Head-To-Head: Italy v Ireland

2011 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, February 5

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

ITALY: Luke McLean (Benetton Treviso); Andrea Masi (Racing Metro 92), Gonzalo Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Alberto Sgarbi (Benetton Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Racing Metro 92); Kris Burton (Benetton Treviso), Edoardo Gori (Benetton Treviso); Salvatore Perugini (Aironi Rugby), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers), Santiago Dellape (Racing Metro 92), Quintin Geldenhuys (Aironi Rugby), Josh Sole (Aironi Rugby), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Treviso), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais) (capt).

Replacements: Fabio Ongaro (Aironi Rugby), Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing Metro 92), Carlo Del Fava (Aironi Rugby), Valerio Bernabo (Benetton Treviso), Pablo Canavosio (Aironi Rugby), Luciano Orquera (Brive), Gonzalo Garcia (Benetton Treviso).

IRELAND: Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster); Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt), Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Keith Earls (Thomond/Munster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster), Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster), David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster), Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster).

Replacements: Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster), Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster).

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: Jerome Garces (France), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television Match Official: Geoff Warren (England)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 18
Italy Won – 3
Ireland Won – 15

Ireland have won the last 14 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: IRFU Stats Vault

Italy v Ireland 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
2009 Ireland won 38-9, Rome
2010 Ireland won 29-11, 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
2010 Scotland Rome, Won 16-12

Italy – Form Guide From Start Of The 2010 Six Nations:

Lost 29-11 v Ireland away (6N)
Lost 17-12 v England home (6N)
Won 16-12 v Scotland home (6N)
Lost 46-20 v France away (6N)
Lost 33-10 v Wales away (6N)
Lost 29-13 v South Africa away (Summer Tour)
Lost 55-11 v South Africa away (Summer Tour)
Lost 22-16 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Lost 32-14 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Won 24-16 v Fiji home (Autumn Series)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2010 Six Nations:

Won 29-11 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Lost 33-10 v France away (Six Nations)
Won 20-16 v England away (Six Nations)
Won 27-12 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Lost 23-20 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Lost 66-28 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 22-15 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Lost 23-21 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Won 20-10 v Samoa home (Autumn Series)
Lost 38-18 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 29-9 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
529 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
527 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
445 Stephen Jones (Wales)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
372 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

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

Italy – Most-Capped Players:

101 Alessandro Troncon
84 Mauro Bergamasco
83 Marco Bortolami
83 Andrea Lo Cicero
76 Mirco Bergamasco
75 Salvatore Perugini
74 Diego Dominguez
74 Fabio Ongaro
72 Sergio Parisse
71 Martin Castrogiovanni

Italy – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

983 Diego Dominguez
483 Stefano Bettarello
294 Luigi Troiani
254 Ramiro Pez
189 Mirco Bergamasco

Italy – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

25 Marcello Cuttitta
22 Paolo Vaccari
21 Carlo Checchinato
21 Manrico Marchetto
19 Alessandro Troncon
17 Mirco Bergamasco

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

107 Brian O’Driscoll
104 John Hayes
103 Ronan O’Gara
95 Peter Stringer
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
82 Girvan Dempsey
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
70 Paul O’Connell
69 Mike Gibson
69 Geordan Murphy
67 Donncha O’Callaghan
66 David Wallace

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

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

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

41 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
21 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
16 Tommy Bowe
15 Kevin Maggs
15 Ronan O’Gara
15 George Stephenson

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1188 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1178 Jonny Wilkinson (1111-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
982 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
912 Stephen Jones (859-Wales, 53-Lions)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
752 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia
53 Shane Williams (51-Wales, 2-Lions)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
46 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
42 Brian O’Driscoll (41-Ireland, 1-Lions)
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)

The ‘100 Caps’ Club:

139 George Gregan (Australia)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
113 Brian O’Driscoll (107-Ireland, 6-Lions)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
110 George Smith (Australia)
106 John Hayes (104-Ireland, 2-Lions)
105 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
105 Ronan O’Gara (103-Ireland, 2-Lions)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
102 John Smit (South Africa)
102 Martyn Williams (98-Wales, 4-Lions)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Stephen Jones (95-Wales, 6-Lions)
101 Chris Paterson (Scotland
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)

– Official match data supplied by RBS 6 Nations