Ghiraldini believes Treviso-effect can lift Italy past Ireland

Italy captain Leonardo Ghiraldini believes club side Treviso's recent form can be carried into the national side as Italy look to break their Six Nations drought against Ireland on Sunday with players from the Italian Pro14 side making up the bulk of their team.

The Azzurri are desperate to avoid a 20th straight defeat in the tournament with their last home win against the Irish in March 2013 at the Stadio Olimpico.

And Ghiraldini, who takes over as captain after Sergio Parisse suffered concussion, said the team composition on Sunday is similar to the one that beat Ireland six years ago.

"I was playing for Treviso at 2013 and we were like 13-15 players playing for the national team at that moment," said Toulouse hooker Ghiraldini.

"We were in the same position regarding the results that Treviso had during the months before.

"We had the confidence to play and read the games.

"2013 was a real season for Trevisio and it was a real season for the national side.

"So there are similarities in this situation because Treviso is winning a lot at this moment and we have 14 players tomorrow that will play for Italy and Treviso.

"Having the confidence to win week by week and you can obviously bring that to the national team.

"Ireland had that in the last few years had that with Munster and Leinster."

Ghiraldini added: "There are similarities, at the same time 2013 was a completely different situation because it was the last match of the Six Nations, we already won against France, we had really good matches against England and Wales, it was completely different moment.

"Ireland are one of the best teams in the world, even if they lost to England they are still there they have confidence.

"Our focus is to play our game. To show that we can play at this level."

Ghiraldini added that Italy "missed too many opportunities" in defeats against Scotland (33-20) and Wales (26-15).

"We have another opportunity tomorrow to play our best rugby and we hope to see a result at the end."

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has made four changes to his Grand Slam winning side which beat Scotland last time out, after losing their opening match against England.

Captain Rory Best will be rested with Leinster's two-time Champions Cup-winning stalwart Sean Cronin taking his place at hooker.

"It doesn't change a lot for us. Sean Cronin has 65 caps I think and he won everything last season," added 101-times capped Ghiraldini.