Ireland v Italy: Teams

Ireland will look to make up for lost time on Saturday when they tackle Italy in Dublin.

Having seen their last RBS Six Nations clash against France postponed 10 minutes before kick-off, Ireland are now playing catch up on their rivals.

The fact the aborted showdown at the Stade de France will now be played on March 4 means Ireland face a gruelling schedule of four games in as many weeks.

And despite losing both their opening games, Italy will be in no mood to hand them an easy start to that run.

Ireland coach Declan Kidney has opted to stick with the same starting XV that would have faced France - with Jonathan Sexton recovering from a thigh injury.

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Italy, on the other hand, have made four changes following their agonising loss to England - and crucially they will be without Martin Castrogiovanni.

The Leicester prop, the cornerstone of the Azzurri pack, damaged his ribs against England so Lorenzo Cittadini starts, with Fabio Staibano providing cover off the bench.

Andrea Lo Cicero is also missing from the front row, with the veteran benched as Treviso loosehead prop Michele Rizzo starts.

Treviso's Tobias Botes comes in at fly-half, with Kristopher Burton - who has struggled in Italy's two defeats so far - relegated to the bench.

Gonzalo Canale also starts among the replacements, with Alberto Sgarbi preferred in the centres.

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Peter O'Mahony, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Fergus McFadden.

Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Tobias Botes, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Fabio Staibano, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Fabio Semenzato, 21 Kris Burton, 22 Gonzalo Canale.