Rugby, Italia at home to Wales for an unprecedented treble

Italia were looking for confirmation that would propel them into the best Six Nations ever, the first with three wins to their credit, while Wales were looking to break a run of 15 consecutive defeats in front of their home crowd and avoid a third consecutive wooden spoon.

No one in the Azzurri environment is hiding the pitfalls of the last round, with all the matches being played on Saturday. Inevitable moments of euphoria after the first victory with England, but now it is a matter of consolidating a path, of demonstrating a continuity that would give the national team a new status.

Of course, in 2024 and 2025 the men from the Principality were defeated by Lamaro and co., but coach Gonzalo Quesada emphasises that this, at the moment, is completely irrelevant. "I think," he says, "that the toughest match of this Six Nations awaits us. Wales are obliged to win, and they have received good signals from the last two games, especially the one with Ireland. They will put in the maximum amount of physicality and intensity. We have a few players injured, but we have prepared properly, resuming training on Monday with the same quality and concentration as always. I really hope we will finish with a great game: it would mean that we played five out of five times showing consistency from the first to the 80th minute and this would be the best reward for the work done by the players and the staff".

In the Italia line-up there was one change due to technical choice, with Fusco returning as scrum-half while Alessandro Garbisi did not even go on the 'bench', with the No. 9 back-up being Varney, Welsh by birth and Italian on his mother's side. The other two changes are due to injuries: Ruzza replaces Zambonin, a revelation, in the second line, and as right prop Hasa starts in place of Ferrari.

Wales confirmed the entire starting XV from last Friday's game when they lost in Dublin 27-17 to Ireland, playing a strong game and reaffirming the progress they have made throughout the tournament. After conceding a total of more than 100 points in their opening two defeats against England and France, coach Steve Tandy's side lost narrowly in Cardiff to Scotland (23-26), leading for almost the entire match and focusing their regrets on a fatal inattention on the occasion of the third of the four guest tries.