The 2023 Rugby World Cup resumes on Wednesday, as Italy and Uruguay kick off five consecutive days of action as the tournament hots up.
Host nation France follow against Namibia on Thursday, before Argentina meet Samoa in the Friday fixture.
Five more pool stage contests follow over the weekend, including a monster collision between reigning champions South Africa and Ireland, as well as a knife-edge clash between Wales and Australia in Lyon.
Italy vs Uruguay – Pool A
Italy return fresh from their bye week at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, facing a battle for hearts and minds as well as points when they play Uruguay on Wednesday.
The South Americans put in a stirring performance against hosts and tournament favourites France last Thursday.
A 27-12 defeat didn’t do justice to their efforts, especially given the odds against them coming even close to Le Bleus.
They even took the lead in Lille thanks to a try from Nicolas Freitas, while Baltazar Amaya added another early in the second half to give the home nation a serious fright.
The Azzurri made an impressive start of their own on the opening weekend, with a so-called tier two nation already dispensed with.
A 52-8 thumping of Namibia in Saint-Etienne was just the ticket for coach Kieran Crowley and his team.
Seven different players scored the tries as the Europeans shared around the success, while Tommaso Allan was on dead-eye kicking form.
Crowley makes four starting changes as they bid to make it two from two.
Alessandro Garbisi comes in at scrum-half, while Lorenzo Pani finds a spot on the wing as Ange Capuozzo shifts to full-back.
Marco Riccioni and Niccolò Cannone are the fresh faces in the Italian pack.
Uruguay have drafted in Gaston Mieres as one of two changes, making it a third World Cup for the wing.
German Kessler is in at hooker as the South Americans aim to pull of a major shock at the second time of asking.
Italy Starting XV: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Lorenzo Pani, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Paolo Garbisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 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 XV: 15 Baltazar Amaya, 14 Gaston Mieres, 13 Tomas Inciarte, 12 Andres Vilaseca (captain), 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.
Kick Off Time: 17.45.
RWC 2023: Margin and winner predictions for 20 – 24 September
Prediction methodology explained: The expected win percentage is based off publicly available odds or RugbyVision’s data model. Score margins use the methodology developed by Rugby Vision and Rugby4Cast.
Team 1 | Win % 1 | Win % 2 | Team 2 | Predicted margin |
---|---|---|---|---|
Italy | 94.0% | 6.0% | Uruguay | 23 |
France | 99.9% | 0.1% | Namibia | 58 |
Argentina | 86.5% | 13.5% | Samoa | 15 |
Georgia | 79.5% | 20.5% | Portugal | 11 |
England | 99.1% | 0.9% | Chile | 39 |
South Africa | 61.9% | 38.1% | Ireland | 4 |
Scotland | 96.7% | 3.3% | Tonga | 28 |
Wales | 38.8% | 61.2% | Australia | -4 |