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09th Feb 2024

Ireland team vs. Italy: Some bold calls as Andy Farrell names his starting XV

Patrick McCarry

Ireland will be looking to build on their opening night win over France.

Andy Farrell will name his Ireland team to face Italy, on Friday afternoon, for the Six Nations second round clash against Italy. After his Ireland team toppled France 38-17 in the opening game of the 2024 championship.

We’ll have all the team news latest, injury updates, player and coach quotes, and reactions when the match-day squad is announced.

Click on the key point you want to read about, or just keep scrolling to see updates in our live hub [below]:

Ireland team

Next challenge await this Ireland team

Following that 21-point victory over France, in Marseille, Ireland flanker Josh van der Flier did his best to calm any premature Grand Slam chatter.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” he told reporters, “there’s still four big games left so we’ll take it step by step. I know we always say that, but it is still the nature of it. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. But it’s a brilliant start, so we have to be very happy with that.”

At the Six Nations launch, Andy Farrell was asked what success would look like for this Ireland team. “We want to win every game and winning matters,” he replied.

“I’ve never been one from shying away from that. I’ll say the same. But we’re realists and we know that it’s difficult. I suppose every team in the competition,  as we stand today, would love to be in with a shout on the last weekend to be able to go on and win that.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of water that gets put under the bridge. You’ve got to roll with the punches especially in the Six Nations because it changes the whole time and that’s why we love it. It’s about getting ourselves to be in with a shout, however that may look on the final weekend. That has to be what we’re aiming for.”

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