An out of sorts Japan will be looking to put a poor couple of months behind them when they cap off their World Cup build up against a vastly improved Italian outfit at the Stadio Comunale Domingo this Saturday.
Saturday 26 August
Italy | Draw | Japan
The Italians were in all-conquering form this past weekend as they ran Romania ragged scoring nine tries on their way to a 57-7 wn over the Oaks. While it was only the Azzurri’s first win of the season, there have been positive signs in 2023 for the Italians who were more competitive than usual in the 6 Nations and who also gave the ‘Scots and a second-string Irish a run for their money during the opening few weeks of the World Cup warm-up games.
While head coach Kieran Crowley will be happy with the scoreline from last weekend, he will be even more pleased with how some of his new boys did with former London Wasps man Paolo Odogwu and Harlequins lock Dino Lam bagging a try a piece.
There were also solid showings from Italian stalwarts with mercurial fullback Ange Capuozzo grabbing a double and fly-half Paolo Garbisi putting in a solid shift.
While Italy has enjoyed a positive eight months in 2023, the same cannot be said of Japan who had a very poor Pacific Nations Cup campaign that saw them suffer defeats at the hands of Fiji and Samoa while just edging past Tonga. This will be their first fixture since the close of July, with their coaching staff only opting to play one warm-up fixture in Europe before the start of the global showpiece.
Japan were extremely poor in July and I can’t see them having improved that much over one month. My money’s on Italy claiming a big win here.
Verdict: Italy on the minus
