Italy v Ireland
Italy away - the cliche goes expect to get beaten up but win well eventually. I expect nothing different this time for Ireland. The Italians as always will be extremely powerful and will attempt to rough the Irish up, especially up front. But I expect Ireland to come through in the end and run in a few tries.
Italy have the titanic Sergio Parrise back for this campaign and he will be a massive boost to their lineup. Ireland have a host of injuries with Jamie Heaslip, Rob Kearney and try machine Tommy Bowe all injured. However, Sean O'Brien is a great replacement at number eight while Luke Fitz and Fergus McFadden are more than adequate replacements in the 3/4 line.
Ireland have always been comprehensive winners over Italy down the years bar a few times where strong weather made a difference. Accuweather is saying no rain and only light winds for Rome on Saturday so perfect conditions for rugby. However, this is the first game of the campaign and there will be rust on both sides at the start. I also expect the Italians to really front up for the first period and the crowd to get behind them. However, Ireland should break clear in the second half.
I think Ireland -6 @ 2.0 on the second half handicap with William Hill is a real steal and I'll take 3.5 units on it. It would be more but I'm holding back a little as its the first weekend of the campaign. So lets hope the only thing epic in Blue on Saturday will be their fantastic national anthem.
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