Biggar and Jones set for milestones as Wales host Italy

Wales take on Italy on Saturday with the only pride at stake for both teams after a disappointing Six Nations.

Lock Alun Wyn Jones will become the first player to reach 150 caps for a nation, and a resounding victory is expected.

Captain Dan Biggar will become the seventh Welsh player to reach 100 caps.

The fly-half believes that Wales was the best team in losing last week’s contest against Grand Slam-chasing France, and then facing a team they have beaten in each of the last 16 meetings.

Italy, who will once again finish bottom of the table, are seeking their first Six Nations win since 2015 to end a miserable 36-match losing streak in the tournament.

• Coach Jones looks for more Wales attempts
• Pivac expects Alun Wyn Jones to play at Worlds 2023

• How France and Ireland can win the title

team news

Biggar continues to lead the team despite the return of Wales’s long-term captain, with Jones replacing Will Rowlands in one of seven changes.

Johnny McNicholl, Louis Rees-Zammit, Willis Halaholo and Gareth Davies are remembered on the baseline, while Dewi Lake and Dillon Lewis are selected up front.

Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Tomos Williams, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis are out of the match day squad.

Italy makes two changes on the side defeated by scotlandwith full-back Ange Capuozzo making his first start after scoring twice from the bench last weekend.

He replaces Pierre Bruno, with Edoardo Padovani changing to the wing, while Marco Fuser is preferred in the second row to Niccolo Cannone, who falls to the bench.

Commenter’s Notes

Eddie Butler: “Of all the predictions, this is the least demanding: Wales will win. Wales will play with purpose and breadth and finally find freedom.

“But there is something about Italy that touches the soul: their youth, their lack of fear, their desire to stay in the Six Nations; Ange Capuozzo, dancing, sliding, absolute proof that there is a place for even the slimmest forms in rugby. international”. .

“Wales 56 Italy 34”.

View from both fields

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac: “At the start of the competition, we had probably canceled it due to no-shows, but we’ve certainly grown through the competition, which has been very, very nice.”

“We are building depth in a number of areas that are really important for the World Cup next year.

“Clearly we want to win all the test matches when we went out on the pitch, and we weren’t happy with the first round (against Ireland), but we’ve built steadily and there have been a lot of positives in the last three games.”

Italy head coach Kieran Crowley: “We will face a team that has recovered important players and that will want to react.

“We want to close the tournament in the best possible way by continuing with the play shown at various points in the match against Scotland.”

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lineups

Welsh: 15-McNicholl, 14-Rees-Zammit, 13-Watkin, 12-Halaholo, 11-Adams, 10-Biggar (capt), 9-G Davies; 1-G Thomas, 2-Lake, 3-Lewis, 4-Beard, 5-AW Jones, 6-S Davies, 7-Navidi, 8-Faletau

Replacements: 16-Roberts, 17-W Jones, 18-Brown, 19-Rowlands, 20-Moriarty, 21-Hardy, 22-Sheedy, 23-Tompkins

Italy: 15-Capuozzo, 14-Padovani, 13-Brex, 12-Marin, 11-Ioane, 10-Garbisi, 9-Braley; 1-Fischetti, 2-Nicotera, 3-Ceccarelli, 4-Fuser, 5-Ruzza, 6-Pettinelli, 7-Lamaro (capt), 8-Halafihi

Replacements: 16-Bigi, 17-Traore, 18-Pasquali, 19-Sisi, 20-Cannone, 21-Steyn, 22-Fusco, 23-Zanon

data matching

head to head

• Wales have won their last 16 games against Italy in all competitions, winning seven of those games by 35 points or more.
• They have never lost at home to Italy in the Six Nations. Both of their losses came away from home in 2003 and 2007.
• The only Six Nations draw between these nations occurred in Cardiff in 2006.

Welsh

• Wales’s loss to France was only their second in 12 Six Nations home games
• They have scored just five tries so far, the lowest tally of any nation other than Italy (four)
• Wales could lose back-to-back home games in this championship for the first time in 15 years. In 2006 they were beaten in their last match against France and then lost the first match of 2007 against Ireland.

Italy

• Italy have only won 12 Six Nations matches since joining the tournament in 2000.
• They are currently on a record 36 match losing streak in the championship (including the Five Nations)
• Italy’s last win away from home in the Six Nations was in Scotland in 2015

match referees

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

touch judges: Matthew Carley (England) and Tual Trainini (France)

OMT: Joy Neville (Ireland)