Ireland v Italy: Teams

Eddie O'Sullivan believes his side will be in for a tough time when they take on Italy at Croke Park on Saturday.

With little to choose between the sides in this season's RBS Six Nations, O'Sullivan knows that anything is possible.

And with Italy having won two games in the 2007 tournament for the first time since their inclusion - plus the appointment of the respected Nick Mallett as coach - O'Sullivan has even more reason to be on his guard against a shock.

"The Six Nations has developed as a tournament. There's very little in it. It's getting like the NFL with any given Sunday," he said.

"Take Italy - they are the team that has changed in the most competitive way. They won two matches last year.

"That wasn't a possibility just a couple of years ago. But Italy have become a strong, competitive side in the Six Nations.

"If you get it wrong against them, you'll lose the game.

"Italy gave us a torrid time at Ravenhill in the summer and they pushed Scotland very close in the World Cup."

While O'Sullivan has largely stuck to the squad that was eliminated from the World Cup, opposite number Mallett has begun his era with one or two shocks.

Experience

Sergio Parisse replaces Marco Bortolami as captain, while centre Andrea Masi starts at fly-half.

However, Mallett believes that Masi, together with recalled scrum-half Pietro Travagli, are the perfect team to upset the Ronan O'Gara-Eoin Reddan axis.

He said: "When you consider how many caps O'Gara has had and that Reddan has taken the place of [Peter] Stringer, obviously the experience in these positions is to Ireland's advantage.

"But from Italy's point of view it's important to try these two players. We don't have the luxury of seeing them play for provincial sides together so we have to watch them play for the national team.

"The team is new but as the coach I'm trying to introduce them to variety in the way they play and, in order to do that, we need a ball player that can be dangerous and a threat.

"We've picked a fly-half that can do that."

Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey (Leinster), 14 Andrew Trimble (Ulster), Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster, c), 12 Gordan D'Arcy (Leinster), 11 Geordan Murphy (Leicester), 10 Ronan O'Gara (Munster), 9 Eoin Reddan (Wasps), 8 Denis Leamy (Munster), 7 David Wallace (Munster), 6 Simon Easterby (Llanelli), 5 Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster), 3 John Hayes (Munster), 2 Rory Best (Ulster), 1 Marcus Horan (Munster).
Replacements: 16 Bernard Jackman (Leinster), 17 Tony Buckley (Munster), 18 Mick O'Driscoll (Munster), 19 Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), 20 Peter Stringer (Munster), 21 Paddy Wallace (Ulster), 22 Rob Kearney (Leinster).

Italy: 15 David Bortolussi (Montpellier), 14 Kaine Robertson (Viadana), 13 Gonzalo Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), 12 Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), 11 Pablo Canavosio (Castres), 10 Andrea Masi (Biarritz), 9 Pietro Travagli (Overmach Parma), 8 Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais, c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), 6 Josh Sole (Viadana), 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava (Ulster), 4 Santiago Dellapé (Biarritz), 2 Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester), 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (Calvisano), 1 Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro).
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia (Racing-Metro), 17 Salvatore Perugini (Stade Toulousain), 18 Carlos Nieto (Gloucester), 19 Tommaso Reato (Rovigo), 20 Alessandro Zanni (Calvisano), 21 Andrea Marcato (Treviso), 22 Ezio Galon (Overmach Parma).