Key events
“Currently on a plane heading to Mexico.” Stephen Halliday informs us. “Have just finished following along the Ireland – Scotland match and am knackered! Hoping for more of the same from this game!!”
“I’m following your commentary from Canada.” says Roger Moore, “Went to the stadium in Cardiff with my dad and my grandad. I still think of it as the Cardiff Arms Park. Many memories of the good old golden days. Hoping for another good day today. Cymru am Byth!”
Pre-match reading
Get in touch with me prior to and throughout the match on the email. It’s likely to be an eventful day as Super Saturday unfolds, so keep me updated on your throughts.
Teams
Wales
Louis Rees‑Zammit; Ellis Mee, Eddie James, Joe Hawkins, Josh Adams; Dan Edwards, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carré, Dewi Lake (c), Tomas Francis; Dafydd Jenkins, Ben Carter; Alex Mann, James Botham, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Adam Beard, Ollie Cracknell, Kieran Hardy, Jarrod Evans, Blair Murray.
Italy
Lorenzo Pani; Louis Lynagh, Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Fusco; Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Muhamed Hasa; Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza; Michele Lamaro (c), Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone.
Replacements: Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosuè Zilocchi, Riccardo Favretto, Davide Odiase, Stephen Varney, Leonardo Marin, Tommaso Allan
Preamble
There’s a famous Italian phrase La Dolce Vita, which I believe translates directly to “we beat England, have some of that!”. This is the energy Gonzalo Quesada’s men bring to Cardiff today as they seek their first ever three-win Six Nations tournament. Their final position in the table is to be determined by results elsewhere today, but as a way marker for their development this is of lesser import than the number in the W column.
Wales also have their own language of course, and whether they speak it or not all fans of Cymru will have the feeling of digon nawr – “enough now”. Enough of governance and administrative clustershambles, enough non sell-out matches, enough rationalisation of poor performances, enough losing. For all Italy’s tangible improvement, this was always the match that presented the home side with the best chance of avoiding the wooden spoon and they will be pouring everything into this.
Will it be enough? The form suggests not and added to this the Azzuri have their own motivation to inspire them. Can Wales summon their recent vastly improved outings and add the extra required to overcome this? All will be revealed in the next few hours.