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2024 Guinness Six Nations
[2017 RBS Six Nations] Round 1: Italy vs. Wales (05/02/2017)
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<blockquote data-quote="Thingimubob" data-source="post: 834086" data-attributes="member: 20956"><p>Gotta agree with Bruce, I'm not completely convinced Italy have kicked on that much, despite the first ever win over South Africa - a massive achievement naturally, but it was a very poor SA side. The loss against Tonga the following week was not one Italy should be conceding so they'll have to have a much improved performance to have any hope of beating Wales. On the flip side, Conor O'Shea is a fantastic coach, so who knows what kind of impact he could have had now that he's had even more time with them.</p><p></p><p>Wales at their best can win this game comfortably, however its been so long since we've seen the best out of this Welsh team that I'm not willing to even guarantee a win. A lot will depend on squad selection for me, there's a lot of the usual names in that squad who simply haven't performed this season (or for 2 or 3 seasons in some cases), so will be interesting to see if Howley is brave to give some of the less experienced, but on form players a run out. </p><p></p><p>Here's the Italian squad that was announced today anyway:</p><p><span style="color: #252525"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #252525"><span style="font-family: 'Arial'"></span></span></p><p>Italy: Edoardo Padovani; Giulio Bisegni, Tommaso Benvenuti, Luke McLean, Giovanbattista Venditti, Carlo Canna, Edoardo Gori; Andrea Lovotti, Ornel Gega, Lorenzo Cittadini, Marco Fuser, George Biagi, Abraham Steyn, Maxime Mata Mbanda, Sergio Parisse (capt).</p><p></p><p></p><p>Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Sami Panico, Pietro Ceccarelli, Joshua Furno, Francesco Minto, Giorgio Bronzini, Tommaso Allan, Michele Campagnaro.</p><p></p><p>Fair few names that I have not actually heard of in there, but especially confused that Campagnaro is only on the bench? From what I've seen of Exeter this year, he's been quality and is fairly easily Italy's most exciting back imo, so missing a trick by relegating him to bench duty for me! Not complaining too much though <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick Out Tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Thingimubob, post: 834086, member: 20956"] Gotta agree with Bruce, I'm not completely convinced Italy have kicked on that much, despite the first ever win over South Africa - a massive achievement naturally, but it was a very poor SA side. The loss against Tonga the following week was not one Italy should be conceding so they'll have to have a much improved performance to have any hope of beating Wales. On the flip side, Conor O'Shea is a fantastic coach, so who knows what kind of impact he could have had now that he's had even more time with them. Wales at their best can win this game comfortably, however its been so long since we've seen the best out of this Welsh team that I'm not willing to even guarantee a win. A lot will depend on squad selection for me, there's a lot of the usual names in that squad who simply haven't performed this season (or for 2 or 3 seasons in some cases), so will be interesting to see if Howley is brave to give some of the less experienced, but on form players a run out. Here's the Italian squad that was announced today anyway: [COLOR=#252525][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][/COLOR] Italy: Edoardo Padovani; Giulio Bisegni, Tommaso Benvenuti, Luke McLean, Giovanbattista Venditti, Carlo Canna, Edoardo Gori; Andrea Lovotti, Ornel Gega, Lorenzo Cittadini, Marco Fuser, George Biagi, Abraham Steyn, Maxime Mata Mbanda, Sergio Parisse (capt). Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Sami Panico, Pietro Ceccarelli, Joshua Furno, Francesco Minto, Giorgio Bronzini, Tommaso Allan, Michele Campagnaro. Fair few names that I have not actually heard of in there, but especially confused that Campagnaro is only on the bench? From what I've seen of Exeter this year, he's been quality and is fairly easily Italy's most exciting back imo, so missing a trick by relegating him to bench duty for me! Not complaining too much though :p [/QUOTE]
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2024 Guinness Six Nations
[2017 RBS Six Nations] Round 1: Italy vs. Wales (05/02/2017)
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