Preview: Italy v Romania
Bergamasco, only the second player after Samoa's Brian Lima to appear in five Rugby World Cups, has been left out of the match-day squad for Sunday's game against Romania, after playing against Canada and Ireland.
He is due to retire after Italy's World Cup campaign but was hoping for a last farewell in a match that will decide third place in Pool D and qualification for Japan 2019.
"I agree with Jacques, in that he has to send out the best team he has. It has been a pleasure and a joy to play four World Cups with him [Bergamasco] and some of my best memories are from playing alongside him.
"He deserves all the praise he has received for playing five World Cups, but this is a technical choice," Parisse said.
In the stands
Parisse will be alongside Bergamasco in the stands at Sandy Park stadium after being ruled out through injury. He will be replaced by Alessandro Zanni who plays on the flank but showed he is comfortable in the middle of the back row, when he replaced his captain against Ireland.
The 32-year-old Parisse missed Italy's first two matches of the World Cup as he was recuperating from surgery to reduce a haematoma in his calf. He returned to the squad and managed 65 minutes in the 9-16 defeat by Ireland, but it took a toll on his body that he has been unable to recover from.
"I wasn't really ready to start the match and it was physically hard, even those 65 minutes. Afterwards my calf hurt a lot. I really wanted to do my best against Ireland after all the recovery work I did with Stade Francais in Paris, but at the end I was destroyed.
"I wasn't able to give my all in training and I would only be at about 55 percent for a match which you need to be near 100 percent for," he added.
Players to watch:
For Italy: Edoardo Gori and Tommaso Allan needs to find their rhythm early in the match and set the tone for things to come while there will be plenty of grunt from the tight five.
For Romania: Paula Kinikinilau and Michael Wiringi will be relied on to provide attacking threats from the back while Johannes van Heerden and Paulica Ion will look to impose themselves in the set-pieces.
Head to head: The battle of the flyhalves, between Michael Wiringi and Tommaso Allan will look to keep their sides in the contest with the boot but all eyes will be at scrum time to see who gains the upperhand.
Recent results:
2007: Italy won 24-18, Marseille (WC pool match)
2004: Romania won 25-24, Bucharest
2002: Italy won 25-17, Parma
2000: Italy won 37-17, Benevento
1994: Italy won 24-6, Catania
1990: Italy won 29-21, Padua
1967: Romania won 24-3, Bucharest
1966: Italy won 3-0, L'Aquila
1962: Romania won 14-6, Bucharest
1958: Italy won 6-3, Catania
Prediction: With an automatic qualification spot up for grabs, it will certainly be a tough, no-nonsense battle up front. Romania will be determined to cause an upset but Italy just has too much experience and will see it through by 10 points.
Teams:
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Benvenuti, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys (captain), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Samuela Vunisa, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Enrico Bacchin.
Romania: 15 Catalin Fercu, 14 Madalin Lemnaru, 13 Paula Kinikinilau, 12 Florin Vlaicu, 11 Ionut Botezatu, 10 Michael Wiringi, 9 Valentin Calafeteanu, 8 Daniel Carpo, 7 Viorel Lucaci, 6 Valentin Ursache (captain), 5 Johannes van Heerden, 4 Valentin Poparlan, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Otar Turashvili, 1 Mihaita Lazar.
Replacements: 16 Andrei Radoi, 17 Andrei Ursache, 18 Horatiu Pungea, 19 Marius Antonescu, 20 Stelian Burcea, 21 Tudorel Bratu, 22 Adrian Apostol, 23 Csaba Gal.
Date: Sunday, October 11
Venue: Sandy Park, Exeter
Kick-off: 14.30 (13.30 GMT; 15.30 Italian time; 16.30 EEST)
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Mathieu Raynal (France)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
