Paddy Jackson, Ireland Rugby, RBS Six Nations

Teams up for Italy v Ireland Six Nations clash.

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The teams are up for Saturday afternoon’s Six Nations clash between Italy and Ireland. The match takes place at Stadio Olimpico, kick off 14:25. Live on ITV.

Joe Schmidt has opted for three changes to the team that lost to Scotland. Cian Healy swaps with Jack McGrath in the front row and Donnacha Ryan comes in for the injured Iain Henderson. On the bench, Craig Gilroy replaces the out of form Tommy Bowe.

Nothing changed in starting the back line. It’s still full of far too many instinctive players. While it’s unlikely they will show much more control than they did against Scotland, it’s equally unlikely that they’ll need to.

The standard game plan is to tire Italy out over the first half and then pull away in the second. This time though, an embarrassed Schmidt, who was largely out thought by his counterpart last week, will be looking some sort of early response . . .

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