The Italian view - ‘There’s a lot of talent here, it’s just creating a culture of winning’

This is a more significant match for Italy than the game against Wales last Sunday, writes David Shonfield.

History will be made tomorrow in the Stadio Olimpico.

Conor O’Shea is not the first Irish coach to take on his own country – Eddie O’Sullivan did it with the USA in the 2011 World Cup, on a wet and windy day in New Plymouth. But that was a very different challenge to a match in Rome in front of a partisan crowd in Italy’s national stadium.