Fantasy Six Nations 2022 Preview – Italy

Fantasy Rugby Geekon

With Saturday 5th February 2022 fast approaching, it’s time to delve a bit deeper into this year’s potential fantasy Six Nations stars. So over the next two weeks FRG is providing a quick preview of all the teams from a fantasy perspective. Today we look at Italy…

Italy

In a nutshell

It’s now 7 years since Italy’s last Six Nations win, back in 2015. It’s brutal but Italy remain a long way behind the rest of the pack, and with odds between 500-1 and 1000-1 the bookies are expecting nothing to change this year. There are however reasons to be cautiously optimistic. The appointment last year of Kieran Crowley as head coach was a very promising move given the wonders worked by Crowley as Bennetton head coach. He brought unprecedented success to Bennetton and the hope is that this can translate to international success.
 
From a fantasy perspective, the Six Nations comes a bit too soon for FRG’s favourite player Jake Polledri as he recovers from a horrific injury, but Italy still have some points potential with Monty Ioane (who represents a threat from anywhere on the pitch and consistently racked up some huge carry stats), Paolo Garbisi and Michele Lamaro.
 
With away trips to France, Ireland and Wales, Italy are really up against it this year, but who knows, this could be the year Frowley’s men spring a surprise…

Current World Ranking

14th (As of the 10th January 2022)

Performance in the 2021 Six Nations

6th

Odds on winning Six Nations 2022

500/1 (Rank Outsiders)

Six Nations History (Since start of Six Nations in 2000)

4th place x 2 (2007 and 2013)

Most likely to make a fantasy impact

Paolo Garbisi (Fly Half – Montpellier)

Key players to consider

Braam Steyn (Loose Forward – Bennetton), Michele Lamaro (Loose Forward – Benetton), Paolo Garbisi (Fly Half – Montpellier), Jaun Ignacio Brex (Centre – Bennetton), Edoardo Padovani (Outside Back – Benetton), Monty Ioane (Outside Back – Bennetton)

Top Performers in 2021 Six Nations

  • Most Points: Paolo Garbisi (23 points)
  • Most Tries: Monty Ioane (2 tries)
  • Most Assists: Paolo Garbisi, Jacopo Trulla, Federico Mori, Stephen Varney (1 assist each)
  • Successful Kicks: Paolo Garbisi (9 successful kicks)
  • Most Metres Carried: Monty Ioane (402m carried)
  • Most Defenders Beaten: Monty Ioane (14 defenders beaten)
  • Most offloads: Monty Ioane and Paolo Garbisi (4 offloads each)
  • Most Successful tackles: Luca Bigi (73 tackles made)

Six Nations 2022 Squad

Likely Kickers

Successful kicks from Italy kickers since the start of the 2019/20 season…

Full list of Matches

  • Round 1 – Sunday February 6th, 3:00pm GMT – France v Italy – Stade de France
  • Round 2 – Sunday February 13th, 3:00pm GMT – Italy v England – Stadio Olimpico
  • Round 3 – Sunday February 27th, 2:15pm GMT – Ireland v Italy – Aviva Stadium
  • Round 4 – Saturday March 12th, 2:15pm GMT – Italy v Scotland – Stadio Olimpico
  • Round 5 – Saturday March 19th, 14:15pm GMT – Wales v Italy – Principality Stadium

If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Six Nations glory and win you some stash while you are at it, then join our public fantasy league on the Official Six Nations Fantasy Game, where a signed paperback copy of the Fantasy Rugby Handbook and a Fantasy Rugby Geek Trucker Hat, will be on offer for the winner of the league. Join the league here.

FRG Partners

Check out our selected partners at Canterbury, LooseHeadz and Oddballs for all your stash needs…

   

Fantasy Rugby Games for the 2022 Six Nations

A summary of the top games that you can play fantasy rugby for the 2022 Six Nations…

Pre-tournament articles

In case you missed any of our other pre-Six Nations articles, make sure you check out the following to help guide your pre-tournament preparations…

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If you want some more sources to help you finalise your decisions, go to our resources page where you’ll find all the 2022 Six Nations fantasy games, all the stats sources, injury news, team news, fantasy relevant rugby betting odds and tons of other useful information.

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