England

With international coaches already putting into action plans which aim to have their squads in optimum shape come the 2015 World Cup in England, now is the time to look at some of those players who could be household names in three years time...

When Martin Johnson resigned as England head coach there was a lot of discussion as to who should replace him.

Whilst the retirement of flanker Tom Rees in March due to a knee injury was disheartening for England, it was a hammer blow to London Wasps

This season Gloucester's young owner Ryan Walkinshaw has thrown his support behind Bryan Redpath giving him license to go out and bring the very best to Kingsholm.

It is an inevitable truth that every new English fly half will ultimately be compared to Jonny Wilkinson in one way or another and this was no different with the emergence of Owen Farrell on the international scene.

England hooker Dylan Hartley has been cited for allegedly biting Stephen Ferris' finger during Saturday's Six Nations clash with Ireland.

A scrappy affair in Rome saw Italy avoid the Wooden Spoon for a sixth year in a row beating Scotland 13-6.

The Rugby Union Fans Six Nations team of the tournament, this is based on player performance throughout the competition and not on the talent levels of the individual player;

Azzurri coach Jacques Brunel has made six changes to his Italy side that will face Scotland in the wooden spoon decider on Saturday afternoon.

The England v Ireland Legends Game will take place at The Twickenham Stoop on Friday 16 March 2012, KO 7:45, in support of the Stuart Mangan Memorial Cup.

England produced their best performance of the 2012 Six Nations to claim a 24-22 victory over France, in a classic test match at the Stade de France.

It promises to be a great weekend of rugby, as England and Ireland legends meet in a charity match on the eve of the big 6 Nations clash.

Wales captain Sam Warburton has been ruled out of Saturday's clash with Italy after he failed to recover from a knee injury.

Before the world cup last year many England fans and pundits, including myself, were touting Ben Youngs and Toby Flood as the best half back pairing England had to offer.

Former England skipper and 2003 World Cup winner Lewis Moody has announced his retirement from rugby with immediate effect.

For as long as I can remember Rugby has been considered to be a game played by gentleman. However as the modern world continues to be driven by greed and corruption can we really expect the young players of today to behave in a gentlemanly manner when it comes to contract negotiations and transfer talks?

England's hopes of securing a top seeding for the 2015 Rugby World Cup draw later this year suffered a major setback with defeat to Wales in their Six Nations clash at Twickenham on Saturday.

It is fair to say that England have been solid but uninspiring in their opening two matches of the 2012 Six Nations.

Stuart Lancaster and Andy Farrell chat to Russell Hargreaves

Stuart Lancaster's England side made it two wins from two after producing a strong second half performance to overcome a spirited Italian side on Saturday.