France vItaly
PREVIEW...
Today. Kick-off 3pm, Decathlon Arena, Lille
IT does not come any more demanding in the Six Nations than visits to Ireland and France in consecutive rounds, but that is the lot of Italy who are in Lille today less than five months after they were thrashed in the World Cup by Les Bleus.
The 36-0 scoreline may not suggest it, but Italy did not suffer any reputational damage in Dublin in the last round. They saw little of the ball but did not cave in as they had against New Zealand and France in the World Cup when they conceded a total of 22 tries.
“It could have been a lot worse in Dublin,” said Italy’s head coach Gonzalo Quesada, the former Argentina outside-half who has extensive knowledge of French rugby having played for three clubs, coached Stade Francais and been part of France’s management team in 2010 when they won the Grand Slam.
“We managed to keep our concentration right until the end, otherwise it would have ended like our last two matches in the World Cup. We have looked at what we did well and what we did badly and worked on a number of technical points. We did not have enough possession against Ireland.”
It will be Italy’s 27th Test away to France. Their only victory came in 1997 in Grenoble and only once have they picked up a losing bonus point, at Stade de France in 2016.
Quesada has made six changes from the side that went down in Dublin. Riccardo Favretto gets his first start three years after making his debut from the bench in another back row reshuffle while Martin Page-Relo takes over from Gloucester’s Stephen Varney at scrum-half.
Exeter’s No.8 Ross Vintcent makes his full Test debut after winning his first cap as a replacement in Dublin with skipper Michele Lamaro moving to his preferred position of openside flanker.
There are two changes in the front row and Tommaso Menoncello moves from the centre to the wing to accommodate Bayonne’s Federico Mori.
“France are under a bit of pressure, but we cannot expect an easy ride because they are a fantastic side with players who can create something out of nothing,” said Menoncello who gave his side the lead in Paris two years ago with a try on debut. “We have to do all we can to match them. We must be ready to tackle lots because they are so direct and do not necessarily try to spread the ball wide. We have to stop them getting across the gainline.”
France’s curve went steadily upwards after Fabien Galthie took over as head coach four years ago, but it has dipped since the World Cup quarter-final defeat to South Africa in Paris last October.
They were turned over by Ireland in Marseille and were fortunate to prevail in Murrayfield when a controversial decision on review to deny Sam Skinner what would have been a match-winning try left t
