Mallett is looking to his two home games for Six Nations victories

Italy coach Nick Mallett makes no changes from the starting XV that beat Samoa 24-6 in November for his team to take on Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

The Azzurri won the final Test of last year to end a 13-match winless streak.

Treviso hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini continues as captain in the absence of number eight Sergio Parisse, out of the tournament with knee ligament damage.

Bayonne fly-half Craig Gower has recovered from a knock to his left knee to take his part in the team.

Flanker Mauro Bergamasco will become only the third Italian player to reach 80 caps when he starts the game. Only assistant coach Alessandro Troncon (101) and team manager Carlo Checchinato (83) can boast longer international careers.

Prop Salvatore Perugini will also reach a milestone as he will become the only Italian player to appear in every Six Nations tournament since the southern Europeans were first admitted in 2000.

606: DEBATE Their main concern in my opinion is to get Gower playing flatter as he plays too deep to give the side any momentum MunsterByTheGraceOfGod

Italy also welcome back two veterans to the replacements bench. Lock Marco Bortolami and centre Andrea Masi, who missed the whole November Test series, will hope to feature at some stage at Croke Park.

On Tuesday, when revealing their 24-man squad, Italy had dropped Andrea Marcato, their first choice full-back during last year's tournament.

Mallett is putting on a brave face despite the loss of the influential Parisse.

He said: "It would be a sad situation if Italy was only a competitive team when Sergio Parisse was playing. It's fantastic to have a player like him, but in the broader context of the team, we can still perform without him."

The Italy coach is not expecting victory in Ireland but said home matches against England and Scotland were winnable.

Italy: Luke McLean; Kaine Robertson, Gonzalo Canale, Gonzalo Garcia, Mirco Bergamasco; Craig Gower, Tito Tebaldi; Alessandro Zanni, Mauro Bergamasco, Josh Sole; Quintin Geldenhuys, Carlo Antonio Del Fava; Martin Castrogiovanni, Leonardo Ghiraldini (capt), Salvatore Perugini

Replacements: Fabio Ongaro, Matias Aguero, Marco Bortolami, Paul Derbyshire, Simon Piccone, Riccardo Bocchino, Andrea Masi

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