Italy hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini (R) runs past France winger Aurelien Rougerie during the Six Nations match between France and Italy at the Stade de France outside Paris, March 2008. Italy coach Nick Mallett has announced his team for the Six Nations opener against reigning champions Ireland at Dublin’s Croke Park on Saturday, with Ghiraldini as captain.

Italy coach Nick Mallett has announced his team for the Six Nations opener against reigning champions Ireland at Dublin’s Croke Park on Saturday.

It is the same starting XV that beat Samoa 24-6 in November, ending a run of 13 straight defeats.

Treviso hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini continues to lead the team in the injury absence of Stade Francais number eight Sergio Parisse.

Flanker Mauro Bergamasco will become only the third Italian player to reach 80 caps when he starts the game on Saturday putting him behind assistant coach Alessandro Troncon (101) and team manager Carlo Checchinato (83).

Prop Salvatore Perugini will also reach a milestone as he will become the only Italian player to appear in every Six Nations tournament since the southern Europeans were first admitted in 2000.

Italy also welcome back veterans, lock Marco Bortolami and centre Andrea Masi to the bench after both players missed the whole November Test series.

Team (15-1):

Italy

Luke McLean; Kaine Robertson, Gonzalo Canale, Gonzalo Garcia, Mirco Bergamasco; Craig Gower, Tito Tebaldi; Alessandro Zanni, Mauro Bergamasco, Josh Sole; Quintin Geldenhuys, Carlo Antonio Del Fava; Martin Castrogiovanni, Leonardo Ghiraldini (capt), Salvatore Perugini

Replacements: Fabio Ongaro, Matias Aguero, Marco Bortolami, Paul Derbyshire, Simon Piccone, Riccardo Bocchino, Andrea Masi.

The long-awaited rugby comeback of veteran All Black lock Ali Williams (pictured in 2007) lasted less than four minutes Friday when a recurring Achilles injury saw him hobble off the field in a pre-season match. The 61-Test veteran, who missed all rugby Tests last year because of Achilles problems, is expected to undergo surgery again next week after turning out for the Blues against the Chiefs.

The long-awaited rugby comeback of veteran All Black lock Ali Williams lasted less than four minutes Friday when a recurring Achilles injury saw him hobble off the field in a pre-season match.

The 61-Test veteran, who missed all rugby Tests last year because of Achilles problems, is expected to undergo surgery again next week after turning out for the Blues against the Chiefs.

He fell awkwardly and struggled to put weight on his lower right leg as he was assisted from the field by medical staff.

A Blues spokesman said the extent of the damage was hard to determine but admitted a worst-case scenario could see the 28-year-old ruled out for all of 2010.

If Williams is again forced out of international rugby it will be a blow to All Blacks coach Graham Henry, who struggled to replace the athletic Aucklander last year.

Test novice Isaac Ross was called up to locking partner Brad Thorn for the domestic Tri-Nations Test series but was then replaced by provincial journeyman Tom Donnelly for the end-of-year northern hemisphere tour.

Williams’ long-time All Blacks second row partner Chris Jack has returned to New Zealand this year after two years overseas but is sidelined for the next month because of a wrist injury.

S.Africa’s president Nelson Mandela is pictured congratulating S.Africa’s rugby team captain Francois Pienaar before handing him the William Webb trophy after his team’s victory over New Zealand (15-12) in the final of the Rugby World Cup at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, in June 1995.

When South Africa won the 1995 rugby World Cup just after apartheid, the new president Nelson Mandela donned a jersey and won over a sceptical white population in a symbol of unity for the young democracy.

South Africa will relive that iconic moment this week as the new Clint Eastwood film “Invictus” premieres in Johannesburg Tuesday, conjuring memories made all the more poignant ahead of the football World Cup here next year.

“At first we could not believe it when we saw him,” recalled former rugby player John Allan, who was in Johannesburg’s Ellis Park stadium for the final against New Zealand on June 24, 1995.

“All the crowd was silent and then… the whole crowd virtually erupted en masse,” he said.

By wearing the jersey and walking on the field, Mandela strode into a sport beloved by Afrikaners, descendants of the first European settlers who institutionalised a violent racial segregation and imprisoned Mandela for decades.

“It was the greatest thing he could do,” said Steven Roos, operations manager at Rugby SA, who was also in the stadium at the time.

“At that point in time, we (the whites) knew about Nelson Mandela as an ANC member, and the ANC (African National Congress) was a terrorist group,” he said.

A onetime leader of the outlawed ANC’s armed wing, Mandela had been a free man for only five years — and president for only one year — at the time of the 1995 rugby victory, after 27 years in prison for opposing apartheid. He was released in 1990 committed to democracy and negotiating a deal that led to universal suffrage and the country’s first black head of state, earning him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Director Clint Eastwood is seen arriving with his wife Dina Eastwood at the premiere of “Invictus” in Beverly Hills, California, on December 3. “Invictus” tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of S.Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country.

“After the apartheid years and the elections, the (white) people were very sceptical. They stocked up food because, ‘Now that the blacks were going to take over, there will be no food anymore’,” he said, voicing the fears of the time.

But then Mandela emerged smiling, wishing good luck to a team whose only non-white member was the mixed-race winger Chester Williams. On the president’s back was emblazoned an enormous 6, number of the Springboks captain François Pienaar.

“I could not believe it. The people shouted Nelson, Nelson!” Roos said.

Now that moment is remembered as a dignified gesture of national unity, but the opinion wasn’t so unified back then.

“At the time we were still trying to negotiate issues” in writing a new constitution, said Strike Thokoane, secretary general of the Africanist party Azapo.

He said Mandela wearing the jersey “was premature. That was viewed as surrendering ourselves.”

In hindsight, analyst Aubrey Matshiqi of the Centre for Policy Studies said the euphoria of the rugby World Cup overshadowed the inequalities that remain in South Africa.

“Because he became the symbol of reconciliation, it masked the reality of the lack of reconciliation among South Africans,” Matshiqi said.

Actors Morgan Freeman (left) and Matt Damon are seen at the premiere of “Invictus” in Beverly Hills, California, on December 3. From director Clint Eastwood, “Invictus” tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of S.Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country.

“There is a perception that it is almost always the black person that has extended the hand of reconciliation,” he said. “To some extent, white people embraced Mandela but not the race from which he came.”

The 43 percent of the population living in poverty remains almost all black. Until the daily lives of South Africa’s people improve, and until whites are seen reciprocating the goodwill shown by Mandela — now 91 and retired from public life — the country will struggle for “a common sense of belonging,” Matshiqi added.

Allan said that especially in the world of rugby, not enough was done to erase the colour line after the World Cup victory.

“They had the opportunity to transform the game, but they did not do much,” he said, noting that the winning World Cup team in 2007 remained almost all white.

“Sport is the best tool to bring people together irrespective of races, religion,” Allan said. “On the playing field, everyone is equal. You share a common goal.”

That sense of shared purpose will likely re-emerge during the football World Cup next year, Matshiqi said. “But beyond that euphoria, you will see very few signs of reconciliation,” he added.

New Zealand All Blacks’ captain Richie McCaw is seen during a training session on November 23, in Marseille, southern France, a few days prior to their Rugby union test match against France on November 28.

Any feelings of fatigue after a draining season that began back in February are on hold, New Zealand captain Richie McCaw has warned ahead of Saturday’s Test match against France.

“We realise it’s going to be a good challenge,” said the openside flanker who will become the third most capped All Black when he wins his 80th cap at the Stade Velodrome here.

“We’ve had a light couple of days at the start of the week to make sure we’re fresh for Saturday and the guys are looking forward to it.

“Last week (against England) was pretty physical. The guys realise it could even be a step up from that: it’s going to be physical but we’re pretty used to that, it’s like all Test matches.”

New Zealand have so far gone unbeaten on their November tour, beating Wales (19-12), Italy (20-6) and last week at Twickenham, England (19-6).

But they lost the first tour Test against France in June before claiming parity with victory in the second, and famously went out of the 2007 World Cup at the quarter-final stage at French hands in Cardiff.

France have also avoided defeat in their autumnal games, dispatching world and Tri-Nations champions South Africa (20-13) and Samoa (43-5) with a brand of hard-hitting rugby that sometimes they lack on a regular basis.

The added physical dimension France are offering, led magnificently by captain Thierry Dusautoir, has not been missed by McCaw, who was adamant that there was only one way to play.

“You’ve got to give it straight back and meet them with the same sort of physicality and play some rugby,” he said.

“So if you can get on top in that area and play and put them under pressure it takes away the instrument they have.”

McCaw stressed that his team-mates had enjoyed some downtime since their victory over England.

French national rugby union team captain Thierry Dusautoir (left) vies with Julien Puricelli during a training session on November 24, in Marcoussis, south of Paris, part of the preparation for the upcoming test match against New Zealand, to be played on November 28 in Marseille.

“When you’ve played a few games in a row, it’s important to get fresh,” said the skipper, fresh from a visit to nearby Avignon.

“From here on we realise we’re on for a big Test match and everyone’s looking forward to it.

“Everyone realises the challenge we’ll be facing and it’s not as though we’re going home on Sunday. We’ve got another week after that (when the All Blacks play the Barbarians at Twickenham): that week might be a hard one.

“This week, the guys realise it’s a big match and we’re really excited about playing it.”

McCaw’s fellow flanker will be Jerome Kaino, recalled on the blindside at the expense of Adam Thompson because of the extra physical edge he offers.

“I had an inkling I’d get a chance against France,” said Kaino, standing 1.96m and weighing in at 105kg. “If we can dominate them physically, that will hopefully help us achieve our gameplan.

“(Assistant coach) Wayne Smith has been prepping the guys about the 2000 tour (when France beat the All Blacks then coached by Smith 42-33 in Marseille).

“He said it was an ambush (at the time Smith branded France as being like maverick Hollywood movie detective Dirty Harry) and that we should think the worst and expect that.

“We’re expecting the worst and we are looking forward to it.”

England’s wing Mark Cueto avoids a tackle by Argentina’s Alfredo Lalanne during their International Rugby Union test match in Salta, Argentina in June. Cueto admits his side must beat Argentina at Twickenham on November 14 to avoid slipping into crisis.

England star Mark Cueto admits his side must beat Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday to avoid slipping into crisis.

Martin Johnson’s side head into the match on the back of an 18-9 defeat to Australia which sent them to their lowest ever ranking of eighth in the world.

With New Zealand coming to Twickenham on November 21, Sale Sharks winger Cueto is well aware England cannot afford to suffer a second straight defeat to the Pumas.

“There is huge pressure this week,” he said. “This is a game that people expect us to win. That is not always the way you want to go into a game.

“The All Blacks is a huge game regardless – but to be going into it having played two and lost two is certainly not where we want to be.

“We want to get some momentum behind us. We need to pick up from the first half against the Aussies, build on that and go in to this weekend improving and confident.

“With the quality of the players we have got, the quality of the Premiership and the structures we have in this country, eighth is not acceptable and we are desperate to improve that.”

England have just five victories from 12 Tests since Johnson took charge in 2008. And in six Tests against Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina, England have managed just one victory, against the Pumas at Old Trafford in June.

Meanwhile, Johnson has told his players to play smarter to avoid conceding the initiative with needless fouls.

England will need to be particularly wary of the new International Rugby Board directives for referees, which were issued yesterday concerning tackling and contact areas.

“We have got to be smart and adapt to any areas of the game that Nigel Owens is looking at particularly strongly, we need to communicate with him and work on our feet as a team,” Johnson said.

“You have to be aware that things have been put out there by the IRB and are top of the list but we will still be tackling and competing for the ball.

“My one message before the game will be to put them under pressure.”

New Zealand All Blacks players perform the Haka prior to the start the Bledisloe Cup against Australia Wallabies at the national stadium in Tokyo, on October 3. All Blacks travelled to Europe after their Tokyo Test and will play Wales on Saturday in Cardiff.

New Zealand will bid to extend a winning streak of 20 games spread over 56 years when they take on Wales at the Millennium Stadium here on Saturday.

The All Blacks have become the monkey on the Welsh side’s back since that last win in 1953, but there is a glimmer of hope as New Zealand introduce a raft of new faces as coach Graham Henry insists on blooding new talent rather than worrying about past records.

Henry, himself a former Wales coach, has made six changes to the team that beat Australia 32-19 in Tokyo last weekend, suspended duo Sitiveni Sivivatu and Tony Woodcock replaced by 20-year-old debutant wing Zac Guildford and prop Wyatt Crockett.

Brendon Leonard takes over from Jimmy Cowan at scrum-half while Kieran Read starts at No 8, flanker Jerome Kaino replaces Adam Thomson and Jason Eaton moves into the second-row for Tom Donnelly.

“We need to know if all these players are up to international standard,” said Henry, whose side last year beat Wales 29-9 at the Millennium Stadium and whose tour this November also includes Tests against Italy, England and France.

“We’ve got a policy for the tour: to enjoy the game and play well is one, and also to make sure 33 players on this tour get an opportunity to play.

“There is no disrespect to Wales – it’s a very strong side.”

Star outside-half Dan Carter, needing just 16 more points to overhaul Andrew Mehrtens’s New Zealand Test record of 967, was named in the team despite a calf injury which has prevented him from training. Stephen Donald will move off the bench of Carter is ruled out.

Wales, coached by New Zealander Warren Gatland, handed prop Paul James a second call-up six years after his debut while James Hook reverts to full-back to plug the gap created by the loss of Lee Byrne to injury, enabling Cardiff Blues duo Tom Shanklin and Jamie Roberts to fill the centre berths.

Wales rugby national team coach Warren Gatland is seen here during team’s training session. Gatland has recalled Gareth Cooper to fill in at scrum-half in the absence of both the injured Mike Phillips and Dwayne Peel, who has not been released by his English club, Sale, as Saturday’s fixture against All Blacks is taking place outside the agreed international window.

Gatland insisted that Hook, who has lost out to Dan Biggar for the outside-half shirt for his Ospreys club, would be nothing but a positive in the number 15 shirt.

“We have asked James (Hook) to play at full-back before and it is a boost for any side to be able to have someone of his calibre on the field in whatever position that may be,” said Gatland, whose side will go on to play matches against Samoa, Argentina and Australia.

Gatland has recalled Gareth Cooper to fill in at scrum-half in the absence of both the injured Mike Phillips and Dwayne Peel, who has not been released by his English club, Sale, as Saturday’s fixture is taking place outside the agreed international window.

Winger Shane Williams was adamant that a Wales team packed with players who experienced the British and Irish Lions’ heart-breaking 2-1 series loss to South Africa in the summer could trump the All Blacks.

“Collectively, Wales can take a lot out of the Lions tour for this autumn series and the New Zealand game,” he said.

“With so many Welsh boys in that Lions squad we can take a lot from the summer.

“We came back disappointed we did not win the Test series and felt we should have done so.

“We watched the Springboks dominate the Tri-Nations series. So we know New Zealand are not unbeatable.”

New Zealand lost three times to South Africa in the Tri-Nations and it is something not lost on skipper Richie McCaw, who pinpointed centre Roberts as the Welsh danger man after his impressive performances against the Springboks.

“He’s a big man, and someone we will keep an eye on,” McCaw said. “He was a major part of why the Lions played as well as they did in South Africa.

“Wales have good players, and we realise we are in for a tough match on Saturday. We would be idiots if we thought it was going to be easy.”

Australia’s Wallabies vice captain Berrick Barnes (right) answers a question during the team’s press conference with Benjamin Alexander (centre) and Kurtley Beale in Tokyo, on October 26. Australia will compete with the All Blacks of New Zealand in the Bledisloe Cup in Tokyo on October 31.

The All Blacks and the Wallabies say they want to use their Bledisloe Cup clash here on Saturday to promote rugby in the growing Asian market, despite a low-key media welcome on their arrival.

It will be the second time that a New Zealand-Australia Test is played on neutral soil after last year’s ground-breaker in Hong Kong, home to the world’s biggest rugby seven’s tournament.

Some 50 Japanese fans greeted the New Zealand squad at Narita airport on Sunday evening ahead of the year’s fourth and final Test between two of the world’s strongest teams at Tokyo’s National Stadium.

But there were no Japanese media in sight.

Australia coach Robbie Deans faced just three reporters and one photographer from the local press at a news conference as he expressed his hope to stop his side’s six-match losing streak to the All Blacks.

On Monday, a dozen of Japanese reporters turned up at media sessions by both teams although newspaper sports pages were dominated by baseball, football and Grand Prix figure skating news.

Deans said on arrival that the weekend Test, which kicks off northern hemisphere tours for both sides, is “important to promote rugby in this part of the world.”

“We know how passionate you (Japanese) are about the game and there is an enormous scope, we believe, to develop rugby.”

All Blacks rugby union team is seen here during a training session, in 2008. The All Blacks and the Wallabies say they want to use their Bledisloe Cup clash in Tokyo on Saturday to promote rugby in the growing Asian market, despite a low-key media welcome on their arrival.

Japan, the top dogs in Asian rugby but minnows on the global stage, want to prove their entrepreneurship by hosting the trans-Tasman classic after winning the bid in July for the 2019 rugby World Cup.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry said an extra Bledisloe Cup in Tokyo “is a good advertisement for the game.”

He said any New Zealand-Australia match was “the hardest contested fixture”. “So it’s no difference whether you play in Sydney or Auckland or Tokyo. There is a lot of edge to the game and both sides are very keen to win.”

According to organisers, about a half of the 48,000 seats for the match had been reserved by Monday with some 8,000 top-priced tickets — costing to 70,000 yen (800 dollars) — sold out.

“I’m a bit worried whether the game will be pumped up,” Manami Yasuoka, a middle-aged rugby fan who works at an Internet provider, said at the airport.

She added: “I don’t understand why rugby is not so popular as football. I want the media to be more active in promoting the game.”

The match will be only be broadcast live at home by a satellite pay TV station.

“We want to fill up the stadium with such a tremendous fixture and advertise a great interest in rugby,” said a sports marketing official, who expected at least 40,000 spectators to show up.

Some 39,000 people saw the All Blacks edge the Wallabies 19-14 in Hong Kong last year.

By hosting big events, the Japan Rugby Football Union hopes to stop the decline in rugby’s popularity at home. The number of registered players has slipped to 120,000 from 170,000 in a decade.

It also wants to more than double the average Test match attendance to 40,000 by 2015.

England lock Simon Shaw (pictured in March) is convinced the drive for rugby players to be “gym monkeys” is seeing skill sacrificed to strength and may be behind a concerning number of injuries already suffered in the northern season.

Simon Shaw is convinced the drive for rugby players to be “gym monkeys” is seeing skill sacrificed to strength and may be behind a concerning number of injuries already suffered in the northern season.

With just over a month of the season played, England manager Martin Johnson knows he will be without 12 players – six of them certain starters – for next month’s Tests at Twickenham against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.

The absentees include England’s entire first-choice front-row and the fact several players are sidelined with shoulder injuries has re-opened the debate about whether modern rugby union, particularly in the tackle area, is placing unrealistic demands on players’ bodies.

England lock Shaw, himself doubtful for the clashes against the Wallabies and the Pumas with a broken foot, told reporters here on Wednesday: “There is an argument that people are spending too much time in the gym, creating more of an athlete than a rugby player.”

Shaw, 36, who played for the British and Irish Lions during this year’s losing tour of South Africa, added: “But there is a limit to how far you can stretch your body. There’s a lot of pressure, especially on the young guys coming through, to be fitter, stronger and faster.

“That in turn makes them train harder in the gym to be physically stronger than the player who is currently holding that position,” explained Shaw, who hopes to be fit to play against the All Blacks on November 21.

“But they should look at guys like Lawrence Dallaglio and Serge Betsen.

England rugby union national team players are seen attending a gym session, in Courbevoie, outside Paris, ahead of a rugby World Cup 2007 match. England lock Simon Shaw is convinced the drive for rugby players to be “gym monkeys” is seeing skill sacrificed to strength and may be behind a concerning number of injuries already suffered in the northern season.

“Serge Betsen is not the strongest man in the world, he doesn’t lift a lot of weights. He’s not even the fittest guy on the training pitch.

“But when he goes out playing he never stops – he’s got an incredible engine. Lawrence as well was never that great in the gym.

“We shouldn’t be trying to create gym monkeys with technique, we should be trying to create rugby players.”

Many observers have cited the number of games top players are expected to take part in during the course of a season as a key factor when looking at the reasons for injuries.

However, Shaw said the expectation upon players to maintain peak fitness throughout a lengthy season was an often overlooked aspect of the injury debate and cited the wretched fitness record of England outside-half Jonny Wilkinson since the 2003 World Cup final as evidence.

“I don’t necessarily think the game is the cause of all the injuries, rather the length of the season,” said the 52-times capped Shaw.

With just over a month of the season played, England manager Martin Johnson (pictured in March) knows he will be without 12 players due to injuries – six of them certain starters – for next month’s Tests at Twickenham against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.

“Everyone bangs on about the amount of games people are expected to play, I don’t even think it’s that.

“It’s the expectation on the players to be fit for an entire season. Whether they are playing or not is almost irrelevant.

“I don’t want to be critical of the system but you meet up very early on in the season and the expectation is that you have reached a certain level of fitness by that stage.

“It’s like the Jonny Wilkinson syndrome when he would train through his summer holidays.

“People question Jonny’s fitness record but that might be as a result of the amount of training he did.”

Premier Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty said the umbrella body for England’s 12 top-flight clubs would study injury data within the next month and compare it to the figures at the same stage of last season.

“A few high-profile players have picked up injuries and that’s perhaps why this subject has had the coverage it has,” McCafferty said.

“Our job is not to react to the headlines but to study the data and that’s what we’ll do.”