Italy Delay Their Team Announcement

The Italian Rugby Federation released a statement today confirming that the Italy team announcement has been delayed and will not be released until Thursday (tomorrow).

Head coach Nick Mallett will not name the Italian team to face Italy until Thursday, due to injuries to second row Marco Bortolami and out-half Andrea Marcato.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, experienced Italian prop Martin Castrogiovanni says the squad is working hard to recover from their disappointing outing against England last weekend.

“After a first half like that, I don’t think anyone can play worse than we did,” he said.

“We have to start from there and keep going up. That’s what we’re working on.”

The big question is can Italy recover quickly to challenge an Irish side that delighted their fans with a 30-21 home win over France.

“We are used to this, in the sense that we are not a team that has won too much,” he added.

“It’s hard but it means you have to work even harder to improve.

“Things will be even more difficult on Sunday because Ireland are playing better than England.

“But we are here to win. We don’t want to put on a good show, we want to win.”