Head-To-Head: Ireland v Italy

2009 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Sunday, February 15

ITALY v IRELAND, Stadio Flaminio, 3.30pm local time/2.30pm Irish time (live RTÉ Two/BBC Two)

ITALY: Andrea Masi; Kaine Robertson, Gonzalo Canale, Mirco Bergamasco, Matteo Pratichetti; Luke McLean, Paul Griffen; Salvatore Perugini, Fabio Ongaro, Martin Castrogiovanni, Santiago Dellape, Tommaso Reato, Alessandro Zanni, Mauro Bergamasco, Sergio Parisse (capt).

Replacements: Carlo Festuccia, Carlos Nieto, Carlo Del Fava, Josh Sole, Giulio Toniolatti, Gonzalo Garcia, Andrea Bacchetti.

IRELAND: Robert Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Paddy Wallace, Luke Fitzgerald; Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary; Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Rory Best, Tom Court, Malcolm O’Kelly, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Gordon D’Arcy, Geordan Murphy.

Referee: Chris White (England)
Touch Judges: Nigel Owens (Wales), Romain Poite (France)
Television Match Official: Graham Hughes (England)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 16
Italy Won – 3
Ireland Won – 13

Ireland have won the last 12 matches in succession; Italy won three times between 1995 and 1997 before their entry into the RBS 6 Nations Championship

Biggest Wins:

Italy: Points: 37-29, 1997 Friendly Match, 37-22, 1997 Friendly Match; Margin: 37-22, 1997 Friendly Match

Ireland: Points & Margin: 61-6, 2003 Rugby World Cup Warm-Up

Individual Records In The Series:

Most Points In A Match: Italy 27 (Diego Dominguez 1997); Ireland 30 (Ronan O’Gara 2000)

Most Tries In A Match: Italy 2 (Paolo Vaccari 1997); Ireland 4 (Denis Hickie 2003)

Ireland v Italy In The Six Nations:

2000 Ireland won 60-13, Dublin
2001 Ireland won 41-22, Rome
2002 Ireland won 32-17, Dublin
2003 Ireland won 37-13, Rome
2004 Ireland won 19-3, Dublin
2005 Ireland won 28-17, Rome
2006 Ireland won 26-16, Dublin
2007 Ireland won 51-24, Rome
2008 Ireland won 16-11, Dublin

Italy’s Wins And Draws In The Six Nations:

2000 Scotland Rome, Won 34-20
2003 Wales Rome, Won 30-22
2004 Scotland Rome, Won 20-14
2006 Wales Cardiff, Drew 18-18
2007 Scotland Murrayfield, Won 37-17
2007 Wales Rome, Won 23-20
2008 Scotland Rome, Won 23-20

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
479 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
458 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
344 Stephen Jones (Wales)
324 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

Tries –
24 Ian Smith (Scotland)
18 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
18 Cyril Lowe (England)
18 Rory Underwood (England)
18 Gareth Edwards (Wales)

Italy – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Six Nations:

Lost 16-11 v Ireland away (6N)
Lost 23-19 v England home (6N)
Lost 47-8 v Wales away (6N)
Lost 25-13 v France away (6N)
Won 23-20 v Scotland home (6N)
Lost 26-0 v South Africa away (Summer Tour)
Won 13-12 v Argentina away (Summer Tour)
Lost 30-20 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Lost 22-14 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Lost 25-17 v Pacific Islanders home (Autumn Series)
Lost 36-11 v England away (6N)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Six Nations:

Won 16-11 v Italy home (6N)
Lost 26-21 v France away (6N)
Won 34-13 v Scotland home (6N)
Lost 16-12 v Wales home (6N)
Lost 33-10 v England away (6N)
Lost 21-11 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 18-12 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Won 55-0 v Canada home (Autumn Series)
Lost 22-3 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 17-3 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Won 30-21 v France home (6N)

Italy – Most-Capped Players:

101 Alessandro Troncon
83 Carlo Checchinato
78 Andrea Lo Cicero
74 Diego Dominguez
71 Cristian Alessandro Stoica
71 Marco Bortolami
70 Mauro Bergamasco
69 Massimo Cuttitta
64 Paolo Vaccari

Italy – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

983 Diego Dominguez
483 Stefano Bettarello
294 Luigi Troiani
260 Ramiro Pez
153 David Bortolussi

Italy – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

25 Marcello Cuttitta
22 Paolo Vaccari
21 Carlo Checchinato
21 Enrico Marchetto
19 Alessandro Troncon
17 Mirco Bergamasco
17 Serafino Ghizzoni
17 Massimo Mascioletti
16 Ivan Francescato
14 Mauro Bergamasco
12 Kaine Robertson

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

91 Malcolm O’Kelly
90 John Hayes
89 Brian O’Driscoll
88 Ronan O’Gara
85 Peter Stringer
82 Girvan Dempsey
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
65 Simon Easterby
64 Shane Horgan
63 Willie John McBride
62 Marcus Horan
62 Anthony Foley
62 Denis Hickie
61 Fergus Slattery
60 Geordan Murphy

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

878 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
217 Ollie Campbell
177 Brian O’Driscoll

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1099 Jonny Wilkinson (1032-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
879 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
878 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
733 Gavin Hastings (667-Scotland, 66-Lions)

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

33 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
20 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
15 Keith Wood
15 Kevin Maggs
14 George Stephenson
14 Ronan O’Gara

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
45 Shane Williams (Wales)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
43 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
41 Gareth Thomas (40-Wales, 1-Lions)
40 Chris Latham (Australia)
(Note: Daisuke Ohata scored 69 tries for Japan, but not all against major international opposition)

Data supplied by SAS Software – the official data and competitive intelligence partner of the RBS 6 Nations Championship