Andrea Lovotti

Italy coach Conor O’Shea said his side were fortunate to receive only one red card in their 49-3 Rugby World Cup loss to South Africa on Friday, a tea(...)

South Africa 49 Italy 3 The escalator up the hill to The Ecopa stadium was stranger than usual. Something felt different from last Sunday’s ambush. (...)

Ireland 29 Italy 10 In what represented something of a trial for a host of players, ironically it was the performance and premature departure of one (...)

Ireland 29 Italy 10 Ireland duly negotiated their first of four World Cup warm-up games, but this ninth successive win over the Azzurri was not witho(...)

Ireland v Italy, Aviva Stadium, Saturday, 2pm (Live on RTÉ 2 and Channel 4) If it looks, swims and quacks like a trial, then it probably is a trial. (...)

Ireland’s Icarus complex History regularly parallels the Ireland rugby team with Icarus. Remember those delirious seconds following Gordon Hamilton’s(...)

Italy v Ireland, Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Sunday 4pm local time/3pm Irish. On TV: Live on ITV (UK), Virgin Media (Ireland). Ireland haven’t hit their s(...)

15 Jayden Hayward (Treviso) Age: 32 Height: 6’1” Weight: 91kg (14st, 5lbs) Caps: 14 The son of Taranaki faced his native All Blacks last year, and has(...)

Connacht 32 Zebre 13 Paul Boyle’s first-half brace of tries put Connacht on course for a 32-13 bonus-point win over Zebre at a rain-hit Sportsground.(...)

Italy coach Conor O’Shea has admitted he had to stop himself from picking Ian McKinley to face Ireland purely to create a “romantic story”. Dublin-bo(...)