When these teams met in Rome last year, Ireland were in a real scrap with the hosts, trailing 6-0 and 9-7, before they were able to break away with second half tries from David Wallace, Luke Fitzgerald and Brian O'Driscoll steering them to a 38-9 victory. 

We will have live text commentary direct from Croke Park of Ireland's first match of the 2010 Championship, with flanker Kevin McLaughlin making his senior debut, prop Cian Healy making his RBS 6 Nations debut and lock Leo Cullen making his first start in the competition since March 2003.

Plug in the laptop or turn on the PC and enjoy a flavour of this afternoon's game live on IrishRugby.ie with thanks to O2, sponsors of MatchDay Live.

There will be full live text and score updates throughout the coverage as Ireland look to continue their winning ways under Declan Kidney - their latest win over South Africa in November was their tenth victory in an 11-match unbeaten run.

We provide links to the audio match commentary from the RTE Radio 1, BBC Radio Ulster and BBC 5Live teams.

Starting at 2pm with our pre-match build-up (the game kicks off at 2.30pm), you can feel part of the action on IrishRugby.ie with MatchDay Live.

The match is also being broadcast live on RTE Two and BBC One.

Look out for the MatchDay Live button in the Ireland section or simply click on the link below:

O2 MatchDay Live - Click Here