Six Nations: Week 2 Preview
Saturday
Italy v England- Kick off: 16:00
Italy welcome back the experience of inside centre Gonzalo Canale and lock Marco Bortolami for Saturday's Six Nations encounter with England. The pair have been included in the side to replace Alberto Sgarbi and Cornelius Van Zyl from last weekend's 30-12 defeat to France. Jacques Brunel's men will be watched by over 82,000 fans at Rome's Stadio Olimpico, the biggest stadium capacity of the 2012 Six Nations tournament.
Stuart Lancaster has chosen to name the same starting XV and replacements that beat Scotland 13-6 at Murrayfield last weekend for this Saturday's match against Italy. Leicester Tigers' duo Manu Tuilagi and Toby Flood are still missing with injuries but both are expected to return to the side later in the tournament. After scoring England's only try in Scotland, Charlie Hodgson will resume his role at fly-half after recovering from a shoulder injury.
Italy are a different prospect on home turf but Lancaster will be confident of winning in Rome after keeping faith with the largely inexperienced side that won in Edinburgh a week ago.
France v Ireland- Kick off: 20:00
France coach Phillipe Saint-Andre has named Morgan Parra in his side that will face Ireland at the Stade de France on Saturday. Parra replaces Dimitri Yachvili at scrum-half who misses out with a back injury. The French coach has made two changes in the front-row with Vincent Debaty and William Servat being replaced by Jean- Baptiste Poux and Dimitri Szarzewski. The other two changes see Biarritz man Imanol Harinordoquy and Toulouse's Yoann Maestri come in for Julien Bonnaire and Lionel Nallet. France beat Ireland 25-22 in last year's Six Nations encounter at the Aviva Stadium and they have the home advantage in this year's tie.
Ireland boss Declan Kidney has made one change to his side from the team that were narrowly beaten by Wales on Sunday for this weekend's clash with France. Munster's centre Keith Earls replaces Fergus McFadden after missing the opening Six Nations game due to family reasons. The only other change within the squad sees Leinster man McFadden drop to the replacements bench in place of fellow Leinster back David Kearney. Ulster's Stephen Ferris was cleared by a citing commission on Wednesday after being sin-binned in the loss to Wales for his tackle on Ospreys forward Ian Evans.
Ireland's away record against Les Bleus is poor and they will come up against a France team that will be brimming with confidence after securing a comfortable win in their opening game against Italy last time out.
Sunday
Wales v Scotland- Kick off: 15:00
Wales captain Sam Warburton has been declared fit to play against Scotland in Cardiff on Sunday after the Blues forward was withdrawn in the victory against Ireland at half-time with a dead-leg. Warren Gatland has also been boosted by the return of Gethin Jenkins who comes straight back into the side to replace Rhys Gill in the front-row. Wales' only other change sees Ryan Jones replacing replace the suspended Bradley Davies in the second-row, with Newport Gwent Dragons forward Dan Lydiate returning to the side as flanker to fill the void left by Jones.
Andy Robinson has made two enforced changes ahead of Scotland's trip to Wales this weekend. Edinburgh's Greig Laidlaw will play at fly-half after Dan Parks retired from international rugby earlier this week. Scotland's other change sees Geoff Cross come into the side in place of Euan Murray who misses the match for religious reasons. Robinson has also included the uncapped trio of Duncan Weir, Stuart Hogg and Ed Kalman on the bench for the trip to the Millennium Stadium as he looks to get his side's first points of this season's Six Nations.
Wales will be full of confidence after their last-minute win against Ireland last time out and should be more than capable of beating a Scotland side that still can't find that clinical edge to secure the points that their performances have deserved.
