George North scored Wales’ first hat-trick in the RBS 6 Nations in Rome and their eight tries and six conversions were both Welsh records for the tournament. The 61 points were a record for an away team in the RBS 6 Nations.
Once again the two teams will be first-up on the final weekend of the tournament, but this time Wales will be playing for second place. A win will be good enough to clinch the runners-up spot behind England.
Dylan Hartley’s English side clinched both the Triple Crown and the 17th RBS 6 Nations title with their 25-21 win over Wales at Twickenham last weekend. It was the first time a team had won the trophy with a game to spare.
Italy will be trying to prevent their first whitewash since 2009, while Wales will be looking for their first runners-up spot in since the tournament became the Six Nations back in 2000. Despite their heroics in Rome last season, Wales only finished third.
MATCH FACTS
- Wales lost a seven game unbeaten run in the RBS 6 Nations at Twickenham last weekend.
- Wales have won their final round fixture in the championship for the past four seasons.
- Wales have won their last five test matches at Principality Stadium whilst their only RBS 6 Nations defeat there in their last eight encounters was to England in the opening round last year.
- Italy have lost their last six RBS 6 Nations fixtures since beating Scotland 22-19 at BT Murrayfield in the third round last year.
- Italy have only ever won two RBS 6 Nations away matches, both in Edinburgh (2007 and 2015).
- Wales have won their last nine test matches against Italy since the Italians were victorious in Rome 23-20 in 2007.
- The closest Italy have ever come to beating Wales in Wales was an 18-all draw at Principality Stadium in 2006.
ON THE PITCH
- George North has made the most metres in the 2016 RBS 6 Nations with 325 – 10 more than England’s Mike Brown.
- The two players with the most clean breaks so far are George North and Michele Campagnaro – each making seven clean breaks this campaign.
- North has also beaten the most defenders with 21 and is joint equal with Jonathan Joseph with three tries this tournament.
- North notched the first Welsh hat-trick of tries in the RBS 6 Nations in Rome last season and has now scored 11 in the tournament. Shane Williams holds the Welsh record with 22.
- Francesco Minto has made more tackles than any other Italian (51) – only Jonny Gray (59) and Taulupe Faletau (56) have made more total tackles in 2016.
