Italy v. Wales (Stadio Flaminio)
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| James Hook (possibly on his way to the tanning booth) |
Lucky for Wales, James Hook is as versatile as he is orange. He moves to his 3rd position in as many games to centre where he replaces the injured Jonathan Davies. This injury is an awful shame as I think Davies has a real future at 12 for Wales provided he can click with Jamie Robberts at 13. Robberts who switches back to inside centre had a good game last time out against the Scots and looks to be getting back into the form that saw him get selected for the Lions tour. The very boring but solid Stephen Jones comes back in at number 10 which makes me wonder just how little faith has Gatland got in Dan Biggar who in my opinion deserves a go. Italy remain unchanged for this game due to a lack of quality on their part.
So far I have predicted 2 Italy loses and surprise surprise, there is no change this week. I still firmly believe that Wales have something more to give to this championship in terms of who will be the winner. In this game against Italy it is vital that they can rack up a few scores for their points difference. In James Hook playing at 13 they have got one of the best players in the world to create a try and outside him lays in wait, Shane Williams who is a world class finisher. The only place where I see Wales struggling is possibly at scrum time due to the absence of their star props but in all honesty their 2 replacements have coped well against England and Scotland so far so I really don't see this game being any way close. When the sides met last year it was a close contest, too close for Welsh comfort. I don't see that happening again. Wales to win....by a good bit!
RT Prediction: Wales
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