Head-To-Head: Ireland v Italy

RUGBY WORLD CUP POOL D: Sunday, October 4

IRELAND (2nd) v ITALY (3rd), Olympic Stadium, 4.45pm (live TV3/UTV/RTÉ Radio 1/IRFU Live Blog)

IRELAND: Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster); Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Connacht), Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster) (capt), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster).

Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Nathan White (Connacht), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster), Eoin Reddan (Old Crescent/Leinster), Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster), Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster).

ITALY: Luke McLean (Benetton Treviso); Leonardo Sarto (Zebre), Michele Campagnaro (Exeter Chiefs), Gonzalo Garcia (Zebre), Giovanbattista Venditti (Newcastle Falcons); Tommaso Allan (Perpignan), Edoardo Gori (Benetton Treviso); Matias Aguero (Unattached), Andrea Manici (Zebre), Lorenzo Cittadini (Wasps), Ouintin Geldenhuys (Zebre), Josh Furno (Newcastle Falcons), Francesco Minto (Benetton Treviso), Simone Favaro (Glasgow Warriors), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais) (capt).

Replacements: Davide Giazzon (Benetton Treviso), Michele Rizzo (Leicester Tigers), Dario Chistolini (Zebre), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Unattached), Guglielmo Palazzani (Zebre), Carlo Canna (Zebre), Tommaso Benvenuti (Bristol).

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees: Pascal Gauzère (France), Angus Gardner (Australia)
Television Match Official: Graham Hughes (England)

Head-To-Head:

Played – 24
Ireland Won – 20
Italy Won – 4

Ireland v Italy: IRFU Stat Zone

Ireland had won 17 matches in succession against Italy before losing in Rome in March 2013; Italy won three times between 1995 and 1997 before their entry into the RBS 6 Nations Championship

Ireland v Italy – Results:

2000: Ireland won 60-13, Dublin
2001: Ireland won 41-22, Rome
2002: Ireland won 32-17, Dublin
2003: Ireland won 37-13, Rome; Ireland won 61-6, Limerick
2004: Ireland won 19-3, Dublin
2005: Ireland won 28-17, Rome
2006: Ireland won 26-16, Dublin
2007: Ireland won 51-24, Rome; Ireland won 23-20, Belfast
2008: Ireland won 16-11, Dublin
2009: Ireland won 38-9, Rome
2010: Ireland won 29-11, Dublin
2011: Ireland won 13-11, Rome; Ireland won 36-6, Dunedin
2012: Ireland won 42-10, Dublin
2013: Italy won 22-15, Rome
2014: Ireland won 46-7, Dublin
2015: Ireland won 26-3, Rome

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); Ireland 30

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

Most Appearances – Ireland v Italy:

15 – Brian O’Driscoll
14 – Ronan O’Gara
13 – Martin Castrogiovanni
12 – Gordon D’Arcy, John Hayes, Andrea Masi, Sergio Parisse, Salvatore Perugini, Alessandro Troncon
11 – Mauro Bergamasco, Mirco Bergamasco, Rory Best, Marco Bortolami, Gonzalo Canale, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Malcolm O’Kelly, Peter Stringer

Top Points Scorers – Ireland v Italy:

180 – Ronan O’Gara
96 – Diego Dominguez
67 – David Humphreys
44 – Jonathan Sexton
40 – Denis Hickie
36 – Paul Burke
30 – Girvan Dempsey, Brian O’Driscoll

Top Try Scorers – Ireland v Italy:

8 – Denis Hickie
6 – Girvan Dempsey, Brian O’Driscoll
5 – Shane Horgan
4 – Tommy Bowe, John Kelly
3 – Keith Earls, Rob Henderson, Ronan O’Gara, Andrew Trimble, Paolo Vaccari

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2014 Six Nations:

Won 28-6 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Won 26-3 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Lost 13-10 v England away (Six Nations)
Won 46-7 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Won 22-20 v France away (Six Nations)
Won 29-17 v Argentina away (Summer Tour)
Won 23-17 v Argentina away (Summer Tour)
Won 29-15 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Won 49-7 v Georgia home (Autumn Series)
Won 26-23 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Won 26-3 v Italy away (Six Nations)
Won 18-11 v France home (Six Nations)
Won 19-9 v England home (Six Nations)
Lost 23-16 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Won 40-10 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Won 35-21 v Wales away (World Cup Warm-Up)
Won 28-22 v Scotland home (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 16-10 v Wales home (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 21-13 v England away (World Cup Warm-Up)
Won 50-7 v Canada neutral (World Cup Pool D)
Won 44-10 v Romania neutral (World Cup Pool D)

Italy – Form Guide From Start Of The 2014 Six Nations:

Lost 23-15 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Lost 30-10 v France away (Six Nations)
Lost 21-20 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Lost 46-7 v Ireland away (Six Nations)
Lost 52-11 v England home (Six Nations)
Lost 25-14 v Fiji away (Summer Tour)
Lost 15-0 v Samoa away (Summer Tour)
Lost 26-23 v Japan away (Summer Tour)
Won 24-13 v Samoa home (Autumn Test)
Lost 20-18 v Argentina home (Autumn Test)
Lost 22-6 v South Africa home (Autumn Test)
Lost 26-3 v Ireland home (Six Nations)
Lost 47-17 v England away (Six Nations)
Won 22-19 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Lost 29-0 v France home (Six Nations)
Lost 61-20 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Lost 16-12 v Scotland home (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 48-7 v Scotland away (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 23-19 v Wales away (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 32-10 v France neutral (World Cup Pool D)
Won 23-18 v Canada neutral (World Cup Pool D)

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

133 Brian O’Driscoll
128 Ronan O’Gara
106 Paul O’Connell
105 John Hayes
98 Peter Stringer
94 Donncha O’Callaghan
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
86 Rory Best
82 Gordon D’Arcy
82 Girvan Dempsey
77 Jamie Heaslip
72 David Humphreys
72 David Wallace
72 Geordan Murphy
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1083 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
508 Jonathan Sexton
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
245 Brian O’Driscoll
217 Ollie Campbell
158 Tom Kiernan
150 Tommy Bowe

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

46 Brian O’Driscoll
30 Tommy Bowe
29 Denis Hickie
21 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
16 Andrew Trimble
16 Ronan O’Gara
15 Keith Earls
15 Kevin Maggs
15 Keith Wood
14 George Stephenson

Italy – Most-Capped Players:

115 Martin Castrogiovanni
113 Sergio Parisse
112 Marco Bortolami
105 Mauro Bergamasco
103 Andrea Lo Cicero
101 Alessandro Troncon
95 Andrea Masi
92 Alessandro Zanni
89 Mirco Bergamasco
87 Andrea Masi
86 Gonzalo Canale
83 Carlo Checchinato
83 Salvatore Perugini
81 Fabio Ongaro

Italy – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

983 Diego Dominguez
483 Stefano Bettarello
294 Luigi Troiani
260 Ramiro Pez
256 Mirco Bergamasco
154 Luciano Orquera

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:

1532 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1246 Jonny Wilkinson (1179-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1083 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
970 Stephen Jones (917-Wales, 53-Lions)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
809 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
60 Shane Williams (58-Wales, 2-Lions)
60 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
47 Brian O’Driscoll (46-Ireland, 1-Lions)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
46 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
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:

144 Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
141 Brian O’Driscoll (133-Ireland, 8-Lions)
139 George Gregan (Australia)
130 Ronan O’Gara (128-Ireland, 2-Lions)
127 Keven Mealamu (New Zealand)
125 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
123 Gethin Jenkins (118-Wales, 5-Lions)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
116 Nathan Sharpe (Australia)
116 Tony Woodcock (New Zealand)
115 Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
113 Paul O’Connell (106-Ireland, 7-Lions)
113 Sergio Parisse (Italy)
112 Marco Bortolami (Italy)
112 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
111 John Smit (South Africa)
111 George Smith (Australia)
110 Stephen Jones (104-Wales, 6-Lions)
109 Adam Ashley-Cooper (Australia)
109 Jean de Villiers (South Africa)
109 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
107 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
107 John Hayes (105-Ireland, 2-Lions)
105 Mauro Bergamasco (Italy)
104 Martyn Williams (100-Wales, 4-Lions)
103 Andrea Lo Cicero (Italy)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
100 Adam Jones (95-Wales, 5-Lions)
100 Mils Muliaina (New Zealand)
100 Vasco Uva (Portugal)