It's hardly the ideal scenario. A non-championship match, on the back of a couple of defeats, in front of a half-empty Lansdowne Road against an Italian side whose results haven't flattered them. As must-wins go, this is almost a no-win scenario.

The mood in the Irish camp, as reflected by the management at yesterday's press conference following a mixed two-hour session in Greystones, would appear to be relaxed enough. However, when asked if he felt personally under pressure, Irish coach Warren Gatland smiled and readily admitted: "A huge amount. "A huge amount," he repeated. "We're aware that there are huge expectations out there and that there's been a lot of criticism levelled at us after our last performance, which puts us all under a lot of pressure. But I'm looking forward to it as well. Maybe it's the Kiwi fight in me, but I'm hoping that with our backs to the wall we can come out and play well."

Such is the pressure on the Irish coach, it's been said that given a choice of 10 sports venues he'd like to be at this weekend, Lansdowne Road wouldn't be one of them. As this weekend also has the Grand National, the US Masters, the Brazilian grand prix and the English FA Cup semi-finals (which perhaps again shows how flawed the decision was to push the Five Nations back to an April finish) maybe it's not entirely fanciful a notion, though in point of fact there's nowhere he'd rather be.

"Of course we're under pressure but this is a chance to go out and play. That's why it's a good challenge. If you're not prepared to cope with it then you shouldn't be here."

It's also a big game on an individual basis for many of the Irish team, not least the seven players promoted from the bench. Amongst these is Ciaran Scally, the young UCD scrum-half who will be making only his second start in an Irish jersey - in the first of them, against Romania, he was substituted.

Gatland says that Scally will be asked, as against the Romanians, to concentrate on clearing the ball away from the back quickly, and will be expected to temper the "youthfulness" which prompted him to look for the break a bit too early in the Romania game. "We don't want him to force it. He's a big player and defensively very strong, and he's looking nice and confident in training this week," says Gatland.

Part of this weekend's agenda is the A encounter and though there are misgivings about the three recruited Antipodeans on the A side tomorrow, as Gatland pointed out the As haven't exactly covered themselves in glory during this campaign save for Shane Horgan, who is injured at the moment. The ploy to leave picking them until this juncture was in part to prevent their price tag going up.

Gatland himself has never encountered the azzurri before, although he does recall one meeting in his All Black career with Italian club side. At the tail end of their 1989 tour New Zealand beat Treviso 104-8. Gatland, to his own embarrassment, wasn't among the scorers.

The Italians have lost to France, Scotland and Wales. They are without their influential centre Cristian Stoica, a regular thorn in Irish sides over recent years, due to a thigh injury. Veteran prop Massimo Cuttitta has been dropped and although experienced scrum-half Alessandro Troncon is troubled by a hamstring, he has been included in a squad of 22. So too, for the first time, is 29-year-old South African flanker Wim Visser.

Although the squad has been labelled past its best and has supposedly been kept together out of loyalty by long-serving French-born coach Georges Coste in a desire to give them first tilt at their historic entry into next season's Six Nations Championship, Gatland points out that the core of this squad have contributed to Italy's run of three successive wins over Ireland.

"If you look back at their matches this season they've been right in the games at half-time before they fell apart in the last 20 minutes. Against Wales a couple of key players were injured, and I thought they played quite well against Scotland but the referee was very tough on them."

"They're an experienced unit who've been together for a long time and have some quality players in Dominguez, Troncon and Giovanelli, who's a very good loose player. They're a very physical side too."

Giovanelli is fortunate not to be suspended for this game after his initial suspension when dismissed for stamping on Eric Peters was overturned due to a technicality (the disciplinary committee was appointed by the Five Nations, though the match, strictly speaking didn't fall under their ambit).

However, Gatland's viewing of the Scotland-Italy tape prompted him to support Giovanelli's view that the Italian flanker had himself been "rucked around the head" in an incident moments before.

"He says he's not the type of player who goes in for dirty play and if that's what he says that's fine by me."