{"id":296906,"date":"2026-02-14T01:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/296906\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T01:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:17:14","slug":"team-news-tv-details-head-to-head-record-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/296906\/","title":{"rendered":"Team news, TV details, head-to-head record \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s happening?<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/a> welcome Italy<\/a> in the second round of the 2026 Six Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When and where?<\/p>\n

Andy Farrell<\/a>\u2019s side return from last week\u2019s thumping from France<\/a> in Paris to host Gonzalo Quesada\u2019s men at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 2.10pm).<\/p>\n

How did the sides fare in round one?<\/p>\n

Ireland and Italy had quite contrasting fortunes in the opening round.<\/p>\n

\"\"How far behind the leading pack are Ireland after defeat against France?<\/p>\n

Last Thursday, reigning champions France outclassed Ireland at the Stade de France<\/a>, Louis Bielle-Biarrey putting in a masterclass as Les Bleus ran out 36-14 winners.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Italy sprang a surprise on Scotland<\/a> to win 18-15 at a sodden Stadio Olimpico.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Italy look to confirm they are no longer Six Nations whipping boys with a victory over IrelandOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The hosts surged to a 12-point lead within 14 minutes of the kick-off, holding on despite the biblical rain in Rome to heap yet more pressure on Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend and earning them a first opening round win since 2013.<\/p>\n

\"PaoloPaolo Garbisi and Niccolo Cannone celebrate after Italy’s Six Nations win over Scotland. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli\/AFP via Getty Images What\u2019s their head-to-head record?<\/p>\n

Ireland and Italy have met 38 times at Test level, Ireland winning 34 of those meetings.<\/p>\n

Under the guidance of interim head coach Simon Easterby, Ireland secured a 22-17 win in Rome in the final round of last year\u2019s Six Nations.<\/p>\n

To find the most recent of Italy\u2019s four wins you must venture back to the 2013 Six Nations, when the Azzurri won 22-15 at the Stadio Olimpico. That season also saw Italy run out 23-18 winners at home to France, who ended up with the wooden spoon, Ireland narrowly avoiding last place on scoring difference. How times have changed.<\/p>\n

Have we any team news?<\/p>\n

Andy Farrell\u00a0has made half a dozen changes in personnel to the Ireland XV for Saturday\u2019s Guinness Men\u2019s\u00a0Six Nations\u00a0clash against Italy at a sold-out Aviva Stadium (kick-off 2.10pm).<\/p>\n

Munster second row\u00a0Edwin Edogbo\u00a0is in line for his Test debut off the bench, while the Ulster pair of\u00a0Robert Baloucoune\u00a0and Cormac Izuchukwu have been called up to the starting team. The fit-again James Lowe is also recalled, while\u00a0Craig Casey\u00a0has been promoted from the bench, as have\u00a0James Ryan\u00a0and Jack Conan after their impact as replacements in the 36-14 loss to France a week ago. Captain\u00a0Caelan Doris\u00a0shifting to openside as Josh van der Flier misses out on the match-day 23 altogether.<\/p>\n

IRELAND:\u00a0Jamie Osborne; Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Cormac Izuchukwu, Caelan Doris (capt), Jack Conan.<\/p>\n

Replacements:\u00a0R\u00f3nan Kelleher, Tom O\u2019Toole, Tadhg Furlong, Edwin Edogbo, Tadhg Beirne, Nick Timoney, Jamison Gibson-Park, Jack Crowley.<\/p>\n

ITALY:\u00a0Lorenzo Pani; Louis Lynagh, Tommaso Menoncello, Leonardo Marin; Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Fusco; Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Simone Ferrari; Niccolo Cannone, Andrea Zambonin; Michele Lamaro (capt), Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone.<\/p>\n

Replacements:\u00a0Tommaso di Bartolomeo, Mirco Spagnolo, Muhamed Hasa, Federico Ruzza, Riccardo Favretto, David Odiase, Alessandro Garbisi, Paolo Odogwu.<\/p>\n

Where can I watch the game?<\/p>\n

Ireland v Italy will be televised live on Virgin Media One, with coverage starting at 1.30pm, while ITV One has coverage from 1pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s happening? Ireland welcome Italy in the second round of the 2026 Six Nations. When and where? Andy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,1449,132479,43,15551],"class_list":["post-296906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-italy-rugby","tag-news","tag-six-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}