Sergio Parisse set to make Italy record against South Africa in Shizuoka

Italy head coach Conor O’Shea has confirmed his side's matchday squad for the upcoming World Cup game against South Africa with the spotlight on skipper Sergio Parisse.

The Friday's encounter will see the 36-year-old become the first Italy player to feature in 15 World Cup games while he is also set to become the second most capped player in the history of the game surpassing Brian O’Driscoll's tally of 141 games. Now, only former New Zealand captain Richie McCaw is in front of Parisse with 148 caps.

Parisse will be joined by Jake Polledri and Braam Steyn in back-row with Dean Budd and David Sisi in second row and Simone Ferrari, Luca Bigi and Andrea Lovotti in front-row. Tommaso Allan retains his fly-half role with Tito Tebaldi at scrum-half.

There is also a positional change for Michele Campagnaro as he moves from outside centre to left wing where he joins Tommaso Benvenuti and Matteo Minozzi in back-three with Luca Morisi and Jayden Hayward forming centre partnership.

Italy currently hold the top place in Pool B with two bonus point wins from as many games.

Italy starting line-up: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Jayden Hayward, 11 Michele Campagnaro, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Braam Steyn, 5 Dean Budd, 4 David Sisi, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Andrea Lovotti

Reserves: 16 Federico Zani, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Sebastian Negri, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Carlo Canna