It seems remarkable to think that just two years ago Italy beat Ireland in Rome,
finishing ahead of their visitors in the Six Nations.
| POOL D – Match #28 – Ireland v Italy | ||||
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| Overall Stats Ireland | vs | Overall Stats Italy | ||
| Average Score : Ireland 32.17 vs 15.92 Italy | ||||
| Games Played | 24 | Games Played | 24 | |
| *Games Won | 20 | *Games Won | 4 | |
| *Games Lost | 4 | *Games Lost | 20 | |
| Games Drawn | 0 | Games Drawn | 0 | |
| *Longest.Winning.Streak | 17 | *Longest.Winning.Streak | 3 | |
| *Longest Losing Streak | 3 | *Longest Losing Streak | 17 | |
| *Largest Points For | 61 | *Largest Points For | 37 | |
| *Largest Points Against | 37 | *Largest Points Against | 61 | |
| *Largest.Winning.Margin | 55 | *Largest.Winning.Margin | 15 | |
| *Largest Losing Margin | -15 | *Largest Losing Margin | -55 | |
| *Total Points For | 772 | *Total Points For | 382 | |
| *Avg Points For | 32.17 | *Avg Points For | 15.92 | |
| *Total Points Against | 382 | *Total Points Against | 772 | |
| *Avg Points Against | 15.92 | *Avg Points Against | 32.17 | |
| *Total Points Difference | 390 | *Total Points Difference | -390 | |
| *Avg Points Difference | 16.25 | *Avg Points Difference | -16.25 | |
| * = By Ireland | * = By Italy | |||
| Past Ten Meetings | |||||
| 7-Feb-15 | Italy | 3 | 26 | Ireland | Rome, Italy |
| 8-Mar-14 | Ireland | 46 | 7 | Italy | Dublin, Ireland |
| 16-Mar-13 | Italy | 22 | 15 | Ireland | Rome, Italy |
| 25-Feb-12 | Ireland | 42 | 10 | Italy | Dublin, Ireland |
| 2-Oct-11 | Ireland | 36 | 6 | Italy | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| 5-Feb-11 | Italy | 11 | 13 | Ireland | Rome, Italy |
| 6-Feb-10 | Ireland | 29 | 11 | Italy | Dublin, Ireland |
| 15-Feb-09 | Italy | 9 | 38 | Ireland | Rome, Italy |
| 2-Feb-08 | Ireland | 16 | 11 | Italy | Dublin, Ireland |
| 24-Aug-07 | Ireland | 23 | 20 | Italy | Dublin, Ireland |
POSSIBLE RR World Rankings outcome on Result
IRE (on 84.39 points) at a Neutral venue -vs- ITA (on 71.30 points) in a RWC match
| Possible Outcome | Rating Point Exchange |
New IRE Rating |
New ITA Rating |
Will ITA overtake IRE? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| If IRE win by 1-15 points | 0.000 | 84.39 | 71.30 | No |
| If IRE win by more than 15 | 0.000 | 84.39 | 71.30 | No |
| If result is a draw | 2.000 | 82.39 | 73.30 | No |
| If ITA win by 1-15 points | 4.000 | 80.39 | 75.30 | No |
| If ITA win by more than 15 | 6.000 | 78.39 | 77.30 | No |
That marked the end of the Declan Kidney era with Joe Schmidt taking over for the subsequent November Tests, and the two teams have gone in opposite directions ever since.
With the two Italian domestic teams in disarray, Italy have gone backwards, and the case for opening up the Six Nations to the likes of Georgia and Romania is getting stronger.
Ireland, on the other hand, have won back-to-back Six Nations titles, and look as well-placed as any northern hemisphere side to challenge for the World Cup.
Sunday’s game at the Olympic Stadium should have been the first real challenge for Ireland, following clashes with Canada and a tired Romania to ease into the competition.
However, an injury-decimated Italian side should pose little problem either, and if Ireland pick up the win as expected, both they and France will have secured a spot in the quarter-finals.
Italy will still believe they can be a fly in the ointment, but even with the return of inspirational skipper Sergio Parisse, they look too limited to spring a surprise.
An aging pack is no longer a dominant force, even with some classy operators in Parisse and Joshua Furno, while in the backs they are relying far too much on a few players with potential rather than pedigree to carry them.
Against a well-structured Irish side, it’s difficult to see that succeeding, and once again Italy are set to miss out on the quarter-finals.
In fact it’s got to the stage where a Romanian win over Italy in their final game of the pool stages next week would appear more likely than an upset in this one.
The teams:
- Ireland: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Paul O’Connell (c), 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Nathan White, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Chris Henry, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Luke Fitzgerald
- Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Tommaso Benvenuti.
- Date: Sunday, October 4
- Venue: Olympic Stadium, London
- Kick-off: 16:45 local
- Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
- Assistant referees: Pascal Gauzère (France), Angus Gardner (Australia)
- TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
- Full Pool Previews – Click Individual Pool Below
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