MIKE Ruddock probably knows more about the Italian rugby team than he does about the menu at his local Italiano restaurant.

There is no way the Azurri are going to take Wales by surprise at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday in their second Six Nations game of the season.

For starters Ruddock saw with some alarm Italy's performance against title favourites Ireland last Sunday which filled him with enough concern to warn the Welsh team to step it up, victory over England or not.

Then the main course arrived with detailed reports from Ruddock's spies in the camp, former internationals Andy Moore and Alan Donovan, designated to watch the Italians.

And finally comes the desert with regional coaches asked by Ruddock to compile dossiers on all opposition in the Six Nations which started with Llanelli director of rugby Gareth Jenkins' invaluable report on England last week.

"Italy's performance against Italy brought us back down to earth, and it focused me and the rest of the group," said Ruddock.

"Then we had super presentations on Monday from Andy (scrum half Andy Moore) and Alan who have been tracking the Italian team through the Autumn internationals and the Ireland game which we have backed up with our own stats.

"And Gareth gave us a great overview on England. He had been asked to follow them, and we've got other regional coaches tracking each team.

"A panel of experts have been following the opposition, their selection and their progress. That immediately re-focuses us and it also shows how everyone in Welsh rugby is working together.

"They stood key players down to ensure that we went in against England with a clean bill of health, unlike England, which shows the co-operation we have with the regions."

Ruddock went into more detail - this time about the reasons for going with Stephen Jones rather than Gavin Henson, hero against England, as his number one kicker.

"We debated it long and hard," he admitted. "Stephen is a proven kicker with Wales and Llanelli, he has won massive European Cup and Celtic League games and cup finals, and he has kicked superbly for Montferrand (now Clermont Auvergne) all season, so he is a proven goal kicker week in, week out under pressure.

"Gavin is learning his role. Scott Johnson (assistant and backs coach) is doing a superb job with him and believes in bringing him on at the right pace so he is fresh to do things worthwhile.

"Stephen is also doing all the hard yards, dictating the game, the kicking, drop-outs etc. "Gavin has gone from hero to zero before, now he's back in and we're bringing him on nicely, and while we're backing Stephen he also knows he's got to keep his ratios up while allowing Gavin to do what he wants."

Wales now face three successive away games, and they last won on an opposition ground in the Six Nations in France in 2001.

"We've got to draw strength from our tour to Argentina last summer when we went without a lot of injured players and battled in two different venues, winning once and putting in a great performance in the other," said Ruddock.

"That is the standard we can achieve away and that is the standard I expect. It's 0-0 in the series as far as I am concerned, and we've got to go away and treat it as though it's our first game."