Italy's players play with a freesbee during a training session in a training ground in Fukuoka on September 24, 2019 during the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup. / AFP / Gabriel BOUYS
Tokyo: Italy announced 10 changes on Monday for their Rugby World Cup match against Canada and rested talismanic captain Sergio Parisse, with an eye on sterner tests against New Zealand and South Africa.
Lock Dean Budd will skipper the side in Parisse's absence in Fukuoka on Thursday, as the Azzurri look to improve on their unconvincing 47-22 win against minnows Namibia.
Only Jayden Hayward, Luca Bigi, Tommaso Allan, Tommaso Benvenuti and Braam Steyn keep their places and coach Conor O'Shea has also tinkered with the back line, moving Hayward from fullback to inside centre.
The half-back combination of Callum Braley and Tommaso Allan is the 13th different pairing used by Italy since the 2015 World Cup.
Even O'Shea admitted after Sunday's Namibia match: "We'll have to move on from that pretty quickly. It wasn't very pretty. There's too many errors in it."
Conditions were tricky at the Hanazono Stadium, with the weather ranging from bright sunshine to torrential rain as the players were unlucky enough to catch the very edge of a typhoon swirling to Japan's west.
Italy, the Six Nations wooden-spooners, should have too much firepower for Canada who are ranked 22, the second lowest side at the Rugby World Cup after Namibia.
Italy are aiming to make it into the quarter-finals for the first time in their history and are targeting the October 4 clash against heavyweights South Africa as their chance to climb out of the pool.
Italy (15-1)
Matteo Minozzi; Tommaso Benvenuti, Michele Campagnaro, Jayden Hayward, Giulio Bisegni; Tommaso Allan, Callum Braley; Braam Steyn, Jake Polledri, Sebastian Negri; Dean Budd (capt), David Sisi; Simone Ferrari, Luca Bigi, Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: Federico Zani, Nicola Quaglio, Marco Riccioni, Federico Ruzza, Maxime Mbanda, Guglielmo Palazzani, Carlo Canna, Mattia Bellini
