After finishing third in their last five World Cups, Italy will be aiming to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
Aside from Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney, and Ange Capuozzo, World Rugby’s Men’s Breakthrough Player of the Year 2022, Italy have never missed a Rugby World Cup. Italy will need to channel recent shock wins to achieve their knock-out stage dreams if they are to reach the knock-out stage led by captain Michele Lamaro in a heavyweight pool.
Here is the Italy Rugby World Cup squad – and here is the full schedule of Rugby World Cup matches.
The Italy Rugby World Cup squad for 2023
When the Italian Rugby Federation officially announces the first squad, this section on the squad selections will be updated.
Pools for the Italy Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup Pool A includes Italy, New Zealand, France, Uruguay, and Namibia.
Sat 9 Sept Italy v Namibia (Stade Geoffroy Guichard, Saint-Étienne)
Sun 24 Sept Italy v Uruguay (Stade de Nice, Nice)
Sat 30 Sept Italy v New Zealand (Ol Stadium, Lyon)
Sat 7 Oct Italy v France (Ol Stadium, Lyon)
The knockout stages will follow the same format as previous years, with teams from Pools A and B then Pools C and D meeting in the quarter-finals. So Wales and England could meet in the last eight, for example.
QF1 – Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D
QF2 – Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A
QF3 – Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C
QF4 – Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B
Then the semi-finals will be the Winner of QF1 v Winner QF2 and the Winner QF3 v Winner QF4.