IRELAND v ITALY
Saturday 2 February 2008
Croke Park, Dublin

Referee: Chris White (England)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Peter Allan (Scotland)
TMO: Tim Hayes (Wales)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (South Africa)

Head to Head
Played 15
Ireland won 12
Italy won 3

Italy v Ireland - In Six Nations
Played 8
Ireland won 8
Italy won 0

The closest that Italy has come to a win was the 16-26 loss in 2006
Ireland won the first meeting in 1988
Italy then won 3 successive games - in 1995 and twice in 1997 - also before joining Six Nations
Ireland have won the last 11 meetings including all 8 Six Nations games, friendlies and RWC warm-up games

Biggest wins
Ireland (points & margin) 61-6 2003 (RWC warm-up)
Italy (points) 37-29 1997; 37-22 1997 (margin) 37-22 1997

Biggest wins and losses in International Championship

Ireland

Win
Points and Margin 60-13 v Italy 2000

Loss
Points 18-50 v England 2000
Margin 6-46 v England 1997

Italy (since joining Six Nations)

Win
Points and Margin 37-17 v Scotland 2007

Loss
Points and Margin 23-80 v England 2001

Italy wins and draws in Six Nations
2000 Scotland Rome W34-20
2003 Wales Rome W30-22
2004 Scotland Rome W20-14
2006 Wales Cardiff D18-18
2007 Scotland Murrayfield W37-17
2007 Wales Rome W23-20

Overall Six Nations Record (2000-07)
Ireland P40 W29 D0 L11
Italy P40 W5 D1 L34

International Championship all time records

Points
429 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
395 Ronan O'Gara (Ireland)
294 Stephen Jones (Wales)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
278 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

Tries
24 Ian Smith (Scotland)
18 Cyril Lowe (England)
18 Rory Underwood (England)
18 Gareth Edwards (Wales)
17 Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland)

Ireland - form guide from start of 2007 Six Nations
Wales (6N) A W 19-9
France (6N) H L 17-20
England (6N) H W 43-13
Scotland (6N) A W 19-18
Italy (6N) A W 51-24
Argentina A L 20-22
Argentina A L 0-16
Scotland A L 21-31
Italy H W 23-20
Namibia (RWC) N W 32-17
Georgia (RWC) N W 14-10
France (RWC) A L 3-25
Argentina (RWC) N L 15-30

Italy - form guide from start of 2007 Six Nations
France (6N) H L 3-39
England (6N) A L 7-20
Scotland (6N) A W 37-17
Wales (6N) H W 23-20
Ireland (6N) H L 24-51
Uruguay A W 29-5
Argentina A L 6-24
Japan H W 36-12
Ireland A L 20-23
NZ (RWC) N L 14-76
Romania (RWC) N W 24-18
Portugal (RWC) N W 31-5
Scotland (RWC) N L 16-18

Ireland - most capped players
89 Malcolm O'Kelly
79 Peter Stringer
79 Brian O'Driscoll
79 John Hayes
78 Girvan Dempsey
77 Ronan O'Gara
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
63 Willie John McBride
62 Simon Easterby
62 Anthony Foley
62 Denis Hickie

Ireland - all time leading points scorers
779 Ronan O'Gara
560* David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
217 Ollie Campbell
167 Brian O'Driscoll
* does not include penalty try v Scotland in 1999

World Rugby all-time top points scorers - The Top 8
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales 41-Lions)
1029 Jonny Wilkinson (982-England 47-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina 983-Italy)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (NZ)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
873 Percy Montgomery (SA)
779 Ronan O'Gara (Ireland)

Ireland - all time leading try scorers
31 Brian O'Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
20 Shane Horgan
18 Geordan Murphy
18 Girvan Dempsey
17 Brendan Mullin
15 Keith Wood
15 Kevin Maggs
14 George Stephenson
14 Ronan O'Gara

Italy - most capped players
101 Alessandro Troncon
83 Carlo Checchinato
74 Diego Dominguez
71 Cristian Alessandro Stoica
71 Andrea lo Cicero
69 Massimo Cuttitta

Italy - all time leading points scorers
983 Diego Dominguez
483 Stefano Bettarello
296 Luigi Troiani
260 Ramiro Pez
133 David Bortolussi

Italy - all time leading try scorers
25 Marcello Cuttitta
22 Paolo Vaccari
21 Carlo Checchinato
21 Manrico Marchetto
19 Alessandro Troncon