Rugby World Cup
Italy's Andrea Masi ruled out of Rugby World Cup through Achilles tendon injury
Tom Hamilton
September 20, 2015
France started their Rugby World Cup with an easy win over Italy (video available in Australia only)

Italy coach Jacques Brunel has confirmed Andrea Masi has torn his Achilles tendon and looks to be out of the World Cup.

Masi started at inside centre in their loss to France but was forced off after 10 minutes. It compounded a miserable day for Italy and Brunel was less than impressed with Craig Joubert's refereeing as he questioned the number of times Italy were penalised in the scrum.

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Brunel highlighted post-match they were penalised six times in the scrum and questioned the officiating while playing down the absence of Sergio Parisse.

"The absence of Parisse was an important factor but it was not the main factor in explaining the difference of the score," Brunel said. "France deserved to win but the difference in the score doesn't really correspond to the match we played.

"There was an obvious imbalance especially in the scrums. We didn't understand the referee and the way the referee took the decisions led to an imbalance in the game. He is the reason for the difference in the score. Andrea Masi broke his Achilles tendon and that all leaves us with a bitter taste in the mouth."

Masi is the third centre to go down for Italy and Brunel will weigh up his options before looking at potential replacements.

"We had Luca Morisi injured against Wales, Gonzalo Garcia is also injured so I'm not sure if he'll be fit against Canada. Masi is the third centre we have injured.

"We need to analyse the situation as we don't have a lot of resources and we hope Tommaso Benvenuti can come back into the team, but he is also injured. We'll possibly have to call someone in."

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