6N: Italy v Wales Match Day Thread, 23rd Feb, 14:30 KO, BBC/RTE

Losty Dublin

Rome wasn't built in a day, so the saying goes, and the same can be said for the Italian Rugby Team. While they have taken the odd 6 nations victory here and there in their 13 years since they joined the Nations, they have rarely ever been seen as a major threat in that time. Until this year, that is. A sensational win against France has sealed their position as a team to be reckoned with while their loss at Murrayfield has been seen by many as an upset of sorts, something which was unthinkable until the last 3 seasons.

Wales, on the other hand, are a enigma who are capable of both glorious and woeful football which shames and flatters their abundance of talent. Currently coached by Robery Howley, their lead into the game was sound thrashing at the hands of Ireland in Cardiff and a solid 16-6 victory in Paris. It's worth noting that it was their first win in 9 games, hardly the form one would expect from last seasons Grand Slam winners; something the Welsh media and rugby savvy public are well aware of.

Howley has already picked his team for Saturday's game, a team which is unchanged from the starting 15 against France, the only changes to the match squad being the return of Sam Warburton and AW Jones after injury. The Italian team remains unannounced but at least one change is certain; captain Sergio Parisse is likely to be suspended after a red card in a club game last week with veteran Mauro Bergamasso slotting into the back row in lieu of him. That said, the Italians still will be extremely tough and hard up front so expect an ugly nosed game, especially if Wales can't get their superior back line moving early on.

Wales line out as follows.

15 Leigh Halfpenny ( Cardiff Blues)
14 Alex Cuthbert ( Cardiff Blues)
13 Jonathan Davies (Scarlets)
12 Jamie Roberts ( Cardiff Blues)
11 George North (Scarlets)
10 Dan Biggar (Ospreys)
9 Mike Phillips ( Bayonne)

The Italian team will follow in due course.
1 Gethin Jenkins (Dragons)
2 Richard Hibbard (Ospreys)
3 Adam Jones (Ospreys)
4 Andrew Coombs
5 Ian Evans (Ospreys)
6 Ryan Jones (Ospreys) captain
7 Justin Tipuric (Ospreys)
8 Toby Faletau (Dragons)

Replacements:
16 Ken Owens (Scarlets)
17 Paul James (Bath )
18 Craig Mitchell ( Exeter Chiefs)
19 Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys)
20 Sam Warburton ( Cardiff Blues)
21 Lloyd Williams ( Cardiff Blues)
22 James Hook ( Perpignan)
23 Scott Williams (Scarlets)

Italy:
15 Andrea Masi (Wasps)
14 Giovanbattista Venditti (Zebre)
13 Tommaso Benvenuti (Treviso)
12 Gonzalo Canale (La Rochelle)
11 Luke McLean (Treviso)
10 Kris Burton (Treviso)
9 Edoardo Gori (Treviso)

1 Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing Metro)
2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (Treviso)
3 Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester, capt)
4 Antonio Pavanello (Treviso)
5 Francesco Minto (Treviso)
6 Alessandro Zanni (Treviso)
7 Simone Favaro (Treviso)
8 Manoa Vosawai (Treviso)

Replacements:
Davide Giazzon (Zebre)
Alberto De Marchi (Treviso)
Lorenzo Cittadini (Treviso)
Quintin Geldenhuys (Zebre)
Paul Derbyshire (Treviso)
Tobias Botes (Treviso)
Luciano Orquera (Zebre)
Gonzalo Garcia (Zebre)

TV Coverage is on BBC 1 and BBC 1 HD from 14:00 with Andrew Cotter and Jonathan Davies and RTE 2 from 14:00 with the B team of George Hamilton and Frankie Sheahan and the usual rows with Tom McGurk, Conor O'Shea, George Hook and Shane Horgan. BBC Wales, Cymru and BBC 5 will have radio coverage while RTE will have sporadic updates.

Italy +7 are 10/11 and 20/1 for the draw if you are a betting man.

TheGoldenAges

Probably the least glamorous tie from an Irish perspective at the weekend but great preview non the less!

Noffles

Have a positive feeling for this game, we'll be going to Rome with a far better outlook and not having a load of losses behind us.
France were awful but a win in Paris is a win nonetheless..
Over all our 15 and the bench are looking better each week, players more comfortable and others coming back in...

Clear win for Wales.:D

SebBerkovich

Wales will probably win it, but i can see Italy getting ahead at the start and making wales work a bit for the victory.

iroced

I believe the presence or absence of Sergio Parisse could well be an important factor to this game result. He's the captain and leader of their team.

Swiwi

Apparently Parisse out for 30 days, so that's the end of Italy's hopes. I just can't see them reaching the same levels of play without their talisman. Bit like Ireland minus BOD or NZ minus McCaw.

petebricquette

Swiwi wrote: »

Apparently Parisse out for 30 days, so that's the end of Italy's hopes. I just can't see them reaching the same levels of play without their talisman. Bit like Ireland minus BOD or NZ minus McCaw.

Probably even worse than that. BOD and McCaw add a whole lot to their respective teams but it's rarely the winning or the losing of the game. Italy without Parisse on the other hand... He seems to provide any and all go forward ball they get. Plus his work rate is second to none in the sport.

Losty Dublin

Italy's team was announced yesterday and shows a raft of changes freom the team beaten by Scotland a fortnight ago. Castrogiovanni captaions from the front row in a Treviso dominated pack. A recall for Burton and Gori at scrum and fly half as well but no place on the bench for Bergamasco as native Fijian Vosawai takes his place behind the locks. Italy lines out as follows....

15 Andrea Masi (Wasps)
14 Giovanbattista Venditti (Zebre)
13 Tommaso Benvenuti (Treviso)
12 Gonzalo Canale (La Rochelle)
11 Luke McLean (Treviso)
10 Kris Burton (Treviso)
9 Edoardo Gori (Treviso)

1 Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing Metro)
2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (Treviso)
3 Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester, capt)
4 Antonio Pavanello (Treviso)
5 Francesco Minto (Treviso)
6 Alessandro Zanni (Treviso)
7 Simone Favaro (Treviso)
8 Manoa Vosawai (Treviso)

Replacements:
Davide Giazzon (Zebre)
Alberto De Marchi (Treviso)
Lorenzo Cittadini (Treviso)
Quintin Geldenhuys (Zebre)
Paul Derbyshire (Treviso)
Tobias Botes (Treviso)
Luciano Orquera (Zebre)
Gonzalo Garcia (Zebre)

As of this morning, there are no changes to the Welsh team.

conf101

Wow, all but 4 of their 23 are playing in Italy. That's fantastic

Losty Dublin

conf101 wrote: »

Wow, all but 4 of their 23 are playing in Italy. That's fantastic

That's almost entirely down to the Italian clubs involvement in the ERC Cups and especially the Celtic League. Without the games offered by the tw, there is no outlet for their players and no reason for them to stay in Italy.

SebBerkovich

I'm wondering what kind of Italian team will show up.
The one that did so well against France or the one that crumbled in murrayfield.

I'd love to see Italy put up a good performance against Wales.

Webbs

SebBerkovich wrote: »

I'm wondering what kind of Italian team will show up.
The one that did so well against France or the one that crumbled in murrayfield.

I'd love to see Italy put up a good performance against Wales.

I dont think Italy crumbled against Scotland, they had most of the possession and territory and got caught out by a couple fo breakaway tries. If anything they were trying just a bit too hard to follow up their France win.
I expect them to really put it up to Wales, but Parisse being out is a huge loss

ScissorPaperRock

Just bought a couple of tickets to this match... not bad at EUR25 each!

Ansolutely pissing rain here, though it might suit Italy a bit if it means Wales can't throw the ball around as much.

19543261

Horgan, what are you saying.... ;-; </3

Celly Smunt

Forza Italia!

Lando Griffin

Has Shane Horgan shrunk?

desaparecidos

They should turn off George's mic when he's not speaking. His heavy breathing off camera would drive you insane!

Celly Smunt

"This could be the only away win of the weekend",George up to his usual pessimistic tricks I see.

Glass Prison 1214

pmcmahon wrote: »

"This could be the only away win of the weekend",George up to his usual pessimistic tricks I see.

The good news is he is always wrong, he predicted we would lose to Argentina and Wales but that we would beat England. So him predicting we will lose is a good thing

pynchy

The Italian fans are great! WOW!!!

Passionate anthem.

I really hope Italy have a good game.

19543261

Italian anthem is rockin

thomond2006

The Italians copy the Scots by stopping the music for the last part of the anthem.

Big Nelly

F**King hell RTE are brutal commentary team......you could hear without any issue the ref said it was taken back, goes straigh out and George going on about a great kick and will do him the world of good...clown

marco_polo

Georges keen rugby brain to the fore already. Wonderful Kick by Burton lol

Big Nelly

marco_polo wrote: »

Georges keen rugby brain to the fore already. Wonderful Kick by Burton lol

Best was next to come, penalty on throw in......"Well what ever happened there!! " :rolleyes:

thomond2006

Changed channel immediately when I heard Sheahan's name... no thanks RTE.

But now Jiffy is doing solo commentary on the BBC, apparently Andrew Cotter isn't feeling well!

desaparecidos

Main commentator on BBC off getting sick. Second commentator has to take over!

19543261

Wonder what pc Halfpennys at?

marco_polo

desaparecidos wrote: »

Main commentator on BBC off getting sick. Second commentator has to take over!

Did I hear Shane Williams tagged in?

thomond2006

Two analysts doing BBC commentary now and probably still miles better than the RTE duo from hell.

desaparecidos

marco_polo wrote: »

Did I hear Shane Williams tagged in?

Yeah. It's more interesting to see how they get on than the match itself

19543261

WHat the **** kind of CALL WAS THAT

pynchy

wales are pushing in from the side at the scrum... on the side away from the ref.

thomond2006

Are Wales scrummaging legally?

pynchy

very bad scrum reffing.... very bad and unfair.

pynchy

thomond2006 wrote: »

Are Wales scrummaging legally?

no, and they are getting away with it. Its not pleasant to watch.

19543261

Handin penalties out like sweeties

[Jackass]

Jesus I can't watch games with Poite as referee, it just amazes me that this guy is a top tier ref.

Poiteball is a completely different sport to rugby, not sure he even knows whats going on with these random, pedantic or just plain bizzare decisions...

Lapin

Can't take anymore of Goerge Hamilton.

"With another shaped ball that would have been a hat trick".

Off to the Beeb.

pynchy

why isnt Roland reffing this?

[Jackass]

thomond2006 wrote: »

Two analysts doing BBC commentary now and probably still miles better than the RTE duo from hell.

No, they're doing what Northampton did in the first half and Leinster in the second half of the 2011 Heineken Cup final and what every team does when Poite has reffed since.

Loose head drives inwards at an angle, and either collapses or stands up and tight head stand up and they just push forward and despite the multiple infringements, because they're going forward, they get a penalty.

Poite gives penalty at every scrum, it's a joke.

Stheno

Lapin wrote: »

Can't take anymore of Goerge Hamilton.

"With another shaped ball that would have been a hat trick".

Off to the Beeb.

Just did the same after some unintelligle waffle on RTE.

Dull enough game so far.

thomond2006

Lapin wrote: »

Can't take anymore of Goerge Hamilton.

"With another shaped ball that would have been a hat trick".

Off to the Beeb.

I'm amazed your ears and brain lasted that long.

Respect.

Big Nelly

Was it not Poite that f**ked up the Rabo final as well last year with sh*t calls? looks like he still can't call a scrum

He hasn't a clue earlier this year in the Exeter V Leinster match at the scrum and let Exeter get away with murder, would someone not sit him down and tell him how to ref the scrum

pynchy

Yeah spot on, it clever but damn illegal and Italy know it.

I am pie

Poite, starring in an idiot abroad, today in Rome.

I am pie

Wales done very little to deserve their lead.

markie29

jaysus that rain is fairly coming down

19543261

Jesus that rain is pelting down

I am pie

Grand soft day

19543261

"Too many decisions in the scrum" YOU'RE THE ONE GIVING THE DECISIONS YOU FOOL