Ghiraldini plays down pressure as Azzurri bid for recovery
Leonardo Ghiraldini (right) competes for control of the ball with Dan Lydiate of Wales
Leonardo Ghiraldini has warned Italy not to over-hype today's World Cup clash with Canada.
The Leicester hooker knows Italy will be out of quarter-final contention if they suffer defeat to the Canucks at Leeds United's Elland Road.
Italy lost their opener 32-10 to France at Twickenham last weekend, with the Azzurri well aware of the repercussions for another defeat - they also lost their three warm-up matches, so are coming in to this game on the back of four straight defeats.
The Azzurri will again be without talismanic No 8 Sergio Parisse, who is still battling to recover after suffering a haematoma on his calf.
"We know that if we want to qualify we have to win," said Ghiraldini. "It is important we eradicate the errors from last weekend, namely our ill-discipline. We know it will be physically tough."
Ghiraldini admitted Italy will be under huge pressure to see off Canada, in a match they will be expected to win.
"We saw how Canada played against Ireland, when they did lots of good things," he said. "We will have to work hard."
Canada were overwhelmed 50-7 by Ireland in their World Cup opener in Cardiff last weekend.
All-time leading points-scorer James Pritchard is back in the squad despite missing out on initial selection, the Bedford Blues man slotting in for the injured Liam Underwood - although he is not involved in today's match 23.
"It was a massive decision to leave James out of the original squad," said head coach Kieran Crowley, able to bring fit-again captain Tyler Ardron back into his side.
"He's been playing and training with Bedford and it's great to bring him in."
Italy - L McLean; L Sarto, T Benvenuti, G Garcia, G Venditti; T Allan, E Gori; M Rizzo, L Ghiraldini (capt), L Cittadini; Q Geldenhuys, J Furno; A Zanni, F Minto, S Vunisa. Reps: D Giazzon, M Aguero, M Castrogiovanni, M Fuser, M Bergamasco, G Palazzani, C Canna, M Campagnaro.
Canada - M Evans; P Mackenzie, C Hearn, C Braid, DTH van der Merwe; N Hirayama, J Mackenzie; H Buydens, R Barkwill, D Wooldridge; J Sinclair, J Cudmore; N Dala, J Moonlight, T Ardron (capt). Reps: A Carpenter, D Sears-Duru, A Tiedemann, E Olmstead, K Gilmour, P Mack, C Trainor, H Jones.
REF - G Clancy (Ireland)
Italy v Canada,
Live, TV3, 2.30
