France wing Maxime Medard is congratulated after scoring his second try against Italy in 2009 © Getty Images

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Matches: France 46 - 20 Italy

Players/Officials: Guy Camberabero | Maurice Celhay | Christian Darrouy | Diego Dominguez | Sergio Lanfranchi | Alessandro Troncon | Dimitri Yachvili

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: France | Italy

France take on Italy in Paris on Sunday as they go in search of another win to keep alive their hopes of a first Six Nations Grand Slam since 2004.

France prevailed last season following a battering by England, ending their Championship on a high by racking up a half-century in Rome.

The Azzurri are on a high after a narrow loss to England and a vital victory over Scotland, their first in the Six Nations since 2008. They lost all of their Championship matches in 2001, 2002 and 2005.

The nations meet for the 31st time since 1937 in a major Test. The first game was staged as part of a Paris exhibition tournament that also featured Belgium and Germany.

The sides did not meet again at full cap level until 1952, when the French engaged on a 15-year exchange of spring fixtures with the Italians. After 1967, the match was downgraded by the French to a B-fixture. Full official hostilities resumed at the beginning of the professional era, in 1995.

This will be the 11th time the countries have met in the International Championship since 2000. France head the series by 29 wins to one. Italy's only win to date was in a friendly played in Grenoble a week after France had won the 1997 Five Nations Grand Slam.

France hold the records for the highest score, the biggest winning margin and most tries scored in a match. They won 60-13 in Toulon in 1967, scoring eleven tries.

Italy's highest score is their 40-32 win in Grenoble in 1997. They scored four tries that day, a feat they later achieved in their matches of 2000 and 2003.

Guy Camberabero, with 27 points for France in Toulon in 1967, holds the series record for most points scored in a match. Diego Dominguez scored 20 for Italy in 1997.

Maurice Celhay set the record for most tries in a match, scoring four for France when the sides first met, at the original Parc des Princes in 1937. Alessandro Troncon crossed twice for Italy in Paris in 2000.

Christian Darrouy heads the list of try scorers for the overall series, crossing seven times between 1957 and 1967.

Italians hold the other major records for the matches: Diego Dominguez scored 71 points (compared with 54 for France by Dimitri Yachvili), and Sergio Lanfranchi, a versatile forward who was capped as a prop, lock, flanker and No 8, played 11 times in this fixture between 1953 and 1964.

Italy-France Six Nations results:
2000 France 42-31 (Paris)
2001 France 30-19 (Rome)
2002 France 33-12 (Paris)
2003 France 53-27 (Rome)
2004 France 25-0 (Paris)
2005 France 56-13 (Rome)
2006 France 37-12 (Paris)
2007 France 39-3 (Rome)
2008 France 25-13 (Paris)
2009 France 50-8 (Rome)

• Click here for Italy's complete Test record in Statsguru

• Click here for France's complete Test record in Statsguru

• Click here to play Scrum Fantasy Rugby 2009, in partnership with Cisco