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Not that it counts for much, but after 51 Tests, France have a 47-3 record against the Italians with just one draw between them.
That came two years ago when Paolo Garbisi hit the post with the last kick of the match as the teams shared the spoils after a 13-13 stalemate.
I covered the MBM in that game. Was a belter. Fingers crossed we get another one.
This might be the first real test of France’s scrum
The Italians dominated both the Scottish and Irish packs and are a formidable force in the set piece.
Danilo Fischetti is one of the form props in the game. But he’s not just a battering ram. He’s pretty handy in the loose too and has made 15 carries this year for more post-contact metres (28) than any other prop.
Some reading on yesterday’s action while we gear up for this one:
If the Opta supercomputer is to be believed, this is as good as over before its started.
The machine that works in mysterious ways informs me that France have a 92.2% chance of winning with a predicted score of 41-18.
Sounds about right to me.
I’ve had a shocker.
As reader Gavin Daly points out, “‘The game is being played in Lille!”
My apologies. That’s corrected.
I hope no travelling fan made the same me!
Italy team
The lightning feet of Ange Capuozzo returns after a spell out with injury while Italy starts with the same pack that featured in Dublin last Saturday, with Michele Lamaro captaining the side from blind-side flanker.
Capuozzo slots in at fullback, replacing Lorenzo Pani who misses out on the match-day 23 entirely. That’s the only change to the starting XV from last week.
A bunch of regulars are still missing, including Ignacio Brex who remains unavailable for family reasons.
Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 6 Michele Lamaro, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 8 Lorenzo Cannone.
Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosue Zilocchi, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Paolo Odogwu.
France team
Fabian Galthie has named an entirely new second row and not dropped an ounce of quality.
Those are some deep pockets the French coach has and he’s reached down and plucked out Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou to replace Charles Ollivon and Mickael Guillard, both of whom drop to the bench. More heft, less jazz then.
It’s the same backline that has done the business so far as Antoine Dupont and Matthieu Jalibert continue to forge the most exciting halfback combo in the game.
On the bench, Peato Mauvaka, Georges-Henri Colombe and Pierre-Louis Barassi come in for Maxime Lamothe, Regis Montagne and Noah Nene.
France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Emilien Gailleton, 12 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Antoine Dupont, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 4 Thibaud Flament, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 6 Francois Cros, 7 Oscar Jegou, 8 Anthony Jelonch.
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Mickael Guillard, 21 Lenni Nouchi, 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Pierre-Louis Barassi.
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
It’s already been a weekend of shocks. Not necessarily in terms of results. After all, Ireland are a side still capable of mixing it with the big boys of world rugby and you’d expect Scotland to have the measure of a struggling Welsh outfit.
But did anyone see the shellacking handed out to England on their own patch? And what about the Welsh? Did anyone really predict that they’d be leading right til the 75th minute?
If we can take anything from Saturday’s action its that we can’t take anything for granted. France should romp to victory. They are, for my money, comfortably the second best team in the world and overwhelming favourites to secure a grand slam.
But Italy are no mugs. They’re well coached, tenacious on defence, adventurous on attack and have more than a handful of genuine superstars.
Don’t be too surprised if the visitors in red provide one more shock before we close out the weekend.
Kick-off at 3:10pm in Lille (4:10pm local time).
Teams and updates to come.
