The Albany Gazette - Davidson set to make history as Ireland seek to rebound against Italy

Italy have every reason to believe they can record only their second ever win over the Irish in the tournament -- the previous one dates back to 2013 in Rome -- as the hosts were left reeling by a 36-14 hammering by France.

AFP Sports picks out three areas which could prove pivotal at Lansdowne Road:

Testing time for Farrell

Andy Farrell has rightly been praised for his achievements with Ireland, as trophies have rewarded the more attractive style of play he instilled after the highly successful, but rather limited, tactics of the Joe Schmidt era.

However, whilst the alarm bells are not quite ringing full blast, the 50-year-old Englishman probably faces his biggest challenge since he took over after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

A second successive heavy defeat at the hands of France signalled what many had feared since last November's disappointing results: the 2024 Six Nations champions are in decline.

Fatigue may be part of the problem as many of the Irish players have barely had a break in 18 months after touring with the British and Irish Lions squad last year.

They are also without injured stars Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen and Ryan Baird, who will play no part in the championship.

Although clearly disappointed by the performance in Paris, Farrell insists that he still believes the Irish can compete at the top table -- he will hope that is the case with the World Cup looming in October 2027.

"We just happen to have lost a lot of experience and people are coming in, we've a lot of new caps, certainly a lot of players under 10 caps," he said.

"They have to go through this.

"You always have to go through a little bit of pain to get to that point. We've always done that with every generation."

Casey gets a rare day in the sun

Craig Casey is the epitome of patience being a virtue -- having played second fiddle both at Munster and in the Ireland set-up for years.

Farrell may have scored the first points in his battle with Italy counterpart Gonzalo Quesada by selecting Casey at scrum-half and not the established number one Jamison Gibson-Park.

Quesada admitted that the Azzurri had been planning for an Ireland side with Gibson-Park in it -- but the Argentinian should not have been too surprised as Casey, 26, started their last encounter in Dublin two years ago.

Indeed the diminutive Casey (1.65 metres, five foot five inches) is making only his third Six Nations start, with the previous two also against Italy.

Although Farrell may have decided to partially preserve the benched Gibson-Park ahead of the tough trip to England the following week, he was adamant that Casey deserved his chance.

"I've been impressed with him, how he's handled himself this week. He plays quick, he's nice and accurate," said Farrell.

"He has one of the best passing games I've seen in world rugby actually, so it's a big opportunity for him."

Consistency key to Italy's hopes

Quesada has achieved much in the two years he has been at the Azzurri helm, not least in adding a vital ingredient of self-belief to the players' undoubted.

This was reflected last Saturday, in atrocious conditions, when his side held their nerve to beat Scotland 18-15.

The big question, which Quesda has been trying to resolve since he took over, is whether they capable of backing up an excellent performance with another one a week later.

"We have the main goal of trying to achieve a bit more consistency," the 51-year-old said at the outset of the championship.

There will be no bigger test of that than Saturday's game.

Aside from missing key players, they have had two days less to recover from the energy-sapping Scots game than the Irish after their sore French experience.

(C.Young--TAG)