Teams visiting Cardiff in the Six Nations have come to regard a closed roof at the Principality Stadium as a head start for Wales but Italy’s head coach, Franco Smith, believes shutting out the rain will give his side a better chance of securing their first victory in the tournament for five years.
Smith has picked two fly-halves in his first selection since taking over from Conor O’Shea with Tommaso Allan starting at 10 and Carlo Canna at 12 against opponents who, also under new management, are committed to a more expansive style after 12 years of the power game favoured by Warren Gatland.
Gatland’s successor, Wayne Pivac, has injuries to contend with for his first competitive match in charge of Wales. Already without Jonathan Davies, Liam Williams and Gareth Anscombe, the scrum-half Gareth Davies was not considered to face Italy because of a groin strain while the No 8 Josh Navidi became the second player to sustain a serious hamstring injury training on the soft pitches at the squad’s Vale of Glamorgan base.
“We have had a lot of rain and the surface is something that has been discussed,” said Pivac, who took his forwards to the stadium on Thursday for a scrummaging session having been unable to complete one set piece all week because of the conditions. “Josh will be out for a few weeks, although I cannot put a number on how many.”
L Halfpenny (Scarlets); J McNicholl (Scarlets), G North (Ospreys), H Parkes (Scarlets), J Adams (Cardiff Blues); D Biggar (Northampton), T Williams (Cardiff Blues); W Jones (Scarlets), K Owens (Scarlets), D Lewis (Cardiff Blues), J Ball (Scarlets), A W Jones (Ospreys, capt), A Wainwright (Dragons), J Tipuric (Ospreys), T Faletau (Bath).
Replacements: R Elias (Scarlets), R Evans (Scarlets), L Brown (Dragons), C Hill (Dragons), R Moriarty (Dragons), R Webb (Toulon), J Evans (Cardiff Blues), N Tompkins (Saracens)
Navidi’s place at No 8 has been assumed by Taulupe Faletau, who would have been pushing to start anyway after missing last year’s Six Nations and the World Cup through injury. George North has been moved from the wing to centre to cover for Jonathan Davies and his place out wide has been taken by the uncapped 29-year old New Zealander Johnny McNicholl.
The Saracens centre Nick Tompkins is set to win his first cap from the bench but there is no place in the 23 for the 18-year-old Gloucester wing Louis Rees-Zammit, who missed out after an injury and a return to his club last week minimised his training time.
“When we selected Louis, we looked at the Italy game as a possibility for him but he only trained once last week,” said Pivac. “It counted against him. I have had a chat with him about the new contract he has signed with Gloucester, but he has a bright future. Johnny has trained well and George has started in the centre for Wales: it is not foreign to him and it may be the direction in which his career now goes.”
Smith, who has picked the debutant Niccolo Cannone in the second row to partner the 117-cap Alessandro Zanni, wants his team to attack Wales. “We know our potential and what we can give,” he said. “I can’t wait to see them on the pitch.”
