Full House Expected at Stadio Flaminio

The Stadio Faminio is expected to be full for the Italy/Ireland clash today, the 23,000 capacity will include an estimated 10,000 Irish supporters.

The Stadio Faminio is expected to be full for the Italy/Ireland clash today, the 23,000 capacity will include an estimated 10,000 Irish supporters who have travelled from home and from various European destinations to support the Irish team.

For the game against Wales last week the stadium was far from full as Italians found difficulty summoning up enthusiasm for a side who had suffered 14 straight championship defeats. However, the win over the Welsh – and the fact that it’s the Irish who are in town – has awakened interest in the John Kirwan coached side.

Ireland:Geordan Murphy (Leicester); John Kelly (Munster), Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt, Kevin Maggs (Bath), Denis Hickie (Leinster); David Humphreys (Ulster), Peter Stringer (Munster); Reggie Corrigan (Leinster), Shane Byrne (Leinster), John Hayes (Munster); Gary Longwell (Ulster), Malcolm O’Kelly (Leinster); Victor Costello (Leinster), Keith Gleeson (Leinster), Anthony Foley (Munster).
Replacements: 16 Frank Sheahan (Munster), 17 Marcus Horan (Munster), 18 Leo Cullen (Leinster), 19 Alan Quinlan (Munster), 20 Guy Easterby (Llanelli), 21 Paul Burke (Harlequins), 22 Rob Henderson (Munster).

Italy: Paolo Vaccari; Mauro Bergamasco, Cristian Stoica, Giovanni Raineri, Denis Dallan; Diego Dominguez, Alessandro Troncon capt; Giampiero De Carli, Carlo Festuccia, Ramiro Martinez; Cristian Bezzi, Marco Bortolami; Andrea De Rossi, Aaron Persico, Matthew Phillips.
Replacements: 16 Andrea Moretti, 17 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 18 Mark Giacheri, 19 Scott Palmer, 20 Juan Manuel Quierolo, 21 Ramiro Pez, 22 Mirko Bergamasco.

Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England)
Touch-Judges: Paul Honiss (New Zealand), Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)