Italy v France: Six Nations updates

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While we wait, here's a bunch of tasty writing from yesterday's Six Nations action:
Rob Kitson reflects on Scotland's agony:
Andy Bull sings the praises of England's 'iron-chinned boxers':
Michael Aylwin enjoyed watching Scotland, but laments their inability to deliver on their promise:
Gerard Meagher rates England's and Scotland's players: England 16-15 Scotland: Calcutta Cup Six Nations player ratings
And Luke McLuaghlin heard from Wales' interim coach, Matt Sherratt, who managed to rouse a response from his beleaguered squad: Share
The French are going for power over panache as Fabian Galthié has loaded his bench with seven forwards.
There are four changes from the team that started in the defeat to England with Thibaud Flament making his first appearance of the tournament in the second row alongside Mackael Guillard who came off the bench in Twickenham two weeks ago.
Fly-half Matthieu Jalibert and winger Damian Penaud have remarkably been axed from the match-day 23 altogether with Thomas Ramos slotting in at 10 and Leo Barre moving to 15. Theo Attissogbe starts on the right wing.
There are more changes on the bench with Georges-Henri Colombe replacing Dorian Aldegheri as the replacement tighthead prop while lock Romain Taofifenua joins the party. Anthony Jelonch adds extra heft while Maxime Lucu is the sole back among the subs, edging out Nolann Le Garrec.
France: 15 – Leo Barre; 14 – Theo Attissogbe, 13 – Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 – Yoram Moefana, 11 – Louis Bielle-Biarrey; 10 – Thomas Ramos, 9 – Antoine Dupont (c); 1 – Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 – Peato Mauvaka, 3 – Uini Atonio, 4 – Thibaud Flament, 5 – Mickael Guillard, 6 – Francois Cros, 7 – Paul Boudehent, 8 – Gregory Alldritt.
Replacements: 16 – Julien Marchand, 17- Cyril Baille, 18- Dorian Aldegheri, 19- Romain Taofifenua, 20 - Alexandre Roumat, 21 - Oscar Jegou, 22 - Anthony Jelonch, 23 – Maxime Lucu Share
Gonzalo Quesada has made two changes from the starting XV that comfortably beat Wales a fortnight ago.
One is a forced change with the injured winger Monty Ioane making way for Simone Gesi, who started on the bench in Warren Gatland's last game in charge of Wales.
There's also a change at hooker with Gianmarco Lucchesi moving to the bench and Giacomo Nicotera starting.
The previously banned loosehead Mirco Spagnolo has returns to the match-day 23 with tighthead Giosuè Zilocchi and lock Riccardo Favretto among the substitutes in a 6-2 split.
Otherwise it's a settled backline with perhaps the most potent midfield in the competition. It's a question of whether or not their tight five can win the arm wrestle up front.
Italy: 15 – Tommasso Allan; 14 – Ange Capuozzo, 13 – Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 – Tommaso Menoncello, 11 – Simone Gesi; 10 – Paolo Garbisi, 9 – Martin Page-Relo; 1 – Danilo Fischetti, 2 – Gianmarco Lucchesi, 3 – Simone Ferrari, 4 - Niccolò Cannone, 5 – Federico Ruzza, 6 – Sebastian Negri, 7 – Michele Lamaro (c), 8 – Lorenzo Cannone.
Replacements: 16 - Giacomo Nicotera, 17 – Mirco Spagnolo, 18 – Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 – Riccardo Favretto, 20 – Manuel Zuliani, 21 – Ross Vintcent, 22 – Alessandro Garbisi, 23 - Jacopo Trulla Share Daniel Gallan
Is Fabian Galthié wasting a golden generation of French talent? It's a harsh question, but a fair one considering a team stacked with game changers, one supplemented by the best domestic league in the world, has only one Six Nations crown to show for all their dazzle.
Now, with England beating Scotland, and Ireland keeping their grand slam ambitions alive, we're entering must-win territory for France. A loss today would see their slim hopes of a title evaporate.
In years gone by this would be a gimme. From 9 February 2011 to 6 October 2023, France beat Italy 14 times in a row. But last year, a malfunctioning kicking tee denied the Azzurri a deserving victory in Lille. Instead the sides settled for a 13-13 draw but it was the Italians who left with enhanced reputations and the French wondering if their quarterfinal exit in a home World Cup in 2023 constituted a high water mark.
Italy will fancy their chances against the one team they want to beat more than the rest. There's a bit of a little-brother-big-brother vibe to this rivalry and the fratellini have all the tools for an upset on home soil.
Can they do it? We'll find out once things kick off in Rome at 3pm.
Teams and more updates to come. Share

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I know I see it every day, these boys are as good as what we've had and are good enough to produce and win."It's just confidence is a huge thing."The British and Irish Lions wing says the desire and commitment is there to change Wales' fortunes."It is horrible to question that, although I know it can be questioned when you are looking in because of the results and magnitude of some of them," said Adams. "That hurts the playing group. They have lost and lost badly on occasions, but it doesn't affect the amount of effort that goes in. That can never be questioned. "There will be a tipping point. We all believe that and hope it will be this summer. "Adams says the squad have spoken about the situation they are in."It's something we have addressed because there is no point in not talking about things," said Adams."The more open and vulnerable we can make each other as players in speaking about different aspects of the game and life, the easier it becomes to talk about difficult things." 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Return to Japan Adams has fond memories of Japan having been the World Cup's top try-scorer with seven when Wales reached the semi-finals in years on, he is only one of four survivors from that squad alongside Elliot Dee, Nicky Smith and Aaron an inexperienced squad heading to Japan, Adams is the most capped back with 61 Wales internationals, with only Test centurion Taulupe Faletau boasting more wing Adams is back fit after missing the final three Six Nations defeats because of a hamstring injury."I got back for the last six games of the season," said Adams. "That meant I had probably the longest consecutive run of matches I've had in at least a season and a half and I'm feeling good at the minute." Being pushed to the limit The new-look squad have spent the past few weeks attempting to acclimatise to the searing heat and humidity expected in Kitakyushu and coach Eddie Jones has stated he wants to run Wales around in matches that will be played in the have replicated the tactics sides adopted in the 2019 World Cup by training with wet balls to become used to the greasy conditions. They have also had intense gym sessions in a heat chamber at Wales' training base where temperatures are ramped up to 36 degrees and 87% has experienced previous brutal fitness sessions with Wales in Switzerland and Turkey and rates the latest conditions as some of the toughest he has experienced."Some boys were saying 'that's the hardest thing I've ever done' and it's got to be in the top three worst I've felt after a session," said Adams."It was really bad, genuine, because it's so stuffy."There's certain times and calories you've got to do, but you're all crammed in there, so it's uncomfortable when you're knackered."You want a bit of space just to breathe, but you can't because it's so hot and stuffy and everyone's rubbing against each other. You're trying to not agitate each other because it's so cramped."But the boys have managed pretty well, no one's tapped out yet, so we're doing alright." Replenishing fluids The gruelling conditions led to some players losing up to 5kg in one session. "We're weighing in before and after, we take one bottle of water which is rationed for the whole session," said Adams."Not because they want to be horrible, but it gives them a better gauge of how much fluids we lose and it's a considerable amount of weight. "There's a lot of fluid then you've got to drink to get your body back to some sort of base level."Adams says one of the worst parts is "cooling down as you let your body regulate the temperature"."They don't want us hopping in ice baths because you can't do that in the game," said Adams."It's trying to get your body to regulate this body temperature and back to normal."We have done these off-field conditioning sessions and then come straight down and got into some skills."It's trying to copy what the climate would be like out there as best we can and make it as comfortable as it can, so we're in a good space to cope with anything."

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