Italy vs. Ireland: Date, Live Stream, TV Info and Six Nations 2017 Preview
Ireland will travel to Rome's Stadio Olimpico in Week 2 of the 2017 Six Nations as they look to defeat fellow first-round losers Italy and recover from their opening loss to Scotland on Saturday.
Coach Joe Schmidt saw his side fall victim to a spirited Scotland attack en route to a 27-22 defeat at Murrayfield last weekend.
Meanwhile, Italy coach Conor O'Shea lost his first Six Nations game in charge of the Azzurri after the Italians were unable to hold on to their half-time lead against Wales before dropping to a 33-7 loss on Sunday.
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Two teams desperate to get their Six Nations campaigns up and running will duke it out at the Stadio Olimpico, with Ireland shouldering the heavier burden to produce a result on their trip to Rome.
Read on for a preview of the Week 2 clash between Italy and Ireland, complete with a breakdown of all the essential viewing information.
Date: Saturday, February 11
Time: 2:25 p.m. GMT/9:25 a.m. ET
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Live Stream: ITV Hub (UK)
TV Info: ITV (UK)
Ireland Hit Six Nations Delay
In spite of their attempts to haul Scotland back within their reach last Saturday, Ireland were subject to a 27-22 defeat in their trip to Edinburgh and will look to avoid suffering a second in succession in Week 2.
Schmidt's side came into this season's championship with aspirations to challenge for the title, but Murray Kinsella of The42.ie agreed Ireland were undeserving of a result in Scotland:
One thing sorely evident at Murrayfield was that Ireland's defence in particular needed improvements after conceding three first-half tries.
Defence coach Andy Farrell has said "ruthlessness" is now the focus in that regard, per The 42.ie:
"When you say three tries, it's too high. But I don't go on stats. At the weekend, we got caught tight twice and those tries needed to be dealt with better from us and it was in the second half. We got the ball we wanted because of that and those are the things we need to address.
Consistency of application across the board and understanding what ruthlessness looks like.
"
Unfortunately for Italy, the Irish will be on guard this time around, meaning the team may have already surrendered their biggest upset and will be far more wary of conceding a result in their visit to Rome.
The Azzurri got off to a flying start against Wales last Sunday and found themselves 7-3 to the good at half-time, but they may be forced to play the longer game when they welcome the Irish to Rome.
Italian Stallions Low on Stamina
The great story of Italy's collapse against coach Rob Howley's side in Week 1 was mostly in regards to Wales' improvements in the second half, but it was also about how limply the hosts finished what was initially a promising fixture.
Wales scored 30 unanswered points during the second half at the Stadio Olimpico, although O'Shea suggested after the match that the officials didn't exactly help their chances, per BBC Wales Sport:
Irish flanker Josh van der Flier is pushing for a starting place in the Italian capital, and he's wary of the knowledge opposing coach O'Shea possesses about his squad, per The42.ie:
"He's going to know all the Irish players as well as anyone and he's got good experience as a coach. He comes up with some smart plays and he seems to be a really good coach so it's going to be exciting to see how well they play under him. It'll definitely be a challenge.
"When they beat South Africa, they played for the full 80 minutes so I think Wales did well to break them down. It was a very physical game and they kept coming at them, coming at them and I think that's what we're going to have to do.
"We might not break them down in 80 minutes, it might be a very tight game. It's very hard to know what way the game is going to go but we just have to bring that physicality as well as we can."
Italy may no longer have the same advantage of surprise against Ireland considering Schmidt already saw the team unleash an early onslaught against the Welsh before ultimately falling short.
The Azzurri face a conundrum in whether to storm out of the blocks again this time and risk dropping off the pace or go for a more sustained run in the hopes their technique can allow them to match the tempo.
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