[RWC2019][Pool B] Round 1 - Italy vs. Namibia (22/09/2019)

[TRF_heineken]

Venue: Higashiosaka Hanazono Rugby Stadium
Time: 07:15 CAT (SA, GMT+2)​

 

[Scotty]

Now who are Namibia...i dont mean as a country i mean how have they done, any wins of note? Have they even played any teams of note? Or is it same as Russia, expecting a big scoreline even from Italy.

 

[Every Time Ref]

Now who are Namibia...i dont mean as a country i mean how have they done, any wins of note? Have they even played any teams of note? Or is it same as Russia, expecting a big scoreline even from Italy.

They've never won a WC game. Best result ever was a 1 point loss to Georgia. (For more interesting facts, Wiki "Georgia at the Rugby World Cup" like I did when my non-rugby colleague got them in the sweepstake and I had to explain why that wasn't good)

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Namibia are a very consistent Tier2 side, probably slightly better than Russia, but not much in it. I think they are a bit more workmanlike. They shouldn't ship a barrel load of points, which could make this a bit of a nervy affair for Italy if they dont get an early score.

Italy: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Edoardo Padovani, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 ***o Tebaldi, 1 Nicola Quaglio, 2 Luca Bigi, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Braam Steyn, 7 Maxime Mbanda, 8 Sergio Parisse (c)

Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Simone Ferrari, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Dean Budd, 20 Jake Polledri, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Matteo Minozzi

Bloody hell, 'somebody has finally told O'Shea that Benvenuti is a centre! I actually like this selection. Genuinely struggling to grumble about it. Solid but unspectacular in the backs, a lot of reliable guys who make good decisions. They shouldn't slip up here.

Italy by 23

 

[Scotty]

Nambia tier 2? At what point to do we get past that and go to tier 3? Know northing about them so cant judge, im just asking.

 

[bushytop]

Well it's only day 3 (day 2 in terms of early mornings!) and I already feel like this World Cup is gonna kill me! Gonna have to start having a siesta or something after game 3 .

Edit good start from Namibia!

 

[McTallshort]

Yes! Well done

 

[bushytop]

Maybe a bit quick to call the penalty-try there... not saying it was a wrong call but another team (ie more established nation) might have been given another scrum at least.

 

[McTallshort]

Italy are kicking well but the chase is poor

 

[BobbyM]

Italy have butchered a few chances in this half. Combined with the short turnaround you'd have to imagine Canada are licking their maple syrup covered lips at the prospect of this Italy side.

 

[McTallshort]

Italy have butchered a few chances in this half. Combined with the short turnaround you'd have to imagine Canada are licking their maple syrup covered lips at the prospect of this Italy side.

Not just that, Italy look slow, their kick chase is poor and their lineout is crap. I would imagine the Rob Howley top tip for the day would be a cheeky tenner on the lumberjacks

 

[bushytop]

Not just that, Italy look slow, their kick chase is poor and their lineout is crap. I would imagine the Rob Howley's top tips for the day would be a cheeky tenner on the lumberjacks

You need to start that twitter account TS... would be priceless!

Edit. Ahh shame for Namibia there!

 

[bushytop]

Not entirely sure why Namibia took the points there

 

[TheSaffycen]

Yeah either side of half time Italy have completely killed this game, some great tries as well

 

[TheSaffycen]

Not entirely sure why Namibia took the points there

Closing it down to the magical 25 point margin, now they have a chance to score 4 tries to win, very smart move

 

[bushytop]

Closing it down to the magical 25 point margin, now they have a chance to score 4 tries to win, very smart move

Ahh, of course... silly me!

 

[TheSaffycen]

I thought the maul was impossible to defend?? How have Italy managed this amazing feet?

 

[TheSaffycen]

I'm pretty impressed by Namibia here, on the floor they're good and a nice try there. Don't know if they've got any good teams in their group but they might give anyone a game....

 

[bushytop]

Closing it down to the magical 25 point margin, now they have a chance to score 4 tries to win, very smart move

Nice, they're back to the 'magical 25' .

 

[Umaga's Witness]

I'm pretty impressed by Namibia here, on the floor they're good and a nice try there. Don't know if they've got any good teams in their group but they might give anyone a game....

it's a pretty easy pool from here on in.

Closing it down to the magical 25 point margin, now they have a chance to score 4 tries to win, very smart move

TRY! the margin is back!