By Josh Graham

Defending champions Australia are set to pair Nathan Cleary and Daly Cherry-Evans together in the halves for their final group game against Italy on Saturday night in St Helens.

The duo have been battling it out for the scrum-half role but with Cameron Munster rested they will join forces against the Azzurri.

Mal Meninga’s side have one foot in the quarter-finals where they are expected to face Lebanon and the Kangaroos coach is keen to give all his players two group games to stake their claim for a place in the side come the knockouts.

Having suffered defeat to Fiji last time out, Italy most likely will need to cause an upset to force their way out of Group B and Leo Epifania welcomes record appearance holder Gioele Celerino back into the squad.

Australia: 12 Matt Burton, 6 Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 13 Patrick Carrigan, 2 Daly Cherry-Evans, 14 Nathan Cleary, 15 Lindsay Collins, 16 Reuben Cotter, 18 Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, 19 Campbell Graham, 4 Valentine Holmes, 3 Ben Hunt, 21 Liam Martin, 8 Latrell Mitchell, 11 Cameron Murray, 22 Jeremiah Nanai, 23 Murray Taulagi, 1 James Tedesco (captain), 10 Jack Wighton, 24 Isaah Yeo

Italy: 3 Daniel Atkinson, 13 Nathan Brown (captain), 6 Jack Campagnolo, 16 Gioele Celerino, 20 Jack Colovatti, 19 Luke Hodge, 10 Anton Iaria, 2 Richard Lepori, 5 Jake Maizen, 15 Luca Moretti, 4 Ethan Natoli, 17 Ronny Palumbo, 9 Dean Parata, 18. Kyle Pickering, 1 Luke Polselli, 7 Radean Robinson, 12 Brenden Santi, 8. Alec Susino, 14 Joey Tramontana

Head-to-head

This will be just the third ever match between Australia and Italy; both of their previous two encounters were in January 1960 with the Kangaroos winning 37-15 and 67-22 in those games.

Fun fact

Australia have allowed just 12.5 play-the-balls per game in their own 20m zone at this Rugby League World Cup, the fewest of any team in the competition and less than half as many as Italy (26.5).

Australia record

Australia have won 28 of their last 29 games at the men’s Rugby League World Cup including their last 14 on the bounce; a 15th consecutive win would mark the outright longest winning streak of any team in the history of the tournament.

Italy record

Italy will be looking to win a second game in the group stage of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup after their 28-4 win over Scotland in Round 1; they have never previously won more than one game at a single edition of the tournament.

Players to watch

• Liam Martin (Australia) has made 56% of his total runs metres post contact in the 2021 men’s Rugby League World Cup, the highest rate of any player to have run at least 50 metres at the tournament.
• Jake Maizen (Italy) has scored four tries in his two appearances so far at the 2021 men’s Rugby League World Cup; not only is it the most tries by a player for Italy at a single edition of the tournament but it is also the most men’s Rugby League World Cup tries of any Italy player in tournament history eclipsing Josh Mantellato and now Australia captain James Tedesco’s tallies of three tries.

The Rugby League World Cup promises to be the biggest, best and most inclusive event in the sport’s 127-year history with men’s, women’s and wheelchair teams competing in 61 games across 21 venues throughout England. Tickets are available via rlwc2021.com/tickets