It will be the first of three matches - Italy plays the United States on Sept. 27 and Australia meets Russia on Oct. 1 - in this picturesque harbor city named after British Admiral Horatio Nelson, who defeated French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Trafalgar Park is one of New Zealand's oldest sporting centers, originally built for cricket in the 1880s, although the present stadium was constructed in the early 1950s.

Italy and Russia are both looking to secure a top-two finish to reach the quarterfinals. Ireland's upset win over second-ranked Australia last week has given the other teams in the pool renewed, if not false, hope of advancing to the next round.

Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni, who will win his 80th cap if he comes off the bench against Russia, says Ireland's upset "changes nothing for us" and added that it proves European teams are good enough to beat those from the southern hemisphere.

Italy, which lost 32-6 to Australia, plays its last match in the pool against Ireland on Oct. 2 in Dunedin.

Ireland leads the pool with eight points from two matches, followed by Australia with five, the US with four and Russia has one bonus after losing to the Americans by seven points.

That leaves Italy in last place without a point.

"It complicates things a bit, but doesn't really alter anything for us," backup hooker Tommaso D'Apice said. "We have to beat Russia and the United States. It is just that now we need to take five points from each match. Even so we will be keeping an eye on what Ireland do against Russia." Italy captain Sergio Parisse said after a brief training run Monday that a bonus-point win is a necessity. His side and Russia are the only teams at the World Cup to have not scored a try yet.

"We obviously must score as many tries as possible, not change our game plan, but keep the pace of play as high as possible," he said through an interpreter.

Asked if Italy should be concerned because Russia is the underdog and could provide an upset, Parisse said he and his team know that situation well.

"Every time we take to the field in a Six Nations match, we are the underdog," he said. "We know that anything can happen, so we will be certain to keep our level of concentration up." Italy, which has beaten Russia in three previous matches, rose one spot to 10th in the new IRB rankings on Monday, the team's highest ranking in nearly three years. Russia, meanwhile, fell to 21st from 19th.

Italy made a change to its reserve bench Monday, with both players involved born in Cordoba, Argentina. Flyhalf Luciano Orquera injured an ankle in training and was replaced by Gonzalo Canale, a center.

Assistant coach Carlo Orlandi said he isn't concerned that Orquera's injury would leave Italy without a specialist flyhalf on the bench as backup for 22-year-old Riccardo Bocchino, who will start his first World Cup match in his ninth test.

"No, I don't think so. But in any case, if he has to leave the field, (fullback) Luke McLean can cover the flyhalf position," Orlandi said. "But I am confident in Riccardo and were are expecting him to do well tomorrow.

Bocchino is well placed to provide an impression of the Russian side, having faced them in a Churchill Cup match in June.

"They are a very tough team, physically strong and good in the backline as many of them have played Sevens," Bocchino said. "We have to maintain our concentration and try to show what we can do if we have the chance." For Russia, Australian-born lock Adam Byrnes will make his first Rugby World Cup start for the Bears.

Byrnes, whose mother, Olga, was born in Russia and migrated to Sydney as a child, will try to help the World Cup debutants win its first match following the 13-6 loss to the Americans. The Melbourne Rebels player was selected on the reserves bench in the opening match.

"We are going to try to get some parity, get our own ball back," Byrnes said. "The Italian scrum and lineout are both very strong." Vyacheslav Grachev, Russia's 38-year-old No. 8, will start the match five days after being in the run-on team versus the US.

Russia made four changes overall. Vladimir Botvinnikov, Victor Gresev and Andrey Kuzin join Byrnes in moving up from the reserves bench, replacing Sergey Popov, Denis Antonov, Artem Fatakhov, and Yury Kushnarev.

Italy made 12 changes to its starting lineup from the team that lost to Australia. Russian head coach Nikolay Nerush says that will be more of a positive for Italy and not a concern for them.

"Italy has 30 players, and they all knew there would be some changes," Nerush said through an interpreter. "The players are fresh and will be anxious to show what they can do. So there is no negative from that point of view."

18,000

Tuesday, Sept. 20 (kickoff 0730)

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Italy-Russia

15-Andrea Masi 15-Igor Klyuchnikov

14-Giulio Toniolatti 14-Vasily Artemyev

13-Tommaso Benvenuti 13-Andrey Kuzin

12-Matteo Pratichetti 12-Alexey Makovetskiy

11-Luke McLean 11-Vladimir Ostroushko

10-Riccardo Bocchino 10-Konstantin Rachkov

9-Edoardo Gori 9-Alexander Shakirov

8-Sergio Parisse (captain)8-Victor Gresev

7-Mauro Bergamasco 7-Andrey Garbuzov

6-Paul Derbyshire 6-Vyacheslav Grachev

5-Marco Bortolami 5-Adam Byrnes

4-Quintin Geldenhuys 4-Alexander Voytov

3-Lorenzo Cittadini 3-Ivan Prishchepenko

2-Fabio Ongaro 2-Vladislav Korshunov (captain)

1-Salvatore Perugini 1-Vladimir Botvinnikov
 

16-Tommaso D'Apice 16-Valery Tsnobiladze

17-Martin Castrogiovanni 17-Alexander Khrokin

18-Cornelius van Zyl 18-Denis Antonov

19-Alessandro Zanni 19-Artem Fatakhov

20-Pablo Canavosio 20-Alexander Yanyushkin

21-Gonzalo Canale 21-Mikhail Sidorov

22-Alberto Sgarbi 22-Yury Kushnarev

Coaches: Nick Mallett Nikolay Nerush

- -

Italy 11

Russia 19

- -

3*

Wins: Italy - 3; Russia - 0

* according to official RWC website

Italy 67-7 in 2006

Year Venue Result

1998 Krasnoyarsk Italy won 48-18

2006 Moscow Italy won 67-7