ITALY v IRELAND, Stadio Flaminio, 1.30pm (live RTÉ Two/BBC One)

...Teams to be announced...

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch Judges: Tony Spreadbury (England), Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)
Television Match Official: David Changleng (Scotland)

Head-To-Head:

Played - 13
Scotland Won - 3
Ireland Won - 10

Italy v Ireland In The Six Nations:

Played - 7
Italy Won - 0
Ireland Won - 7

(Italy won three successive games, in 1995 and twice in 1997, before joining the Six Nations championship in 2000)

Biggest Wins In The Series:

Italy - Points: 37-29 (1997), 37-22 (1997); Margin: 37-22 (1997)
Ireland - Points And Margin: 61-6 (2003 RWC warm-up)

Biggest Wins And Losses In The International Championship:

Italy:
Win - Points And Margin: 37-17 v Scotland (2007)
Loss - Points And Margin: 23-80 v England (2001)

Ireland:
Win - Points And Margin: 60-13 v Italy (2000)
Loss - Points: 18-50 v England (2000); Margin: 6-46 v England (1997)

Italy Wins And Draws In The Six Nations:

2000 - W34-20 v Scotland, Rome
2003 - W30-22 v Wales, Rome
2004 - W20-14 v Scotland, Rome
2006 - D18-18 v Wales, Cardiff
2007 - W37-17 v Scotland, Murrayfield
2007 - W23-20 v Wales, Rome

Composite Six Nations Record (2000-2007):

Italy - Played 39, Won 5, Drawn 1, Lost 33
Ireland - Played 39, Won 28, Drawn 0, Lost 11

Form Guide From 2006 Six Nations:

Italy:

Ireland (6N) away - lost 16-26
England (6N) home - lost 16-31
France (6N) away - lost 12-37
Wales (6N) away - drew 18-18
Scotland (6N) home - lost 10-13
Japan away - won 52-6
Fiji away - lost 18-29
Portugal (RWCQ) home - won 83-0
Russia (RWCQ) away - won 67-7
Australia home - lost 18-25
Argentina home - lost 16-23
Canada home - won 41-6
France (6N) home - lost 3-39
England (6N) away - lost 7-20
Scotland (6N) away - won 37-17
Wales (6N) home - won 23-20

Ireland:

Italy (6N) home - won 26-16
France (6N) away - lost 31-43
Wales (6N) home - won 31-5
Scotland (6N) home - won 15-9
England (6N) away - won 28-24
New Zealand away - lost 23-34
New Zealand away - lost 17-27
Australia away - lost 15-37
South Africa home - won 32-15
Australia home - won 21-6
Pacific Islanders home - won 61-17
Wales (6N) away - won 19-9
France (6N) home - lost 17-20
England (6N) home - won 43-13
Scotland (6N) away - won 19-18

Most Capped Players:

Italy:

94 - Alessandro Troncon
83 - Carlo Checchinato
74 - Diego Dominguez
69 - Massimo Cuttitta, Cristian Alessandro Stoica
65 - Andrea Lo Cicero
64 - Paolo Vaccari

Ireland:

83 - Malcolm O'Kelly
75 - Peter Stringer
73 - Brian O'Driscoll, Girvan Dempsey
72 - John Hayes, David Humphreys
70 - Kevin Maggs, Ronan O'Gara
69 - Mike Gibson
63 - Willie John McBride

World's Most-Capped Players:

127 - George Gregan
119 - Jason Leonard*
111 - Philippe Sella
110 - Fabien Pelous
101 - David Campese
95 - Stephen Larkham
94 - Alessandro Troncon, Gareth Thomas**
93 - Serge Blanco
92 - Sean Fitzpatrick, Martin Johnson***, Gareth Llewellyn

(*Leonard has 114 caps for England and 5 for the Lions, **Thomas has 91 caps for Wales and 3 for the Lions, ***Johnson has 84 caps for England and 8 for the Lions)

All-Time Top Points Scorers:

Italy:

983 - Diego Dominguez
483 - Stefano Bettarello
296 - Luigi Troiani
235 - Ramiro Pez

Ireland:

726 - Ronan O'Gara
560 - David Humphreys
308 - Michael Kiernan
296 - Eric Elwood
217 - Ollie Campbell

All-Time Top Try Scorers:

Italy:

25 - Marcello Cuttitta
22 - Paolo Vaccari
21 - Carlo Checchinato, Manrico Marchetto

Ireland:

29 - Brian O'Driscoll
27 - Denis Hickie
19 - Shane Horgan
17 - Geordan Murphy, Brendan Mullin
15 - Girvan Dempsey, Keith Wood, Kevin Maggs
14 - George Stephenson

World's All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1090 - Neil Jenkins (1049 for Wales, 41 for the Lions)
1010 - Diego Dominguez (27 for Argentina, 983 for Italy)
967 - Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
914 - Jonny Wilkinson (867 for England, 47 for the Lions)
911 - Michael Lynagh (Australia)
878 - Matt Burke (Australia)
733 - Gavin Hastings (667 for Scotland, 66 for the Lions)
726 - Ronan O'Gara (Ireland)

- Information researched and produced by Chris Rhys (HourGlass Vision Ltd)