Two teams looking to kickstart their 2023 Guinness Six Nations campaigns meet in Rome on Saturday as Italy and Wales get Round 4 off to a flyer.
Italy sit one place ahead of their visitors by virtue of the try bonus point they secured against France on the opening weekend, with Wales yet to get off the mark this year.
Warren Gatland’s side will look for that to change this weekend as the Kiwi seeks his first win since returning to the hotseat.
ITALY TEAM NEWS
Ange Capuozzo lit up this fixture last year as Italy recorded a famous win at Principality Stadium but injury rules him out this time around.
Tommaso Allan comes in at full-back in the only change to the Azzurri side who gave Ireland a scare a fortnight ago, with the Harlequins man set to earn his 70th cap.
Paolo Garbisi continues at fly-half, with Michele Lamaro captaining the side from the back row.
Italy head coach Kieran Crowley said: “We recovered well from the last game and this week we worked on the areas where we needed to improve.
“We know the match ahead against Wales and are looking forward to it and hopefully we can continue to develop the way we want to play.”
Italy team to face Wales: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Pierre Bruno, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney; 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Michele Lamaro, 8 Lorenzo Cannone
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Edoardo Iachizzi, 20 Giovanni Pettinelli, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Luca Morisi
WALES TEAM NEWS
Warren Gatland has made six changes to his starting XV, as he goes in search of his first win in his second spell as Wales head coach.
Liam Williams returns at full-back to replace Leigh Halfpenny, while Rio Dyer starts on the left wing in place of Louis Rees-Zammit, who is on the bench. Rhys Webb makes his first start of the 2023 Championship at scrum-half.
Wyn Jones gets the nod at loosehead prop, while veteran Alun Wyn Jones drops out of the 23 and Dafydd Jenkins takes his place in the second row.
Jac Morgan also returns to the team and comes in at blindside flanker for Christ Tshiunza.
Wales team to face Italy: 15. Liam Williams, 14. Josh Adams, 13. Mason Grady, 12. Joe Hawkins, 11. Rio Dyer, 10. Owen Williams, 9. Rhys Webb, 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ken Owens (c), 3. Tomas Francis, 4. Adam Beard, 5. Dafydd Jenkins, 6. Jac Morgan, 7. Justin Tipuric, 8. Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: 16. Scott Baldwin, 17. Gareth Thomas, 18. Dillon Lewis, 19. Rhys Davies, 20. Tommy Reffell, 21. Tomos Williams, 22. George North, 23. Louis Rees-Zammit
