Tries a priority for Italy against Russia
Tuesday 20 September 2011, 6:22PM
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<p>Italy coach Nick Mallett has laid down the challenge to his team to score the four tries they need to secure a bonus point against Russia in their second Rugby World Cup 2011 match.</p>
<p>Mallett has made 12 changes to the team that lost the opening match 32-6 to Australia. Captain Sergio Parisse and full back Andrea Masi retain their places, while Tommaso Benvenuti moves from wing to centre for Tuesday's match in Nelson. </p>
<p>"We've moved Tommaso Benvenuti into the centres and Luke (McLean) has played wing many times for Treviso and can also cover full back. He is strong, quick and has a good boot," Mallett said.</p>
<p>"It also means that Andrea Masi can have another chance to play in our system as he has not had a lot of chance to play full back. He hasn't had the chance to play there since the last Six Nations match.</p>
<p>"There is a lot of competition for the players for the last match against Ireland and I want to give all the players as much chance as possible before then." </p>
<p>Ireland's win over Australia on Saturday means that Italy are likely to need bonus points wins from their matches against Russia and USA.</p>
<p><strong>Young hope</strong></p>
<p>After that they would need to beat Ireland in their final pool match if they want to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.</p>
<p>The only problem for Italy is that they have scored four tries in only one match under Mallett, a 31-24 win over Japan in a RWC 2011 warm-up. </p>
<p>Key to that aim is the squad's youngest player Benvenuti. Despite being only 20, he showed he has the ability to break through defences for his club Treviso in the Celtic League and Heineken Cup.</p>
<p>"He is our fastest player and is as comfortable in the centres as he is on the wing," Mallett said. "He has played there a lot for Treviso and is a very mature player for his age.</p>
<p>"I am convinced that if the forwards can win good ball going forward then we can play some good rugby in the backs."</p>
<p>Russia will bring in five new faces, most notably Australian-born second row Adam Byrnes, who will pack down alongside Alexander Voytov.<br />
New tactics</p>
<p>Melbourne Rebels player Byrnes has been brought in to help improve Russia's lineout, which lost six of their 12 throws in the 13-6 defeat by USA in their RWC 2011 opener. </p>
<p>“We will apply different tactics against Italy," full back Igor Klyuchnikov said. "We are training various combinations in defence and attack. </p>
<p>"Our forwards are working on lineouts especially as we made many errors on our throw-in against the States.”</p>
<p>The line up is Russia's most experienced ever with a collective total of 568 caps and the expectation is that such experience will help The Bears improve from the USA defeat.</p>
<p>"The coaches have analysed the game against USA and told us the mistakes that we have made," Klyuchnikov said.</p>
<p>"Our main problem was that we lost the ball frequently, did not have long-lasting attacks and therefore were forced to spend much time in defence.”</p>