Berbizeier swaps playmaker for wales clash

| Sat, 03/10/2007 - 05:39

Italy coach Pierre Berbizier has dropped fly-half Andrea Scannavacca for Saturday's clash against Wales here and replaced him with Ramiro Pez.

It is a surprise move because Scannavacca played well and scored 22 points in the historic 17-37 win over Scotland two weeks ago, the Azzurri's first ever Six Nations away triumph.

Berbizier said he has swapped playmakers to have a better idea what his first-choice half-back pairing should be at this autumn's World Cup.

"Our main goal is the World Cup," the former France great said when announcing his selection Thursday.

"I know the Alessandro Troncon-Scannavacca pairing, now I want to see how the Troncon-Pez pairing works and this is one of the last real chances to test it".

Pez was Berbizier's first-choice fly-half for the 2006 Six Nations campaign, when his scrum-half partner was Paul Griffen, not the in-form veteran Troncon.

The Argentine-born 28-year-old started the first three games of this year's competition on the bench after disappointing performances in November tests against Argentina and Australia.

Berbizier made two other changes to his starting line-up, enforced on him by injuries to Leicester prop Martin Castrogiovanni and Biarritz wing Andrea Masi.

Gloucester's Carlos Nieto comes into the front row for Castrogiovanni, while 21-year-old Matteo Pratichetti takes up Masi's place out wide.

Berbizier's men are out to make more history this weekend - if they beat Wales it will be the first time Italy have won more than one match in a single Six Nations campaign.

Wales, the 2005 Grand Slam winners, have lost all their games so far this year.

This has helped boost confidence in the Azzurri squad.

But Berbizier has told his players to keep their feet on the ground.

"Wales come to Rome needing to get a good result. We must continue with our process of development," he said.

"We have beaten Scotland and now we can face Saturday's match with the right degree of confidence, but without getting too frenetic. Wales deserve all our respect.

"The important thing is to maintain the level of concentration we showed against Scotland. Then we hope to be able to celebrate in front of our fans".

Italy are likely to play to their strengths at the Stadio Flaminio, which means laying down a fierce physical challenge up front.

Indeed Wales coach Gareth Jenkins said his men are bracing themselves for a rigorous test from the "best pack in the Six Nations".

Azzurri lock Santiago Dellape' expects the visitors to counter with flowing running and interplay in the backs.

"It will be really hard," said the 29-year-old, who plays his club rugby in France with Biarritz.

"We tend to have trouble with them. They have an unpredictable game, like France, which is less physical than that of the other British teams, but more imaginative.

"We'll have to be cool, lucid and very aggressive to take advantage of this opportunity to win a second Six Nations game".

Saturday's clash is a sell-out. Charter flights carrying the 6,000 Wales fans expected to attend started to arrive in the Italian capital on Thursday.

Italy have beaten Wales once before - a 30-22 win in the 2003 Six Nations.

Last year the two sides battled out an 18-18 draw in Cardiff.

The Azzurri have the chance to leapfrog their opponents in the International Rugby Board rankings and move up from ninth to eighth by winning this weekend.

The victory at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium took Italy into the IRB's top 10 for the first time.

Here is the Italy team for Saturday:

15 Roland DE MARIGNY (Cammi Calvisano, 12 caps)

14 Kaine ROBERTSON (Arix Viadana, 17 caps)

13 Gonzalo CANALE (Clermont Auvergne, 30 caps)

12 Mirco BERGAMASCO (Stade Francais, 40 caps)

11 Matteo PRATICHETTI (Cammi Calvisano, 2 caps)

10 Ramiro PEZ (Bayonne, 35 caps)

9 Alessandro TRONCON (Clermont Auvergne, 93 caps)

8 Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 40 caps)

7 Mauro BERGAMASCO (Stade Francais, 56 caps)

6 Alessandro ZANNI (Cammi Calvisano, 12 caps)