The absence of Parisse will be a huge blow to Italy’s chances of defeating a resurgent Wales in Rome.

But Edwards insists he was not at all shocked when he saw Parisse was a major doubt for Italy this weekend.      

"It's no surprise he has been done for speaking to refs, it's not something he hasn't done before," said Edwards.

 “I'm sure they won't play with 14 players. We have to handle whoever plays number eight for Italy.

"Funnily enough, we were watching footage on Friday from the [Six Nations] game [against Italy] last year and you can clearly hear him on the ref's mic coming out with profanities in the ref's earshot about what damage he was going to do to one of our players if he did the same thing again.

"So, it's no surprise to me that he has been done for backchat to a referee."