Italy captain Leonardo Ghiraldini said on Friday (18th September) that the absence of number eight Sergio Parisse "would be a great blow for every team" - but backed his replacement Samuela Vunisa to step up against France in their Rugby World Cup opener at Twickenham on Saturday (19th September).

Script:

(English) Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italy captain (Q: There has been a lot of talk that France and Ireland will emerge from Pool D, does that make you more determined?):

"Obviously our goal is to reach the quarter-final, we know that this is a really tough group with some really great teams like France, like Ireland, Canada and Romania too will be tough. So we don't have to think more than this week.

SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italy captain (Q: Andrea Masi has said how important it is to be close to France with 20 minutes to go to create doubt in them, and having beaten France recently in the Six Nations do you think that can affect them in tomorrow's game?

"We know that France is very similar to us as a team and the most important from a mental point of view is to put pressure on them will be crucial. Playing them is always a different story compared with Six Nations sides, so it will be important for us to never give up and at different points in the game to understand their weaknesses. It will be important as well as Andrea (Masi) said to be close on the scoreboard and if we play tomorrow in the way we've already showed, we can play, everything can happen. It will be crucial as well to avoid individual mistakes in the last quarter of the game because it will be where the match will probably be decided."