Return of full URC card a chance for Andy Farrell's fringe players to make an impression

For the second year in a row, the layout of the Guinness Six Nations fixtures has served Ireland well.

Saturday's defeat to France was probably the most physically taxing game Ireland will play in the tournament, just as it was 12 months ago when they met in Round 2.

With respect to Italy, their Round 3 meeting at the Aviva Stadium is certainly Ireland's most straightforward game of the championship, and with that sandwiched between the two break-weeks, it gives Andy Farrell opportunity to make a couple of alterations to his side while not losing stability, as well as giving the coaching team time to iron out some issues ahead of the visit to Twickenham on 12 March.

In 2021, Farrell made seven changes from France to Italy, although the circumstances were much different.

Twelve months ago, the game in Rome was used as a bridge for returning frontline players like Johnny Sexton, James Ryan and Tadhg Furlong to get back up to speed, although he did also use that game to spread some minutes around his squad.

Dave Kilcoyne and Ronan Kelleher were both rotated into the starting team, while Craig Casey and Ryan Baird made their debuts off the bench.

It's highly unlikely that Farrell will make that many alterations for the visit of Italy, sweeping changes rarely happen by design in Test rugby.

But there are certainly a couple of areas he could look to build some extra game time into, or some bodies he may want to either rest or test. That's where the United Rugby Championship comes into the picture.

While all four provinces played a game each during the opening two weekends of the Six Nations, this fallow week sees all of the Irish teams in action; Munster host Edinburgh on Friday night, Leinster and Connacht play Saturday against the