'Doing a job on Italy is something you should expect at this level'

Both Wales and Italy arrive in Cardiff for Super Saturday off the back of arguably their two best performances of the Guinness Six Nations so far.

Wales fought hard in a loss to Grand Slam chasing France, in which captain Dan Biggar felt the better side lost. Similarly, Italy put in by far their best performance of the Championship in a 33-22 loss to Scotland. Nevertheless, the Azzurri have now lost 36 matches in a row in the Six Nations and it does not look like they will arrest that slump soon.

To make matters worse for Kieran Crowley’s Italy, Wales could welcome back skipper Alun Wyn Jones.

Freddie Burns and Ollie Lawrence join the podcast! | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 24

With Max unavailable this week, Freddie Burns steps into the breach to join Ryan and special guest Ollie Lawrence. Freddie gives us his take on Leicester’s strong start to the season and what makes him the ultimate stand-in superstar. Ollie talks us through his relationship with Eddie Jones and how his career could easily have taken a different turn. We get the guys’ best MLR impressions and Freddie asks the question every rugby player poses when watching football.

Freddie Burns and Ollie Lawrence join the podcast! | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 24

With Max unavailable this week, Freddie Burns steps into the breach to join Ryan and special guest Ollie Lawrence. Freddie gives us his take on Leicester’s strong start to the season and what makes him the ultimate stand-in superstar. Ollie talks us through his relationship with Eddie Jones and how his career could easily have taken a different turn. We get the guys’ best MLR impressions and Freddie asks the question every rugby player poses when watching football.

When, where and how to watch the match
The match will kick-off at 14:15 (UK) on Saturday March 19th at the Principality Stadium and will be broadcast live on the BBC in the UK and S4C in Wales, RTÉ in Ireland, Stan Sport in Australia and SuperSport in South Africa.

Head-to-head
Since their first meeting in 1994, Wales have accumulated a healthy record of 27 wins and two losses against Wales, including one draw and are currently on a 16 match winning streak against Saturday’s visitors.

Match odds from bet365
bet365 have the handicap on Wales at -27, with 18/1 odds that Italy win. There are also 1/10 odds the hosts win both halves.

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Prediction
Former Wales captain Sam Warburton expects Wales to win this weekend against an Italy team that have struggled so far this Championship, saying “doing a job on Italy is something you should expect at this level.” He also reflected on Wales’ performance as a whole over the Six Nations on the BBC’s Six Nations: Rugby Special, and gave a surprising verdict.

“From Wales, weirdly, even though they’ve only won one game from four matches, this sounds strange, I actually think they’ve played better than last season when they won the Championship,” the two-time Six Nations winner said.

“Or maybe I’m more pleased with the way they’ve played. They’re a side is in transition, they’ve got loads of senior players missing and they’ve got a World Cup 18 months away they’re building towards.

“Welsh fans need to be a bit patient, they’re not going to be hitting their straps now. I knew this Six Nations we were going to be finding out about some players and I think they’ve done OK. They’ve gone to Twickenham and put in a respectable performance. The bad one was Ireland, they’ll want to forget about that, but since the Irish game I’ve actually been surprisingly pleased with Wales.”

*Odds accurate as of 14/03/22.