Six Nations: Italy v Ireland Preview

Wooden spoon holders host defending champions for the second game of the Six Nations’ opening weekend. Whilst Ireland are obvious favourites, the Italians should not be underestimated – they are always a handful at home (as Ireland well know, having lost to them in this fixture two years ago).

Despite a poor run of results in 2014, Italy will have taken confidence from a win over a strong Samoa side, whilst close games against Argentina and South Africa showed encouraging signs. Coach Jacques Brunel has targeted Italy’s three home games in this year’s championship – an ambitious but not unrealistic target.

Who will lift the new trophy when all is said and done?

Ireland had a fantastic Autumn and will be looking to continue playing the way that saw them secure wins against South Africa and Australia. Nevertheless, this Ireland team still has a feeling of one in development - Ian Keatley edges out Ian Madigan in the absence of Jonathan Sexton at fly half, whilst the centre pairing of Jared Payne and Robbie Henshaw is by no means certain to be the same come September’s World Cup. The return of Sean O’Brien on the flank is a real coup for the Irish pack.

Whilst Ireland are missing a few key players – alongside Sexton, the likes of Jamie Heaslip, Cian Healy, and Mike McCarthy are all missing – Italy are able to field a team at almost full strength, with the talismanic Sergio Parisse leading from the back of the scrum. Gone are the days, however, when Italy relied on their captain fantastic – centre Michele Campagnaro was a revelation in last year’s tournament, whilst lock Josh Furno has been putting in strong performances for the Premiership’s Newcastle Falcons.

Prediction: The Roman crowd means that this will be no walkover for the Irish, but they should still be able to win comfortably in the end. Ireland by 10.

Match Information:

Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Kelly Haimona, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Francesco Minto, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 George Biagi, 4 Joshua Furno, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Matias Aguero.

Replacements: 16 Andrea Manici, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Marco Barbini, 21 Gulgielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Giovanbattista Venditti.

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jordi Murphy, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 James Cronin, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Tommy O'Donnell, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Felix Jones.

Date: Saturday, February 7

Kick-off: 15:30 local (14:30 GMT)

Venue: Stadio Olimpico

Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)

Assistant referees: Johnny Lacey (Ireland), Luke Pearce (England)

Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)