England have dropped their 50-cap fullback Elliot Daly in favour of young Bristol Bears fullback Max Mallins, who will be making his first international start.
Eddie Jones’ England will be looking to bounce back after conceding 40 points to Wales for the first time in their history as they were beaten 40-24 in Cardiff. Their opposition this week, France, are fresh off a 10-day quarantine period which saw their third-round game against Scotland postponed.
Jones has made three other changes to his side, with Bath’s Charlie Ewels replacing Jonny Hill; Cowan Dickie in for Jamie George and Worcester Warriors youngster Ollie Lawrence returns to the squad on the bench.
Meanwhile, after three rounds of Guinness Six Nations, there remains two unbeaten sides left in the competition in France and Wales, the former will be travelling to Twickenham to face England, meanwhile the later will facing Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Scotland will be aiming to get back to winning ways after an amazing start to the tournament. A loss to Wales and the postponed match against France seemed to halt their momentum, and they welcome Ireland to Murrayfield on Sunday. The Irish will be looking to build on their first win of the tournament, a 48-10 domination in Rome last week.
Wales, who will be eyeing up a Grand slam, will be facing wooden spoon favourites Italy, who have been showing signs of improving in this tournament but are still a way off from being a competitive team. Their head coach, Franco Smith, will be hoping they can compete with Wayne Pivac’s men.
Wales have made two changes to their side to face Italy with Gareth Davies replacing the injured Kieran Hardy and Cory Hill set to make his first start of the tournament.
Gloucester Rugby contingent Louis Rees-Zammit, Stephen Varney and Chris Harries have been some of the stand out players in the tournament thus far, meanwhile Jonny May has been quietly performing in an underwhelming England side.
Varney has been outstanding for the Azzurri since making his debut against Wales, his country of birth, in the Autumn Nations Cup. He will be looking to return to the team after missing out against Ireland. We’re all looking forward to potentially see two Gloucester boys face each other on the international stage.
