Super Saturday, Game 1: Italy v Wales

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ITALY v WALES
Saturday 21 March 2015
KO: 13:30 (local)/12:30 (UK/Ireland)
Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Referee: Chris Pollock (NZR)
AR1: JP Doyle (RFU)
AR2: Luke Pearce (RFU)
TMO: Simon McDowell (IRFU)

***********************

A. Teams

ITALY

Luke McClean (Sale Sharks); Leonardo Sarto (Zebre Rugby), Luca Morisi (Benetton Treviso), Andrea Masi (London Wasps), Giovambattista Venditti (Zebre Rugby); Kelly Haimona (Zebre Rugby), Edoardo Gori (Benetton Treviso); 1 Michele Rizzo (Leicester Tigers), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Leicester Tigers, capt), Martin Castrogiovanni (RT Toulon), George Biagi (Zebre Rugby), Joshua Furno (Newcastle Falcons), Francesco Minto (Benetton Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Zebre Rugby), Samuela VUNISA (Zebre Rugby)

Replacements: Andrea Manici (Zebre Rugby), Alberto De Marchi (Sale Sharks), Dario Chistolini (Zebre Rugby), Quintin Geldenhuys (Zebre Rugby), Robert Barbieri (Leicester Tigers), Guglielmo Palazzini (Zebre Rugby), Luciano Orquera (Zebre Rugby), Enrico Bacchin (Benetton Treviso).

WALES

Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon); George North (Northampton Saints), Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont Auvergne), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Liam Williams (Scarlets); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Racing Metro), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Rhys Gill (Saracens), Scott Andrews (Cardiff Blues), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Scott Williams (Scarlets).

B. Head to Head

15 Played 15

2 Wins 12

12 Losses 2

1 Draws 1

19 Tries 49

12 Conversions 40

31 Penalties 45

4 Drop Goals 1

224 Points 463

Italy kick to the corner, drop the ball and Wales go the length of the pitch. You have to laugh

The commentator is a bit excited, apparently Wales are on track to win their sixth title in four years. Pretty amazing record!

nathan wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:BTW I would like to apologise if my criticism of the referee has taken away from this welsh performance. They are on fire, and deserve the win the competition at this rate. Two monumental performances the past two weekends.

i thought ireland lost due the Barnes?

I have never said that or anything remotely similar, so I don't know why you are responding with that comment.

this really has been a game of two halfs!

who would have guessed this at half time. great half of rugby from wales.

really frustrating italian performance for the rest of us though

So much for Super Saturday. All suspense ruined by a truly, utterly, pathetic performance from Italy. Another 6N title for Blockhead.

I am still not sure we have the championship. I still kind of expect England to win it.

They are doing what england should have done at twickers, fair play to them but Italy, ffs!

this games shows England that we should have finished our chances against Scotland

Newcastle falcons could score 60 points against this Italian side!!

The MOTM award could have went to a few players. Warburton and Williams come to mind for me.

Risca Rev wrote:I am still not sure we have the championship. I still kind of expect England to win it.

You cannot possibly believe that.

Still don't think we will win the championship. Better game management from the halfbacks has been key, particularly Webb. Not forcing things helps too.

Time to give Romania and Georgia a chance to qualify. Romanian clubs are already on budgets that could nearly match the likes of Zebre and Treviso and they aren't even involved in the top comps.

wow nice individual try. please dont be in touch

Great try Italy! If he's gone into touch though... he had support!

stupid maintenance!

Italy try?

Try

Get in

Poor poor. Gotta give it to him for effort at least.

Hood83 wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:I am still not sure we have the championship. I still kind of expect England to win it.

You cannot possibly believe that.

How not? I expect England to go well against France.

Try

Conversion could be utterly crucial

Hood83 wrote:So much for Super Saturday. All suspense ruined by a truly, utterly, pathetic performance from Italy. Another 6N title for Blockhead.

To be air, Wales came out on fire and have blown Italy away. Absolutely stunning performance from Wales, cant blame Italy too much a Wales have been superb.

That try at the end for Italy may give England some hope.

What an idiot.

Biggar is such a dick

We needed that, just to make it interesting.

Dan biggar loves a moan eh

slightly reminiscent of 2007 where a last gasp italy try ruins irelands points difference and france took the tite..... one can hope right?

Super Saturday back on . Thank you italy

this is comedy. if they make the kick then its almost conceivable england or ireland might get there...

Good lad

lovely kick which isnt what you say about the italians very often

Not a good enough performance from Wales. We needed more points

Nachos Jones_1 wrote:

Hood83 wrote:So much for Super Saturday. All suspense ruined by a truly, utterly, pathetic performance from Italy. Another 6N title for Blockhead.

To be air, Wales came out on fire and have blown Italy away. Absolutely stunning performance from Wales, cant blame Italy too much a Wales have been superb.

That try at the end for Italy may give England some hope.

50/50. Wales have been very good, but Italy have saved their worst performance til last.

What happened to Parisse by the way - think Italy have missed a bit of leadership to implode like this - hasn't happened for a while

Hmm. I hope that try doesn't come back to haunt us. Bloody good win though boys, would have taken a +41 PD in a heart beat!

So Ireland need, realistically, 30-35 points win. Doubt that's possible.

biggar. graceless tw4t. stop whining.

excellent match and great play wales.

certainly spices up the next two. not going to be low-scoring affairs!

Have to say it, well played Wales.

Congratulations Wales, brilliant second half performance.

Thank you Italy for that last try, it's made the rest of my afternoon still exciting but i think Wales will win.

Ah well, fair play to the lads. Showed great character and in the 2nd half played some great rugby. It's out of our hands now.

A really good game from Wales. But Fantastic last minute try from Italy.

A really good game all around.

20 and 16 point differences are not out of the question by any means

It's a bit sad that the margin of victory over Italy is regularly becoming the deciding factor in such a great tournament

Well played Wales though, utterly clinical

When Wales play like that, they are on par with the very best in the world. They could beat anyone, they need that mentality consistently. In particular, Warburton to me has been one of the players of the tournament. He leads from the front, and just drives his team forward. What a player, one of the best open-side flankers in the world.

Wales have it on the board, so you'll have to favour them from that position.

Well done Wales!
Probably the Championship.
Couldn't have done anymore in that 2nd half.

Aargh, if only Gareth could have held on to that interception at the end. 14 pt swing on that moment.

out of curiosity who got motm?

Golden wrote:out of curiosity who got motm?

Chris Pollock

awj

Golden wrote:out of curiosity who got motm?

awj