Ireland return to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, determined to put last week’s losing start behind them when they host Italy in the second round of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations. Check out the Opta Facts, provided by Stats Perform, ahead of the opening home game of 2026 for Andy Farrell’s men.
– Ireland have won 25 of their 26 matches against Italy in the Men’s Six Nations, including their last 12 in a row
– Ireland won by just five points in their last meeting with the Italians, their closest match in the Championship since 2011 (a 13-11 win against Italy)
– Ireland have won each of their 13 home games against Italy in the Men’s Six Nations, the only team they have a 100% winning rate against in Dublin in the tournament
– Additionally, they have never trailed at half-time at home to Italy, going into the break ahead on 12 occasions and level once, back in 2006
– Ireland lost their last home fixture in the Championship, going down 42-27 t0 France, ending a run of 10 straight victories at the Aviva Stadium in the Men’s Six Nations
– Since Italy joined in 2000, only once have Ireland lost consecutive home matches, doing so in 2010-2011 (against Scotland and France)
– Italy have won two and drawn one of their last eight away encounters in the Men’s Six Nations (L5), the same number of wins and draws as they had away from home across their previous 57 such games in the Championship since joining in 2000 (L54)
– Ireland have lost two of their last three Men’s Six Nations matches, both against France. That is as many defeats as they had suffered in their preceding 21 games in the Championship (W19)
– If the men in green lose this match, it will be just the second time they have opened a campaign with two losses (also 2021)
– Italy won the most opposition lineouts of any team in the opening round of the 2026 Men’s Six Nations (5), while Ireland were the only team not to win a single one of their opponents’ throws last week
– However, Farrell’s charges have won 28/28 of their own lineouts across their last two games against Italy in the Championship
– Ireland completed 62.8% of their rucks in three seconds or fewer against France, the highest rate of any team in round 1 last week. Italy were the only side to complete less than half of their rucks in that time (47.2%)
– Italy were the only team with a tackle success rate above 90% across the opening round (91.4%). In fact, it was the Azzurri’s highest rate in a Six Nations game since the final round of the 2017 Championship (91.8% against Scotland)
– No one made more tackles than the Cannone brothers, Niccolo and Lorenzo, in the opening round, with 26 and 19 tackles, respectively. In fact, the top five players were all Italian – Manuel Zuliani (19), Andrea Zambonin (18), and Simone Ferrari (18) completed the list
– Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne won a round-high three turnovers against France last Thursday. The last time an Irish player claimed more turnovers in a Six Nations match was in 2014 when Chris Henry won four against Italy
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