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Italy v Wales Odds: Back Shane Williams in the first tryscorer betting

Click here for the latest odds and betting preview for the Wales v Italy Six Nations match on Saturday 10th March 2012.

Wales and Italy gets the Six Nations tournament back underway on Saturday afternoon after a break last weekend and Warren Gatland's Wales are strong favourites for the match at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome. If Wales did win it would be their first back to back wins for two years after their victory over Scotland last time and they are odds on favourites at 4/6 with Paddy Power bookmakers, while Italy are a stronger proposition at home and can be backed at 4/1.

For Wales they will be keen to build on their slightly surprising success at Murrayfield two weeks ago when they humbled Scotland 24-6 to secure their first victory in eight matches. It will be a similar game plan this weekend as they will need to silence a partisan home crowd early and they did that to great effect at Murrayfield as they stormed into a 16-0 lead.

There is a change in personnel though as Jonathan Davies is out injured which means Stephen Jones comes in and replaces James Hook at number 10 despite Hook seemingly making the number 10 jersey his own in recent matches. Hook moves to outside centre for the match.

Shane Williams was instrumental in the victory in Scotland and we fancy he is the man to look out for again this weekend, particularly as he is available at industry best priced odds of 7/1 with PaddyPower.com to be the first tryscorer. He ran in two tries in Murrayfield and he could add to that tally this weekend. While Morgan Stoddart continues to impress and he is also best priced at 7/4, but this time in the anytime tryscorer market.

The match in Rome will be far from easy for Wales despite Italy's recent 59-13 thrashing at the hands of England. They are a much stronger team at their Stadio Flaminio home as they so nearly proved when leading Ireland 11-10 before succumbing to a last gasp Ronan O'Gara drop goal two weeks ago. They rely heavily on the kicking of Mirco Bergamasco and have made three changes to their team for the weekend.

The last meeting between the sides saw Wales win comfortably by 33-10 at the Millennium Stadium but the last two fixtures in Italy have been different stories. Wales won 20-15 in 2009 and suffered a surprise 23-20 defeat in 2007, only the second time they have lost to Italy (the first time being in 2003). We fancy it will be another close affair this weekend and Italy could be worth backing at +10 in the handicap market with Paddy Power as they are available at 10/11.

This match is a crucial one for both sides as they look to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon, a dubious 'honour' Italy have taken in eight of the last eleven tournaments. Wales should prove too strong for this Italian side though and it would be an important one after their Scottish victory, and it could be worth a look at the Wales win on Italian soil by a narrow margin of 6-10 points at odds of 7/2.

Find out more about the match odds, team form and latest team news for Italy v Wales at our dedicatedSix Nations mini-site.

Italy v Wales Form

Check the season's statistics for both Italy and Wales plus the odds ahead of Saturday's match.

Italy Stats |Wales Stats

Italy v Wales Tips

Tip #1: Wales to win by 6-10 points @ 7/2 with PaddyPower.com
Tip #2: Shane Williams to be first tryscorer @ 7/1 with PaddyPower.com
Tip #3: Morgan Stoddard to score a try anytime @ 7/4 with PaddyPower.com

Italy v Wales Odds

Match Betting

4/1 Italy
25/1 Draw
1/6 Wales

Handicap Odds

10/11 Italy +10
10/11 Wales -10
20/1 Draw

Winning Points Margin Odds

15/2 Italy by 1-5 points
12/1 Italy by 6-10 points
22/1 Italy by 11-15 points
4/1 Wales by 1-5 points
7/2 Wales by 6-10 points
7/2 Wales by 11-15 points
11/2 Wales by 16-20 points

First Tryscorer Odds

7/1 Shane Williams
8/1 Leigh Halfpenny
8/1 Morgan Stoddart
11/1 James Hook
11/1 Lee Byrne
12/1 Jamie Roberts
14/1 Rhys Priestland
14/1 Andrea Masi
18/1 BAR

Odds supplied by PaddyPower.com, who provide a variety of betting markets for this match and all the weekend's Six Nations fixtures.

Posted: Thursday, 24th February 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: six nations, wales, italy, shane williams, paddypower,

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