It comes as Italy announced a reshuffle of its pack, with Alessandro Zanni stepping up to replace captain Sergio Parisse, who has suffered a leg injury.
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Italy coach Jacques Brunel opted to leave out Parisse.
“It has been a pleasure and a joy to play four World Cups with him and a few of my best memories are from playing alongside him”. We want to have the best chance to win this match.
In its Memorandum on “Dangerous tackles (high tackles), risky grasping of neck and/or head area of player not in possession of the ball and unsafe grasping/holding of ball carrier above the line of the shoulders” dated 22 May, 2015, World Rugby stated “this type of risky play which is foul play must be dealt with severely by match officials and all those involved in the disciplinary process”. “He deserves all the praise he has received for playing five World Cups, but this is a technical choice”, Parisse said.
“I wasn’t really ready to start the match against Ireland, and it was physically hard (against Ireland), even those 65 minutes, and afterward my calf hurt a lot”, Parisse said.
Italy can not make the quarterfinals after losing to France and Ireland and beating Canada, but they would secure third place in the group by avoiding defeat against Romania.
Romania, coincidently, are also without their captain and No 8.
Macovei has been suspended for two weeks for a risky tackle in the Canada match.
Hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini has not recovered from a thigh injury.
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Romania: Catalin Fercu, Madalin Lemnaru, Paula Kinikinilau, Florin Vlaicu, Ionut Botezatu, Michael Wiringi, Valentin Calafeteanu; Daniel Carpo, Viorel Lucaci, Valentin Ursache (captain), Johannes van Heerden, Valentin Poparlan, Paulica Ion, Otar Turashvili, Mihaita Lazar.
