RWC 32-10 in 2015.
France are currently on the longest run of victories in this fixture since they won 18 tests in a row between 1937 and 1995. In the past six Tests, they have scored four or more tries past Italy. Their most recent score win was 29-24 at this year’s Six Nations, which was the closest scoreline in the past five matches between the two.
Les Bleus have only been beaten in France once by Italy in the 25 Tests played since 1937, and the win was recorded in 1997. 12 of Italy’s match day team today hadn’t been born when that win happened.
France vs Italy line-ups
France XV: 1 Cyril Baille, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 3 Uini Atonio; 4 Cameron Woki, 5 Thibaud Flament; 6 Anthony Jelonch, 7 Charles Ollivon (captain), 8 Gregory Alldritt; 9 Maxime Lucu, 10 Matthieu Jalibert; 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 12 Jonathan Danty, 13 Gael Fickou, 14 Damian Penaud; 15 Thomas Ramos.
Replacements: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Francois Cros; 21 Baptiste Couilloud, 22 Yoram Moefana, 23 Melvyn Jaminet.
Italy XV: 1 Simone Ferrari, 2 Hame Faiva, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli; 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 Federico Ruzza; 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 8 Lorenzo Cannone; 9 Stephen Varney, 10 Tommaso Allan; 11 Montanna Ioane, 12 Paolo Garbisi, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 14 Pierre Bruno; 15 Ange Capuozzo.
Replacements: 16 Marco Manfredi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani; 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Luca Morisi, 23 Lorenzo Pani.
France vs Italy team news
France are without captain Antoine Dupont, though the noises are encouraging over the scrum half’s potential involvment as soon as quarter-final weekend. In his absence here, it is Dupont’s regular deputy Maxime Lucu at nine, while Charles Ollivon captains the side from the back row, where Gregory Alldritt is fit enough to make a return.
Hooker Julien Marchand remains absent so Peato Mauvaka continues in what looks like a first-choice French side, with 20-year-old breakthrough star Louis Bielle-Biarrey backed again on the wing ahead of Gabin Villiere.
It’s an all-new front row for Italy, with an injury ruling out Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera recovering from a concussion and Marco Riccioni dropped to the bench. Simone Ferrari, Hame Faiva and Pietro Ceccarelli instead combine, with Niccolo Cannone brought back into the starting tight five.
There’s a reshuffle behind the scrum, with playmakers Tommaso Allan and Paolo Garbisi arranged, as they were against Uruguay, at ten and 12 and Ange Capuozzo at full-back. Pierre Bruno starts on the wing while Kieran Crowley opts for a five/three forwards-to-backs bench split.
How to watch France vs Italy
France vs Italy is due to kick off at 8pm BST on Friday 6 October at the OL Stadium in Lyon.
Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live on ITV1, with coverage on the channel from 7.30pm BST. Registered users can stream the action for free via ITVX.
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France vs Italy
Good evening and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of tonight’s Rugby World Cup action. Tournament hosts, France, are hoping to finish top of Pool A but will need to defeat this evening’s opponents Italy.
New Zealand’s bonus-point victory over Uruguay on Thursday moved the All Blacks above the tournament hosts in the pool, but a win of any kind would be enough for Fabien Galthié’s men to advance as pool winners.
Italy meanwhile are up against it. They’ll need to their fellow Six Nations opponents in their own back yard and come into the match low on confidence after a heavy loss to the All Blacks.
Can Kieran Crowley’s side pull off a shock win tonight?
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