Head-To-Head: Ireland v Italy

WORLD CUP WARM-UP MATCH: Friday, August 24

IRELAND v ITALY, Ravenhill, 7.45pm (live RTE Two/BBC 2)

Ireland: Girvan Dempsey; Geordan Murphy, Andrew Trimble, Gordon D’Arcy, Denis Hickie; Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer; Marcus Horan, Rory Best, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell (capt), Simon Easterby, Neil Best, Denis Leamy.

Replacements: Jerry Flannery, Simon Best, Malcolm O’Kelly, Alan Quinlan, Isaac Boss, Paddy Wallace, Brian Carney.

Italy: David Bortolussi; Kaine Robertson, Gonzalo Canale, Mirco Bergamasco, Matteo Pratichetti; Roland De Marigny, Alessandro Troncon; Salvatore Perugini, Fabio Ongaro, Martin Castrogiovanni, Valerio Bernabo, Marco Bortolami (capt), Alessandro Zanni, Robert Barbieri, Sergio Parisse.

Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Matias Aguero, Josh Sole, Manoa Vosawai, Paul Griffen, Pablo Canavosio, Ezio Galon.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch Judges: Dave Pearson (England), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television Match Official: Derek Bevan (Wales)

Head-To-Head:

Played – 14
Ireland Won – 11
Italy Won – 3

Ireland v Italy In The Six Nations:

Played – 8
Ireland Won – 8
Italy Won – 0

(Italy won three successive games, in 1995 and twice in 1997, before joining the Six Nations championship in 2000)

Biggest Win In The Series:

Ireland – Points And Margin: 61-6 (2003 World Cup warm-up match)
Italy – Points: 37-29 (1997 friendly); Margin: 37-22 (1997 friendly)

Composite Six Nations Record (2000-2007):

Ireland – Played 40, Won 29, Drawn 0, Lost 11
Italy – Played 40, Won 5, Drawn 1, Lost 34

Form Guide From 2006 Six Nations:

Ireland:

Italy (6N) home – won 26-16
France (6N) away – lost 31-43
Wales (6N) home – won 31-5
Scotland (6N) home – won 15-9
England (6N) away – won 28-24
New Zealand away – lost 23-34
New Zealand away – lost 17-27
Australia away – lost 15-37
South Africa home – won 32-15
Australia home – won 21-6
Pacific Islanders home – won 61-17
Wales (6N) away – won 19-9
France (6N) home – lost 17-20
England (6N) home – won 43-13
Scotland (6N) away – won 19-18
Italy (6N) home – won 51-24
Argentina away – lost 20-22
Argentina away – lost 0-16
Scotland away – lost 21-31

Italy:

Ireland (6N) away – lost 16-26
England (6N) home – lost 16-31
France (6N) away – lost 12-37
Wales (6N) away – drew 18-18
Scotland (6N) home – lost 10-13
Japan away – won 52-6
Fiji away – lost 18-29
Portugal (RWCQ) home – won 83-0
Russia (RWCQ) away – won 67-7
Australia home – lost 18-25
Argentina home – lost 16-23
Canada home – won 41-6
France (6N) home – lost 3-39
England (6N) away – lost 7-20
Scotland (6N) away – won 37-17
Wales (6N) home – won 23-20
Ireland (6N) home – lost 24-51
Uruguay away – won 29-5
Argentina away – lost 6-24
Japan home – won 36-12

Most Capped Players:

Ireland:

86 – Malcolm O’Kelly
76 – Peter Stringer
75 – Brian O’Driscoll
74 – Girvan Dempsey, John Hayes
72 – David Humphreys, Ronan O’Gara
70 – Kevin Maggs

Italy:

96 – Alessandro Troncon
83 – Carlo Checchinato
74 – Diego Dominguez
69 – Massimo Cuttitta, Cristian Alessandro Stoica
67 – Andrea Lo Cicero
64 – Paolo Vaccari

World’s Most-Capped Players:

134 – George Gregan
119 – Jason Leonard*
112 – Fabien Pelous
111 – Philippe Sella
101 – David Campese, Stephen Larkham
99 – Gareth Thomas**
96 – Alessandro Troncon
93 – Serge Blanco
92 – Sean Fitzpatrick, Martin Johnson***, Gareth Llewellyn

(*Leonard has 114 caps for England and 5 for the Lions, **Thomas has 96 caps for Wales and 3 for the Lions, ***Johnson has 84 caps for England and 8 for the Lions)

All-Time Top Points Scorers:

Ireland:

742 – Ronan O’Gara
560 – David Humphreys
308 – Michael Kiernan
296 – Eric Elwood
217 – Ollie Campbell

Italy:

983 – Diego Dominguez
483 – Stefano Bettarello
296 – Luigi Troiani
243 – Ramiro Pez

All-Time Top Try Scorers:

Italy:

25 – Marcello Cuttitta
22 – Paolo Vaccari
21 – Carlo Checchinato, Manrico Marchetto

Ireland:

29 – Denis Hickie, Brian O’Driscoll
20 – Shane Horgan
17 – Girvan Dempsey, Geordan Murphy, Brendan Mullin
15 – Keith Wood, Kevin Maggs
14 – George Stephenson

World’s All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1090 – Neil Jenkins (1049 for Wales, 41 for the Lions)
1010 – Diego Dominguez (27 for Argentina, 983 for Italy)
967 – Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
962 – Jonny Wilkinson (915 for England, 47 for the Lions)
911 – Michael Lynagh (Australia)
878 – Matt Burke (Australia)
742 – Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
733 – Gavin Hastings (667 for Scotland, 66 for the Lions)