Head-To-Head: Ireland v Italy

2011 RUGBY WORLD CUP – POOL C: Sunday, October 2

IRELAND v ITALY, Otago Stadium, 8.30pm local time/8.30am Irish time (live RTÉ Two/Setanta Sports Ireland/UTV)

IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt), Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster); Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/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), Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster).

Replacements: Sean Cronin (Leinster), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster).

ITALY: Andrea Masi (Aironi Rugby); Tommaso Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), Gonzalo Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Gonzalo Garcia (Benetton Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Racing Metro 92); Luciano Orquera (Aironi Rugby), Fabio Semenzato (Benetton Treviso); Salvatore Perugini (Aironi Rugby), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers), Quintin Geldenhuys (Aironi Rugby), Cornelius van Zyl (Benetton Treviso), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais) (capt).

Replacements: Fabio Ongaro (Aironi Rugby), Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing Metro 92), Marco Bortolami (Aironi Rugby), Paul Derbyshire (Benetton Treviso), Edoardo Gori (Benetton Treviso), Riccardo Bocchino (Estra I Cavalieri Prato), Luke McLean (Benetton Treviso).

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Bryce Lawrence, Chris Pollock (both New Zealand)
Television Match Official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 19
Ireland Won – 16
Italy Won – 3

Ireland v Italy: IRFU Stats Vault

Ireland have won the last 15 matches in succession; Italy won three times between 1995 and 1997 before their entry into the RBS 6 Nations Championship

Biggest Wins:

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

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

Individual Records In The Series:

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

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

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)
Won 13-11 v Italy away (Six Nations)
Lost 25-22 v France home (Six Nations)
Won 21-18 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Lost 19-13 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Won 24-8 v England home (Six Nations)
Lost 10-6 v Scotland away (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 19-12 v France away (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 26-22 v France home (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 20-9 v England home (World Cup Warm-Up)
Won 22-10 v USA neutral (World Cup Pool C)
Won 15-6 v Australia neutral (World Cup Pool C)
Won 62-12 v Russia neutral (World Cup Pool C)

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

Lost 29-11 v Ireland away (Six Nations)
Lost 17-12 v England home (Six Nations)
Won 16-12 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Lost 46-20 v France away (Six Nations)
Lost 33-10 v Wales away (Six Nations)
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)
Lost 13-11 v Ireland home (Six Nations)
Lost 59-13 v England away (Six Nations)
Lost 24-16 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Won 22-21 v France home (Six Nations)
Lost 21-8 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Won 31-24 v Japan home (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 23-12 v Scotland away (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 32-6 v Australia neutral (World Cup Pool C)
Won 53-17 v Russia neutral (World Cup Pool C)
Won 27-10 v USA neutral (World Cup Pool C)

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

115 Brian O’Driscoll
114 Ronan O’Gara
105 John Hayes
98 Peter Stringer
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
82 Girvan Dempsey
80 Paul O’Connell
78 Donncha O’Callaghan
72 David Humphreys
72 David Wallace
72 Geordan Murphy
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1054 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
235 Brian O’Driscoll
217 Ollie Campbell
158 Tom Kiernan
156 Jonathan Sexton

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

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

Italy – Most-Capped Players:

101 Alessandro Troncon
90 Andrea Lo Cicero
87 Mauro Bergamasco
87 Marco Bortolami
84 Mirco Bergamasco
83 Carlo Checchinato
82 Sergio Parisse
82 Salvatore Perugini
81 Martin Castrogiovanni
79 Fabio Ongaro
74 Diego Dominguez

Italy – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

983 Diego Dominguez
483 Stefano Bettarello
294 Luigi Troiani
254 Ramiro Pez
244 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
17 Serafino Ghizzoni
17 Massimo Mascioletti

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1250 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1235 Jonny Wilkinson (1168-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1054 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
957 Stephen Jones (904-Wales, 53-Lions)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
803 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
57 Shane Williams (55-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)
45 Brian O’Driscoll (44-Ireland, 1-Lions)
44 Jeff Wilson (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)

The ‘100 Caps’ Club:

139 George Gregan (Australia)
121 Brian O’Driscoll (115-Ireland, 6-Lions)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
116 Ronan O’Gara (114-Ireland, 2-Lions)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
110 George Smith (Australia)
109 John Smit (South Africa)
108 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
108 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
107 John Hayes (105-Ireland, 2-Lions)
107 Stephen Jones (101-Wales, 6-Lions)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
103 Martyn Williams (99-Wales, 4-Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
101 David Campese (Australia)
100 Richie McCaw (New Zealand)

Follow the Ireland team in New Zealand on www.twitter.com/irfurugby.