France vs Italy, Sunday 9 Feb 3pm Irish time; RTE/BBC

thomond2006

France:

1. Thomas DOMINGO - ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE
2. Dimitri SZARZEWSKI – RACING METRO 92
3. Nicolas MAS – MONTPELLIER HERAULT
4. Pascal PAPE – STADE FRANCAIS PARIS (Capt.)
5. Yoann MAESTRI – STADE TOULOUSAIN
6. Yannick NYANGA – STADE TOULOUSAIN
7. Bernard LE ROUX - RACING METRO 92
8. Louis PICAMOLES – STADE TOULOUSAIN

9. Jean-Marc DOUSSAIN – STADE TOULOUSAIN
10. Jules PLISSON – STADE FRANÇAIS PARIS

11. Hugo BONNEVAL – STADE FRANÇAIS PARIS
12. Wesley FOFANA – ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE
13. Le Black John HAYES – RC TOULON
14. Yoann HUGET – STADE TOULOUSAIN
15. Brice DULIN – CASTRES OLYMPIQUE

Replacements:

16. Benjamin KAYSER – ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE
17. Yannick FORESTIER – CASTRES OLYMPIQUE
18. Rabah SLIMANI – STADE FRANCAIS PARIS
19. Sébastien VAHAAMAHINA – USA PERPIGNAN ROUSSILLON
20. Damien CHOULY – ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE
21. Maxime MACHENAUD – RACING METRO 92
22. François TRINH-DUC –MONTPELLIER HERAULT RUGBY
23. Gaël FICKOU – STADE TOULOUSAIN

Three changes for France as Hugo Bonneval, Yoann Maestri and Dimitri Szarzewski all start with Flanquart and Medard dropped from the 23. Francois Trinh-Duc comes onto the bench which has reverted to a regular 5-3 split. Last week's match winner Gael Fickou remains a substitute.

Italy:

15 Luke MCLEAN (Benetton Treviso, 53 caps)

14 Tommaso IANNONE (Zebre, 7 caps)*

13 Michele CAMPAGNARO (Benetton Treviso, 3 caps)*

12 Gonzalo GARCIA (Zebre Rugby, 29 caps)

11 Leonardo SARTO (Zebre Rugby, 3 caps)*

10 Tommaso ALLAN (Perpignan, 4 caps)

9 Edoardo GORI (Benetton Treviso, 30 caps)*

8 Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 102 caps)

7 Mauro BERGAMASCO (Zebre Rugby, 96 caps)

6 Francesco MINTO (Benetton Treviso, 8 caps)

5 Joshua FURNO (Biarritz Olympique, 14 caps)*

4 Quintin GELDENHUYS (Zebre Rugby, 42 caps)

3 Martin CASTROGIOVANNI (Toulon RC, 102 caps)

2 Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Benetton Treviso, 60 caps)

1 Alberto DE MARCHI (Benetton Treviso, 13 caps)

Replacements:

16 Davide GIAZZON (Zebre Rugby, 16 caps)

17 Michele RIZZO (Benetton Treviso, 12 caps)

18 Lorenzo CITTADINI (Benetton Treviso, 28 caps)

19 Marco BORTOLAMI (Zebre Rugby, 100 caps)

20 Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Treviso, 81 caps)

21 Tobias Weitz BOTES (Benetton Treviso, 20 caps)

22 Luciano ORQUERA (Zebre Rugby, 37 caps)

23 Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Treviso, 1 cap)*

thomond2006

Italy team announced!

former legend

Zanni dropped for Minto is an odd one. Esposito getting the bullet was a bit more predictable.

Hopefully Allan brings his kicking boots this week, could be a long afternoon if Italy can't rack up three-pointers.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

former legend wrote: »

Zanni dropped for Minto is an odd one. Esposito getting the bullet was a bit more predictable.

Hopefully Allan brings his kicking boots this week, could be a long afternoon if Italy can't rack up three-pointers.

<runs to change fantasy team>

rrpc

former legend wrote: »

Zanni dropped for Minto is an odd one.

Is Zanni injured maybe? I thought he was very good in the Wales match.

stinkbomb

rrpc wrote: »

Is Zanni injured maybe? I thought he was very good in the Wales match.

He broke his nose against Wales. Probably the reason he's not starting.

errlloyd

thomond2006 wrote: »

France:


13. Le Black John HAYES – RC TOULON

Been looking for this lad for my fantasy team? Is he filed under Tight head prop or did the IT just miss him about completely.

thomond2006

errlloyd wrote: »

Been looking for this lad for my fantasy team? Is he filed under Tight head prop or did the IT just miss him about completely.

He's an unlockable player.

So from an Irish perspective today, we want Italy to keep the score down at the very least.

19543261

Gordon D'Arcy's beard

Unless you're relying on Fofana to get a double hatrick for your Fantasy team...

Lapin

O'Gara looks like he's come straight to the studio from mass !

Irlandczyk

I really really really want to see a panel of O'Shea Horgan and ROG... I eagerly await the day RTÉ decide to actually change things up a bit. There is some entertainment value in the tripe that Hook comes out with contrasted by O'Shea or Horgan, but there is so much interesting analysis from O'Shea Horgan and ROG that I'd trade Hook and Popey any day...

Edit: Joanne Cantwell is a given as host here, too...

Pudsy33

Love this fixture every year for the anthems alone

Juan_Mata

O'Gara and his constant comments about the French game are quite annoying.

i.e the "Jouer" mode comment. We know it means play in French.

Everything he says about French rugby is known by people in Ireland yet he seems to think he has inside knowledge.

ScissorPaperRock

Love the Italian national anthem!

laugh

Irlandczyk wrote: »

I really really really want to see a panel of O'Shea Horgan and ROG... I eagerly await the day RTÉ decide to actually change things up a bit. There is some entertainment value in the tripe that Hook comes out with contrasted by O'Shea or Horgan, but there is so much interesting analysis from O'Shea Horgan and ROG that I'd trade Hook and Popey any day...

Edit: Joanne Cantwell is a given as host here, too...

She has improved massively, mostly by shutting up and letting the guests speak.

Podge_irl

How the hell has Szarzewski managed to stay so damn attractive while playing in the front row.

Fireball07

I like when France play nice rugby, but I hope Italy win this.

Fireball07

Bad kick by Doussain.

thomond2006

Parisse ripped!

trackguy

thomond2006 wrote: »

Parisse ripped!

You're right he is.

duckysauce

Azzurri

Juan_Mata wrote: »

O'Gara and his constant comments about the French game are quite annoying.

i.e the "Jouer" mode comment. We know it means play in French.

Everything he says about French rugby is known by people in Ireland yet he seems to think he has inside knowledge.

The regular Joe that just looks at the 6 Nations wouldn't know.

stephen_n

Azzurri

Think the Italians are being very hard done by at the breakdown, French not realeasing

ThisRegard

thomond2006 wrote: »

Parisse ripped!

You're talking cosmetically, right?

thomond2006

ThisRegard wrote: »

You're talking cosmetically, right?

Ripped of possession before!

molloyjh

Anyone else see Szarzewski taking a breather there? Was sat on the ground while Italy kicked in behind. When they returned the kick he waited for the French line to catch up to him before getting back up. I thought he was injured. So did the French medics!

Fireball07

Braindead from Italy there, suicidal stuff.

Taco Corp

Fireball07 wrote: »

Braindead from Italy there, suicidal stuff.

and then a massive scrum to make up for it.

and then they miss touch!!

sullivlo

Jesus. All the kicking in this match is atrocious.

Pudsy33

That was some shove

thomond2006

Two scrum penalties in a row!

Fireball07

Pulverized. That's a serious scrum.

Juan_Mata

duckysauce wrote: »

The regular Joe that just looks at the 6 Nations wouldn't know.

Same last week when he goes the french mightn't be up for it and go "C'est impossible"

ThisRegard

I'm inevitably disappointed in these games, it's a bit turgid.

jacothelad

France have very talented players but look disorganised.

Fireball07

They were playing with great pace there for a while, but Italy look up for it too.


Some poor kicking.

molloyjh

France really don't look at all good here. Very disappointing. Between that and England yesterday I'm not seeing anything to strike huge fear in Joe. Tough yes, but neither have looked convincing this weekend at all.

razorblunt

Italian jerseys are strangely loose arent they?
I know that's a weird observation but one gets used to the tight jerseys!

Kanrith

G'wan Italy.

molloyjh

Very, very bad miss. France are a feckin' mess though.

Fireball07

Another shocking kick from the tee.

Fireball07

Beautiful skill from Parisse, put them on the front foot.

Kanrith

Fireball07 wrote: »

Beautiful skill from Parisse, put them on the front foot.

Great skill, but pretty sure it was forward.

matthew8

Fireball07 wrote: »

Beautiful skill from Parisse, put them on the front foot.

Looked forward to me. I think the ref is having a poor game. Called collapsing maul but I never heard him call maul and it seemed like Picamoles wanted to go down. French player was also off his feet there and yet he called holding on.

stephen_n

Azzurri

Who is the ref?

Fireball07

matthew8 wrote: »

Looked forward to me. I think the ref is having a poor game. Called collapsing maul but I never heard him call maul and it seemed like Picamoles wanted to go down. French player was also off his feet there and yet he called holding on.

Definitely agree with the Picamoles one.


It might have been forward, can be hard to judge in real-time though, when the ball is thrown from behind the body, it might be automatically assumed it's gone flat at least.

Taco Corp

stephen_n wrote: »

Who is the ref?

Jaco Peyper from South Africa

Stev_o

This ref is woeful.

Podge_irl

Nothing massively worrying on show here...

OldRio

40 mins of my life wasted.
Muck.

Kanrith

There was no knock on by Italy there. The French guy just kept smacking the ball.

Fireball07

Live betting has Italy at a handicap of +17... if it continues like it has, then I definitely would expect them to cover that, France look very disorganised.