Lo Stivale
ITALY WILL FANCY their chances of building upon their gut-wrenching draw with France in Lille as they welcome an equally buoyant Scotland to a sold-out Stadio Olimpico in Rome, but this meeting will put one of their greatest weaknesses under the microscope.
If the Italians are to beat the Scots, they will need to out-boot the Scots — and that will prove difficult against a side consisting of a 10-15 axis of Finn Russell and Blair Kinghorn.
The latter’s absence was especially pronounced as Scotland lost a turgid kick battle with the French. Italy, meanwhile, have struggled in this department for literal decades, and their progress in the kicking game under former Argentina out-half Gonzalo Quesada will be put to the test in the vast expanses of the Stadio on Saturday afternoon, where Scotland haven’t tasted defeat since 2012.
Notably, though, the big right boot of wing debutant Louis Lynagh — the Treviso-born son of former Wallaby great Michael — could be just what the doctor ordered.
Theoretically, at least, this should be a close game: with the return of Sebastian Negri to the Italian fold, Quesada and Gregor Townsend’s respective packs look evenly matched and it will be intriguing to see if Italy do more to challenge Scottish ball at lineout time, from which the likes of Duhan van der Merwe can be unleashed off first- or second-phase.
One are in which the hosts may have an edge over Scotland is in midfield, where Bath centre Cam Redpath replaces the talismanic Sione Tuipulotu in the outside channel.
Both Tommaso Menoncello, who has a bang of world-class about him, and the ever-exciting Juan Ignacio Brex will fancy their chances of blowing a hole through the guard formed by Redpath and Huw Jones opposite them. In left wing Monty Ioane, debutant Louis Lynagh on the right, and roaming fullback Ange Capuozzo, Italy have finishers of a sufficient quality to devastate their visitors if they can identify chinks in the Scottish armour.
Welsh desperation
Wales haven’t lost all five games of a Six Nations campaign since 2003 but with France on Sunday and an apparently rejuvenated Italy to come on the final weekend, they’re dangerously close to a whack of the dreaded wooden spoon.
They’ve won just two of their last 14 games in the Six Nations, beating Scotland in 2022 and Italy last season.
And yet… And yet. Warren Gatland’s youthful side were edged out by Scotland and England by only a combined three points and they gave Ireland a tougher test — at least defensively — than the 31-7 scoreline a fortnight ago suggested.
The reality is that they’ll need more if they’re to drag a now similarly young French side into a basement battle, but there is equally a reality in which returning to the Principality Stadium — where they blitzed Scotland in the second half of their opening bout — can offer them the requisite encouragement to go further on Sunday.
That Gatland has pulled a ‘BOD 2013′ on George North feels curious — not only because North has scored 47 tries in his 118 caps, but because the 31-year-old remains one of the few gainline threats in a Welsh outfit distinctly lacking pop.
North should probably have never become an outside centre and his comparable dynamism has been sacrificed for the more rounded game of Scarlets 13 Joe Roberts, who will earn only his second cap in a new midfield combo with Ospreys 12 Owen Watkin having last featured in the World Cup warm-up against England last year.
Skipper Dafydd Jenkins has been switched to blindside flanker from lock, with Will Rowlands partnering Adam Beard in the second-row. This means Alex Mann, one of Wales’ standout performers in the championship so far, will at least add some bite off the bench if Wales can manage to coax France into the trenches.
The reality, though, is that if these relative gambles don’t result in a slightly unlikely victory, Welsh fans will start having flashbacks of Italy’s famous win at the Principality two years ago as they prepare to welcome Gonzalo Quesada’s men back to Cardiff for a potential ‘spoon’ decider next weekend.
Ultimately, a fourth successive defeat, however gallant, will do little to steady a ship which continues to take on water.
France’s new faces
— B (@mb5hq_) March 2, 2024
France have been only a blade of grass and a lick of paint away from an 0-3 start to this championship and head coach Fabien Galthié has effectively torn up his notes.
Among his eight changes for Cardiff, three are especially exciting for the neutral: Stade Francais full-back Léo Barré, Bordeaux centre Nicholas Depoortère, and Toulouse lock Emmanuel Meafou will make their test bows at the Principality Stadium and chances are we’ll be seeing plenty more of them in blue for years to come.
With Mathieu Jalibert injured, Thomas Ramos fills in at out-half — as he’s done for Romain Ntamack at club level all season — and this in turn accommodates 10-15 hybrid Barré at fullback.
The 21-year-old has started 13 games for Top 14 leaders Stade Francais in all competitions this season, scoring three tries, and may provide an even more potent threat in transition than the physically slighter Ramos should Wales kick long.
Barré has it all, but keep an eye on how he spins out of contact like an NFL running back to gain bonus yardage on his dynamic carries.
Depoortère, also 21, tore it up for the World Cup-winning France 20s in the summer and has continued in a similar vain for Bordeaux this term.
Indeed, there are many in French rugby who believe that the six-foot-four, 94kg midfielder should have replaced Jonathan Danty as France’s first-choice 12 before the latter’s red-card suspension.
Depoortère is an electrifying presence on a rugby pitch and don’t be surprised if he manages to hang onto the jersey beyond this trip to the Welsh capital.
Chances are you’ll have seen slightly more of lock Meafou who, at six-foot-eight and 145kg, is difficult to miss in any case.
France will hope that the 25-year-old reinstates some punch into a tight five which, for the most part, has been bettered or matched across this year’s championship.
La Rochelle tigthead Georges-Henri Colombe who, like Meafou, is 25, is also set to make his debut off the bench. He’s another unit at 6’4 and 142kg, and has been used mostly as an impact sub this season by Ronan O’Gara’s European champions.
