Italy vs France predictions, betting tips and odds: All-action Les Bleus can make a fast start

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Where to watch Italy vs France

You can watch Italy vs France on ITV1 at 3pm on Sunday, February 23

Italy vs France best bet

France try first scoring play
2pts 6-5 bet365

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Italy vs France odds

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Odds correct at time of publishing

Italy vs France predictions

The width of the post cost Italy victory over France in last year's Six Nations as Paolo Garbisi's missed penalty with the clock in the red left them with a 13-13 draw in Lille.

A draw, let alone an Azzurri victory, had looked unlikely in the first half as France bossed proceedings and led 10-0 before centre Jonathan Danty was sent off on 40 minutes.

And Les Bleus will look to create another dominant performance while keeping their discipline as they aim to bounce back from defeat at Twickenham in round two.

France were on top for most of that contest, too. They trailed for less than four minutes against England but uncharacteristic handling errors cost them at least three clear tryscoring chances.

Head coach Fabien Galthie has rung the changes, moving Thomas Ramos to fly-half and dropping winger Damian Penaud for young flyer Theo Attissogbe, who scored two tries in round one against France.

Ramos has plenty of experience at number ten and with two weeks to prepare for this clash we can expect France to have put a lot of emphasis on discipline and cutting out errors, so we should see a focused performance.

Italy beat Wales at home a fortnight ago but they may struggle to get on the front foot against a French side who top the scoring charts with ten tries in two matches.

Les Bleus have opened the scoring with a try in both of their matches and at odds-against it's worth backing their all-action running game to again break the deadlock.

Italy have scored just two tries but lead the way in penalty attempts with 11 shots at goal, nine of which were successful. France know discipline will be key and should be focused from the start on denying Italy any opportunities.

The handicap is set at around 18 points, a line Italy have covered in two of their last six meetings with France including the most recent in Rome two years ago, which France won 29-24.

Italy vs France team line-ups

Italy: 15 Tommaso Allan; 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Simone Gesi; 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Martin Page-Relo; 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 3 Simone Ferrari,  4 Niccolo Cannone,  5 Federico Ruzza,  6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Michele Lamaro, 8 Lorenzo Cannone 

Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Joshua Zilocchi, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Ross Vintcent, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Jacopo Trulla 

France: 15 Leo Barre; 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey; 10 Thomas Ramos, 9 Antoine Dupont; 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 3 Uini Atonio, 4 Thibaud Flament, 5 Mickael Guillard, 6 Francois Cros, 7 Paul Boudehent, 8 Gregory Alldritt

Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Oscar Jegou, 21 Alexandre Roumat, 22 Anthony Jelonch, 23 Maxime Lucu 

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