Italy are still without a win in the RBS 6 Nations 2011, despite having put in some solid performances in this year’s tournament, particularly at home, against Ireland and Wales.
On Saturday 12th March 2011, Italy face joint second placed (there are three teams on 4 points) France, who will be looking to bounce back from their defeat at the hands of England at Twickenham a fortnight ago.
Table of Contents
Starting Line-ups
Italy Starting XV
- 15 Andrea Masi
- 14 Tommaso Benvenuti
- 13 Gonzalo Canale
- 12 Gonzalo Garcia
- 11 Mirco Bergamasco
- 10 Luciano Orquera
- 9 Fabio Semenzato
- 1 Andrea Lo Cicero
- 2 Carlo Festuccia
- 3 Martin Castrogiovanni
- 4 Santiago Dellape
- 5 Carlo Del Fava
- 6 Alessandro Zanni
- 7 Robert Barbieri
- 8 sergio Parisse (Capt)
Italy Replacements
- 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini
- 17 Salvatore Perugini
- 18 Quintin Geldenhuys
- 19 Paul Derbyshire
- 21 Kristopher Burton
- 22 Luke McLean
France Starting XV
- 15 Maxime Medard
- 14 Yoann Huget
- 13 Aurelien Rougerie
- 12 Yannick Jauzion
- 11 Vincent Clerc
- 10 Francois Trinh-Duc
- 9 Morgan Parra
- 1 Sylvain Marconnet
- 2 William Servat
- 3 Nicolas Mas
- 4Julien Pierre
- 5 Lionel Nallet
- 6 thierry Dusautoir
- 7 Julien Bonnaire
- 8 Sebastien Chabal
France Replacements
- 16 Guilhem Guirado
- 17 Luc Ducalcon
- 18 Jerome Thion
- 19 Imanol Harinordoquy
- 20 Julien Tomas
- 21 Damien Traille
- 22 Clement Poitrenaud
Match Officials
- Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
- Assistant Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland
- Assistant Referee: Stuart Terheege (England
- TMO: Alan Mansell (England
Italy v France RBS 6 Nations 2011 – Match Prediction
Italy’s tactic in recent seasons at home has been based around a tight defence and the winning of penalties which Mirco Birgamasco regularly slots over.
There are likely to be a couple of issues with this style of rugby for Italy today : 1) their defence has not been as solid as it was, meaning that France’s expansive backs look odds-on to score at least twice today; and 2) the French have been extremely disciplined up front this year, and give away very few kickable penalites.
If Italy are to get anything from this match, they need France’s discipline to slip, they need France to fumble at least as much as they did at Twickenham and they will need to kick every penalty and, more than likely, score at least one try, too.
That set of circumstances is unlikely, meaning that today’s Italy v France match will, in all likelihood, finish with France leading by in excess of 10 points. Italy could easily go to pieces if they get out of touch, as they did against England, so France will be looking to kill this match off early, to prevent the home support from galvanising their men as they can.
Italy v France – Match Details
Italy v France kicks off at 15:30 (CET) (14:30 GMT) in the Stadio Flaminio, Rome, on Saturday 12th March 2011.
