After a magical away performance against France last week, Ireland look back to form when they welcome Italy to the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
The 25th Six Nations meeting between the two teams will see Ireland seeking their 24th victory against Italy, with their only victory in this match during the Six Nations era coming in Rome in 2013.
There is little reason to expect anything less from Ireland this weekend after the defending champions got off to a great start with a 38-17 win away to France last week.
Italy lost 27-24 to England in Rome, making the Azzurri look much better than the team that disappointed them at the World Cup, but victory at the Aviva Stadium would be the biggest shock victory of all time. right.
wireless
Listen to RTÉ Radio 1’s Sunday Sport live commentary with Michael Corcoran and Fiona Coghlan from the Aviva Stadium.
online
Follow our live blog on RTE.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app for reports, reactions and player ratings.
tv set
Virgin Media One will have live coverage of Ireland v Italy and Scotland v France (Saturday, 2.15pm).
England vs Wales will be broadcast live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Saturday afternoon with kick-off at 4.45pm.
weather
Rain is forecast to start in Dublin on Sunday, but it looks like the rain could end before kick-off at 3pm. The expected temperature is 7°C and the wind is around 15km/h.
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There is no room for complacency with last week’s impressive away win against France as it is extremely rare for Ireland to experience a nine-day reversal between Six Nations matches.
It will be almost impossible to repeat that level of performance, but in reality Andy Farrell’s side won’t need to reach the same heights to win two out of two games.
The first priority is to keep the ball rolling.
Jack Crowley has some credibility after last week’s high-pressure environment at Marseille and has been given the chance to flex his muscles at the Aviva Stadium ahead of next week’s break.
Italy looked to have improved a lot after last week’s 27-24 loss to England, but there are some areas that Ireland would like to exploit.
Their lineouts were won only 9 out of 15 “cleanly”, as defined by Opta stats, but they won back a further 3 lineouts that England had thwarted. Given that Ireland disrupted France’s attack in last week’s game against Marseille, expect James Ryan to target Italy’s set-pieces.
In attack, maintaining last week’s improved lineout numbers was also a priority, with 13/13 scoring from Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher forming the basis of all five of Ireland’s tries.
Italy held England to just two tries against Roma, but they could have scored more with a sharper attack. Steve Borthwick’s side enjoyed the fastest ruck ball of the weekend but did not have a game plan to use it and instead stuck with a predictable attack. It was enough to win the match, but not by a huge margin.
The arrival of Gonzalo Quesada in place of New Zealander Kieran Crowley makes the Italians look a bit more realistic compared to last season’s squad, which finished in close games against both Ireland and France.
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Farrell opted to shuffle his deck in preparation for Italy’s visit, making six changes from the win against France. Stuart McCloskey, Craig Casey, Finlay Bealham, James Ryan, Ryan Baird and Jack Conan will all join the team.
Jamison Gibson-Park and Josh van der Vlier are both on the bench, while Peter O’Mahony, Bundy Aki and Tadhg Furlong are all injured.
Jeremy Rahman, Tom O’Toole, Ian Henderson, Harry Byrne and Jacob Stockdale will also be promoted to the bench.
Italy’s hopes were dashed this week. Strong back-rowers Seb Negri and Lorenzo Canone were absent due to injury, with Alessandro Izecole and Manuel Zuliani starting in their place.
Ange Capozzo also joins after recovering from illness, while Stephen Varney will start at scrum-half.
team
Ireland: Hugo Keenan. Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe. Jack Crowley, Craig Casey. Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Finlay Bellum. Joe McCarthy, James Ryan. Ryan Baird, Caelan Doris (Captain), Jack Conan.
Replacement: Ronan Kelleher, Jeremy Rahman, Tom O’Toole, Ian Henderson, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, Harry Byrne, Jordan Larmour.
Italy: Ange Capozzo. Lorenzo Pani, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monti Ioene. Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney. Danilo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Pietro Ceccarelli. Niccolo Cannone, Federico Luzza. Alessandro Izecole, Manuel Zuliani, Michele Ramaro (captain).
Replacement: Giacomo Nicotera, Mirco Spagnuolo, Giosue Girocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Ross Vincent, Martin Page-Lillo, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.
official
Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistant referee 1: Mathieu Reynal (FFR)
Assistant referee 2: Luc Ramos (FFR)
TMO: Eric Gozan (FFR)
what they said
Andy Farrell (Ireland head coach): “You know, I’m not disrespectful to anyone. This is not who I am, but to be honest, this is who we are. We’re better than we were last week. And it’s about what we expect within our own four walls. Like I always say, understanding how we start kicking off in every part of the game. That’s the thing.”
Gonzalo Quesada (Italian manager): “In Dublin, the focus will be on our performance and we will try to take another step in our development against one of the strongest teams in the world. “We have some tough games ahead of us so we have to stay calm until the end.” That’s going to be important in the game. “
Previous meetings:
Ireland 33-17 Italy – Aviva Stadium, 2023 World Cup prelude
Italy 20-34 Ireland – Stadio Olimpico, 2023 Six Nations
Ireland 57-6 Italy – Aviva Stadium, 2022 Six Nations
Italy 10-48 Ireland – Stadio Olimpico, 2021 Six Nations
Ireland 50-17 Italy – Aviva Stadium, 2020 Six Nations
The Six Nations weekend begins with a 2.15pm kick-off at Murrayfield as Scotland host a vulnerable-looking France side.
England and Wales will then face each other at Twickenham at 4.45pm. (Live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).