KEY BATTLES: Ireland v Italy

The second round of the Six Nations kicks off this weekend with Ireland looking to go 2 from 2 after a hard-fought victory over France, while Italy will be licking their wounds after 15-46 loss to the reigning champions.

The back row battle

Ireland's loose trio was crucial in the victory over France and the new additions to the lineup will have a huge task on their hands to replicate the performances of last week. 

Italy has a strong back row in Sebastian Negri, Braam Steyn and Sergio Parisse who could cause a few headaches.

The Italy loose trio will also want to slow the ball down at the rucks better than France did, as Ireland showed they can hold onto the ball for multiple phases. 

Prediction: This will be a close battle but the Irish loose trio should win it with Peter O'Mahony and Dan Leavy showing some impressive form of late and Jack Conan getting a rare opportunity to start. With CJ Stander on the bench, Ireland should also have a more firepower in the latter stages of the match. 

The Centre battle

Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw will continue to build on their partnership in the test side and will face off against Tommaso Castello and Tommaso Boni.

The Italian pair showed flashes of brilliance on attack against England but it will be their defence that will be tested against Ireland with the two hard running centres looking to break through defence and get their outside backs into space. 

Prediction: Once again the Irish pair should win this battle with both players putting in impressive performances on attack and defence against France.

The Battle out wide

Italy's wingers were lethal against England and each got on the scoreboard with a minimal amount of chances. 

Ireland's wingers, on the other hand, had to work extremely hard to gain any kind of advantage against an astute French defence and will be hoping they can get a bit more freedom this weekend. 

Keith Earls and Jacob Stockdale are fantastic in the air and will cause the French wingers plenty of problems with the accurate boots of Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray. 

Mental fitness

This battle concerns Italy more than Ireland as we have seen in the last few close encounters Ireland have played that they are able to finish off the close matches.

The question will be, are Italy able to put in two competitive performances in against arguably the two top sides in the Six Nations?

Ireland will be confident heading into the match and Italy will be pumped up to make the Irish work hard for the victory but it's yet to be seen if Italy can actually make it happen.

Prediction: Italy might be able to apply the pressure on Ireland for the opening 60 minutes of the game but from there it will most likely be up to Ireland to decide by how the margin of victory.