Friday 23 February 2018 – 20:00 – France v Italy
Heading into the halfway point of this year’s Six Nations tournament, both France and Italy are yet to pick up a win.
France sit above Italy who are rock bottom having failed to win any of their last 14 Six Nation matches.
Mathieu Bastareaud returns for France after completing his three-week ban for a homophobic slur.
The Toulon back verbally abused ex-Hartpury player, Sebastian Negri, in a Champions Cup tie in January.
France coach Jacques Brunel has made five changes to the team that lost 32-26 to Scotland, with Benjamin Fall, Remy Grosso, Hugo Bonneval and Paul Gabrillagues also coming into the starting line-up.
Several France players have been dropped for their “inappropriate” behaviour on a night out in Edinburgh following the defeat by Scotland – including Six Nations top try-scorer Teddy Thomas.
The French Rugby Union said the players “did not respect their status as international players”.
Coach Conor O’Shea makes three changes from the teams that lost 59-19 to Ireland last weekend.
Italy last beat France in the Six Nations in February 2013, under former coach Jacques Brunel, who took charge of his native France in December.
France team: Bonneval; Fall, Bastareaud, Doumayrou, Grosso; Beauxis, Machenaud; Slimani, Guirado (captain), Poirot; Vahaamahina, Gabrillagues; Tauleigne, Camara, Lauret.
Replacements: Pelisse, Priso, Gomes Sa, Taofifenua, Galletier, Couilloud, Trinh-Duc, Fickou.
Italy team: Minozzi; Benvenuti, Boni, Castello, Bellini; Allan, Violi; Lovotti, Ghiraldini, Ferrari, Zanni, Budd, Negri, Mbanda, Parisse (captain).
Replacements: Bigi, Quaglio, Pasquali, Biagi, Ruzza, Gori, Canna, Hayward.
Saturday 24 February 2018 – 14:15 – Ireland v Wales
Ireland play a Wales side looking to bounce-back after a disappointing and controversial defeat to England.
Ireland currently have the best attack in the tournament scoring 71 points in total, whilst Wales have the best defensive record only conceding 19 points so far.
Gloucester’s own Ross Moriarty retains his starting place for Wales, whilst Taulupe Faletau has been released back to Bath to play against Sale on Saturday.
Moriarty is set to make a successive third start since recovering from a serious back injury he sustained whilst on tour with British and Irish Lions.
Dan Biggar and Liam Williams are set to make their first appearances in this year’s Six Nations tournament, with Leigh Halfpenny returning to the side after injury.
Gatland has made three changes overall, with George North starting on the bench.
Ireland coach Andy Farrell is optimistic Iain Henderson and Tadhg Furlong will be fit for Saturday’s Six Nations game against Wales.
Both Lions forwards sustained hamstring injuries in the win over Italy, with prop Furlong coming off early on and lock Henderson replaced at half-time.
Neither took part in full contact training on Tuesday – unlike lock James Ryan who will be available this weekend.
Robbie Henshaw will be out of action for up to four months after injuring his shoulder in the act of scoring a try against Italy.
Garry Ringrose took a full part in training on Tuesday and Farrell was impressed with the 11-cap centre’s sharpness.
“Garry is looking great, he’s in great nick and it’s great to have him back,” he said.
Ringrose, 23, has been out of action for the past six weeks but could challenge Munster’s Chris Farrell for the number 13 jersey.
Ulster scrum-half John Cooney and Munster hooker Niall Scannell were also drafted into the Ireland squad on Monday as replacements for injured duo Luke McGrath and Rob Herring.
Wales team: Halfpenny; L Williams, S Williams, Parkes, S Evans; Biggar, G Davies; R Evans, Owens, Lee, Hill, AW Jones (captain), Shingler, Navidi, Moriarty
Replacements: Dee, W Jones, Francis, B Davies, Tipuric, A Davies, Anscombe, North.
Ireland team: Sexton, Kearney, Earls, Farrell, Aki, Stockdale; Murray, Stander, Leavy, O’Mahony, Toner, Ryan, Porter, Best (captain), Healy.
Replacements: Cronin, McGrath, J Ryan, Roux, Conan, Marmion, Carbery, McFadden.
Saturday 24 February 2018 – 16:45 – Scotland v England
Scotland take on an England side looking to put some distance between them and Ireland in the table as the top-two teams are currently level on nine points.
Scotland will be hoping to get revenge on England after their triple-crown dreams were crushed at Twickenham last year in a game that ended 61-21 to the current Six Nations champions.
Coach Eddie Jones has made just one change to the starting line-up ahead of England’s clash with Scotland at Murrayfield this Saturday.
Nathan Hughes returns to the side at No 8 for the first time this year following a knee injury he picked up in December.
Joe Launchbury will play in his 50th game for England having made his debut for his country in 2012.
Captain Dylan Hartley will become England’s second most capped men’s player of all time when he steps out for the 92nd time on Saturday.
Hartley will surpass Jonny Wilkinson on 91 caps and now only sits behind Jason Leonard (114).
England team: Brown, Watson, Joseph, Farrell, May, Ford, Care; Vunipola, Hartley (captain), Cole, Launchbury, Itoje, Lawes, Robshaw, Hughes.
Replacements: George, Marler, Williams, Kruis, Underhill, Wigglesworth, Te’o, Nowell.
Scotland team: Hogg, Seymour, Jones, Horne, Maitland, Russell, Laidlaw; Wilson, Watson, Barclay (captain), Gray, Gilchrist, Berghan, McInally, Reid.
Replacements: Lawson, Bhatti, Nel, Swinson, Denton, Price, Grigg, Kinghorn.
