Italy must show fighting spirit to make up for the loss of many regulars in this month’s Tests in South Africa and Argentina, stand-in captain Leonardo Ghiraldini said on Friday.
Calvisano hooker Ghiraldini is skippering the side because regular captain Sergio Parisse is one of a raft of players unavailable for the matches against world champions South Africa in Cape Town on June 21 and Argentina in Cordoba a week later.
Number eight Parisse and his Stade Francais teammates Mauro and Mirco Bergamasco are among the players tied up with commitments to their French clubs.
The Azzurri’s long injury list includes Leicester prop Martin Castrogiovanni and Gloucester lock Marco Bortolami.
Coach Nick Mallett is so short of props that earlier this week he had to call up 35-year-old Leicester forward Alejandro Moreno, who won the last of his four Italy caps in 2002.
”Lacking so many important players, we’ll have to be very combative and put great spirit into the game,” 23-year-old Ghiraldini said in an interview shown on the Italian Rugby Federation website.
Mallett, who led the Springboks to a record-winning run of 17 consecutive Tests from 1997 to 1998 before resigning in 2000, has asked his men must get physical with the world champions.
”I expect a lot from this team, especially in terms of the physical confrontation,” the coach said.
”If we want the Springboks to respect us as a team and as representatives of the [Italian rugby] movement, we must match them in the combat, individually and as a team.” – Reuters