Italy v Wales preview: 14 successive defeats await ‘desperate’ Warren Gatland as the Azzurri clinch another famous Six Nations victory
As the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations enters its second round, Italy are set to host Wales at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome this weekend.
Dubbed Wales’ biggest game in 20 years by former Wales fly-half Dan Biggar, both teams will be eager to rebound after difficult starts to the 2025 Championship.
Head-to-head
Historically, Wales have dominated this fixture, winning 28 of their 33 encounters.
However, Italy has secured two victories in its last three encounters, including a notable 22-21 win in Cardiff during the 2022 Six Nations, which ended its 36-match losing streak in the Championship.
Ghiraldini: ‘Wales will present a different psychological challenge for Italy’
Their most recent meeting, in March 2024, saw Italy triumph 24-21 at the Principality Stadium. The Azzurri will be aiming to win back-to-back games against Wales for the first time in their history.
Form
Italy began their 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations with a tough 31-19 loss away to Scotland. Despite a more defiant second-half display, head coach Gonazlo Quesada put the Azzurrii loss down to a slow start from his side: “It’s a shame because we started the game with two tries that were too easy for them, we needed time to really get into the game”.
Wales, by contrast, are enduring a difficult period. They suffered a heavy 43-0 defeat to France in their opening match, highlighting issues with performance and squad depth.
Wales have lost their last 13 matches, the longest losing run in their Test history, with their last three defeats in that spell all coming by more than 30 points. In the Six Nations they have lost their last seven games and one more defeat would equal their longest losing streak in the Championship (including the Four and Five Nations) – an eight-game run between 1994 and 1996.
Wales winger Josh Adams has underlined the importance of this round-two fixture against Italy:
“It is a big game for us, and we understand that. Not many people have given us any hope in this campaign, and we are going to try and use that to our advantage. We understand the run we’ve been on. It’s 13 [losses] now. We want that to stop, obviously, and we are working tirelessly to do that”
Team news
Wales will be concerned as they lost Aaron Wainwright (03’) and Owen Watkins (26’) to injuries within the first-half of their clash against France.
Scarlets back row Taine Plumtree has been called up to Wales’ squad, replacing Wainwright, who continues his recovery from a facial injury. Sale Sharks and Wales tighthead prop, Willgriff John, has also rejoined the squad in Nice as they prepare for the clash against Italy on Saturday.
Stats dive
Italy were successful from all five of their place-kick attempts against Scotland in Round 1, the only team with a 100% success rate from the tee last weekend. Italy scored 14 points from their kicks, 3.27 more than their expected points total of 10.73, the only side to over-perform against their expected total.
Despite a heavy loss for Wales against France, Wales were the only team to make 200+ metres in contact during Round 1 of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations (244) and also boasted the second-highest dominant carry rate of any team last weekend (35%, France 41%).
Both sides displayed strong defensive efforts in round one of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, with five players completing 20+ tackles in the opening round, all of whom could feature in this game: Italy’s Michele Lamaro (20), Giacomo Nicotera (20) and Sebastian Negri (26), as well as Welsh duo Jac Morgan (21) and Dafydd Jenkins (24). Negri’s tally of 26 was the joint-second most by an Italy player in the Championship (Michele Lamaro, 27 v Scotland last year).
Previous results
2024: Italy won 24-21 in Cardiff
2023: Wales won 29-17 in Rome
2022: Italy won 22-21 in Cardiff
2021: Wales won 48-7 in Rome
2020: Wales won 38-18 in Llanelli
2020: Wales won 42-0 in Cardiff
2019: Wales won 26-15 in Rome
2018: Wales won 38-14 in Cardiff
The teams
Italy: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Martin Page-Relo, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Ross Vintcent, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Jacopo Trulla
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Eddie James, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Ben Thomas, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 6 James Botham, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Evan Lloyd, 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Christ Tshiunza, 20 James Botham, 21 Jac Morgan, 22 Ellis Bevan, 23 Sam Costelow16 Elliot Dee, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Aaron Wainwright, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Dan Edwards, 23 Blair Murray
Date: Saturday, February 8
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Kick-off: 15:15 local (14:15 GMT)
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Paul Williams (NZR), Sam Grove-White (SRU)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)
