| Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Date: Saturday, 19 March Kick-off: 14:15 GMT |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and online from 13:45 GMT; listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru; text commentary on BBC Sport website and app. Watch highlights online & Scrum V, Sunday, 20 March 18:00 GMT and later on demand. |
Wales head coach Wayne Pivac insists his side will respect Italy after making seven changes for the Six Nations finale.
Johnny McNicholl, Louis Rees-Zammit, Willis Halaholo, Gareth Davies, Dewi Lake, Dillon Lewis and record cap-holder Alun Wyn Jones are all changes to the side who lost 13-9 to France.
“I don’t think it’s cavalier, it’s believing in your squad,” said Pivac.
“We’re working with these boys and the players coming in are exciting.”
Players dropping out include Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Will Rowlands and Tomas Francis, while Ryan Elias and Tomos Williams are injured.
The back three, centres, half-backs, front row and second row combinations have all changed from the defeat to France, with only the back-row unit of Josh Navidi, Seb Davies and Taulupe Faletau remaining the same.
“There have been some close calls in selection over the last couple of weeks,” added Pivac.
“It’s about showing belief and faith in our squad and in a couple of cases, there have been injuries to deal with.
“We believe we can get a result and that’s what we’re going to try to achieve on the weekend with the squad we’ve named.
“If you look at the bench, there is a lot of experience to come into the game.”
When asked whether he felt this was his best side, Pivac responded: “It’s the team we want to select for this game and we’ve shown faith in the squad.”
Italy have lost 36 successive Six Nations games and are facing another whitewash.
“Italy’s record says one thing, but they’re in a transition phase with Kieran Crowley and I see signs of some good rugby players there who are improving,” added Pivac.
“They had some good spells against Scotland last weekend so we won’t be going into the game thinking it’s going to be one-way traffic at all.
“We’ll respect Italy and go out there and focus on what we need to do well and make sure we’re disciplined to do it over the 80 minutes.”
Wales have only managed five tries in four games during this tournament and only scored three penalties from captain Dan Biggar against France.
“We were up against arguably the form team in the world who had just scored 40 points against the All Blacks,” added Pivac.
“They’re a very good defensive side with a very good defensive coach and we created four or five clear opportunities in the game.
“It was more around our decision-making to finish those opportunities off which is where we’re looking to improve.
“In a tight Test match, we didn’t take the opportunities we created and if we had taken one of them we might have won the game.
“We’re not too far off. Is the attack exactly where we want it to be at the moment? No. Can it improve? Yes it can and that’s what we’ll be trying to do this weekend.”
And Pivac believes Wales have shown growth through this season’s tournament as they bid for a third-place finish.
A bonus-point victory over Italy on Saturday could see Wales take third spot, depending on how England and Scotland fare in their final games.
Wales’ title defence floundered on a miserable start against Ireland, while further losses followed against England and France, albeit by a combined margin of just eight points.
They also went into the competition without injured British and Irish Lions Alun Wyn Jones, Leigh Halfpenny, George North, Ken Owens, Josh Navidi, Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau.
Navidi and Faletau are now back in the starting line-up, and Jones returns this weekend after more than four months out with shoulder trouble to win his 150th Wales cap.
“At the start of the competition we’d probably written it off due to the absentees,” said Pivac.
“But we’ve grown throughout the competition, which has been pleasing.
“You’ve got to remember when you get players in from the four regions and the fifth region, which is the English Premiership, bringing it together takes a little bit of time.
“History will show that, but also some of the big names we had to replace and the lack of form some players came into the competition with, meant it was always going to be a bit of a challenge.
“I don’t think we are too far off, it’s a step in the right direction in terms of the experiences some players have got, not only in terms of starting positions and on the bench, but also in leadership roles.
“We are building depth in a number of areas, which is important going through to the World Cup next year.
“Clearly, we want to win every Test when we take the field, and we weren’t happy with round one (against Ireland).
“Steadily we’ve built and there have been positives to have come out of the last three matches.”
