Italy Under-20 v Ireland Under-20
Stadio Comunale di Monigo (7.15, Irish time, live on RTÉ 2, Sky Italia)
Ireland head coach Richie Murphy will be hoping that an unchanged side has absorbed the lessons of the victory over France and can put them to good effect tonight in Treviso because they will need to against a highly regarded Italian side.
Italy compare favourably in physical terms to France, who caused Ireland serious problems in the collisions, and furthermore boast arguably the best set piece in the tournament.
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Italian head coach Massimo Brunello has reverted to the backline that started their opening match of the campaign against France from that which played against England last time out. Clermont’s Francois Carlo Mey switches from centre to fullback, Alessando Gesi returns to the right wing and Nicola Bozzo is back in midfield with Dewi Passarella moving to outside centre.
There is only one change to a fearsome pack whose scrum and lineout maul dominated both the France and England packs with Jacopo Botturi promoted to number eight in the absence of Matteo Rubinato, who picked up a knee injury last time out.
The Italians missed a conversion to win the game against France (28-27), while they went down narrowly, 32-25 in England. Brunello said: “We are going to face the best team in this Six Nations, very good from a physical point of view, but certainly the most competent in reading the game.
“For our part, we come from two high-level matches against France and England, paid dearly in terms of results for some management errors that we want to and must overcome.
“[This] evening we will start from the certainties we have acquired, defensive solidity, dominant scrum, combative attitude: it won’t be enough to win against Ireland, but they are certainly the basis of our work, and we will start from this, looking for those added values on which we worked a lot during the week.”
Ireland’s matchday 23 includes Evan O’Connell, son of former UL Bohemian secondrow Justin, and nephew of Paul, who also played a bit of rugby in his time. His grandfather Michael, originally from Cork togged out in the Young Munster colours. All four were/are secondrows so he is not short of specialist advice.
A member of the Munster academy – RG Snyman and Jean Kleyn have been very good to him – he is eligible to play this age-grade again next year. O’Connell has enjoyed training against the Ireland senior squad and admitted that “the session itself was very intense. You can see the speed that they played at against us is so quick and you can see why they’re doing so well.”
The Irish 20s have some standout players not least outhalf Sam Prendergast who has been a key player in the campaign to date. O’Connell said: “Sam is a great leader as well as a great player. He leads from the front the way he plays and talks, so you know exactly where you’re going, what you’re doing when he’s playing.”
Ireland will need Prendergast to be at his best, a level that everyone is going to have to broach if the visitors are to be successful in Treviso. The campaign to date has seen Murphy’s side recover from a nervous opening 40 minutes in Colwyn Bay to win impressively against Wales.
The reverse was the case against France at Musgrave Park, the Irish side leading by 13 points during the first half, but it took a late Prendergast penalty to secure a 33-31 victory. Ireland will need to get more from their backline in attack rather than become bogged down by an arm wrestle up front, which will suit the Italians.
They will need to keep the home side out of the Irish 22, try to reduce the Italians set-piece opportunities to a bare minimum and be very disciplined in every aspect of the game but particularly the breakdown. Italy beat Ireland 50-47 at Castle Avenue in a pre-tournament friendly last December.
Murphy’s side have improved appreciably since then and if they maintain that performance graph Ireland should prevail but it could be very tight.
Italy: F Carlo Mey; A Gesi, D Passarella, N Bozzo, M Douglas; G Sante, S Battara; D Aminu, G Quattrini, M F Gallorini; A Mattioli, P Turrisi; C Berlese, D Odiase, J Botturi. Replacements: N Gasperini, S Taddei, A Artuso, E Pontarini, F Workers, F Bozzoni, S Brisighella, V Sicilian.
Ireland: H McErlean (Leinster); H Gavin (Connacht), H Cooney (Leinster), J Devine (Connacht), J Nicholson (Leinster); S Prendergast (Leinster), F Gunne (Leinster); G Hadden (Leinster), G McCarthy (Leinster, capt), P McCarthy (Leinster); C O’Tighearnaigh (Leinster), D Mangan (Leinster); J McNabney (Ulster), R Quinn (Munster), B Gleeson (Munster). Replacements: D Sheahan (Munster), G Morris (Leinster), F Barrett (Connacht), E O’Connell (Munster), J Sheahan (Munster), Ó Cawley (Leinster), H West (Connacht), R Telfer (Ulster).
