England and Italy get this year’s championship underway on Saturday followed by France’s eagerly awaiting trip to Croke Park. Scotland tackle defending champions Wales on Sunday.
The team selections are as follows:
Saturday
England v Italy
(Twickenham, 2pm – On TV: RTE 2, BBC 1)
Harry Ellis will start at scrum-half for England against Italy on Saturday after Danny Care failed to recover from an ankle injury. Care suffered strained ligaments after turning his ankle during training on Tuesday and was finally ruled out on Thursday.
Italy coach Nick Mallett has handed Mauro Bergamasco the number nine role. With Pablo Canavosio having failed to recover from a problematic knee and Simone Piccone and Pietro Travagli, Mallett revealed he had little choice but to shift the Stade Francais flanker.
England: D Armitage (London Irish); P Sackey (Wasps), M Tindall (Gloucester), R Flutey (Wasps), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); A Goode (Brive), H Ellis (Harlequins); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), L Mears (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), N Kennedy (London Irish), J Haskell (Wasps), S Armitage (London Irish), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), J White (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), B Foden (Northampton), S Geraghty (London Irish), M Tait (Sale Sharks).
Italy: A Masi (Biarritz), K Robertson (Viadana), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), G Garcia (Calvisano), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais); A Marcato (Benetton Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais); F Ongaro (Saracens), S Perugini (Stade Toulousain), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), S Dellape (Toulon), M Bortolami (Gloucester), J Sole (Viadana), A Zanni (Calvisano), S Parisse (Stade Francais). Replacements: C Festuccia (Racing Metro Paris), C Nieto (Gloucester), T Reato (Femi Rovigo), J-F Montauriol (Venezia), G Toniolatti (Capitolina), L McLean (Calvisano), M Pratichetti (Calvisano).
Ireland v France
(Croke Park, 5pm – On TV: RTE 2, BBC 1)
Paddy Wallace’s inclusion alongside Brian O’Driscoll was the main talking point from Declan Kidney’s initial selection in the tournament. Elsewhere, Jamie Heaslip and Jerry Flannery won tight calls at number eight and hooker.
France sport an all new halfback partnership with Castres number nine Sebastien Tillous-Borde starting alongside outhalf Lionel Beauxis. There are recalls in the back division for in-form Toulouse team-mates Florian Fritz and Clement Poitrenaud, at centre and fullback respectively.
Ireland: Rob Kearney (UCD - Leinster); Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Brian O'Driscoll (UCD - Leinster), Paddy Wallace (Ballymena - Ulster), Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College - Leinster); Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution - Munster), Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin - Munster): Marcus Horan (Shannon - Munster), Jerry Flannery (Shannon - Munster), John Hayes (Bruff- Munster); Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution - Munster), Paul O'Connell (Young Munster - Munster); Stephen Ferris (Dungannon - Ulster), David Wallace (Garryowen - Munster), Jamie Heaslip (Naas - Leinster). Replacements: Rory Best (Banbridge - Ulster), Tom Court (Malone - Ulster), Malcolm O'Kelly (St.Mary's College - Leinster), Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution - Munster), Peter Stringer (Shannon - Munster), Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne - Leinster), Geordan Murphy (Leicester)
France: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Florian Fritz, Yannick Jauzion, Maxime Medard (all Toulouse); Lionel Beauxis (Stade Francais), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres); Lionel Faure (Sale), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Benoit Lecouls (Toulouse), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz). Replacements: Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin), Benoit Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse).
Sunday
Scotland v Wales
(Murrayfield, 3pm – On TV: RTE 2, BBC 1)
Gavin Henson remains a doubt after straining a calf muscle in training this week. Tom Shanklin is on standby to come back into the team. Elsewhere, there championship debuts for Leigh Halfpenny and Andy Powell while Mike Phillips is back at scrumhalf.
Edinburgh prop Geoff Cross wins his first cap as Northampton’s Euan Murray has been unable to train all week with a rib injury. Perpignan lock Nathan Hines (knee) is also injured, meaning Sale’s Jason White - nominally a flanker - will start in the second row.
Scotland: H Southwell (Edinburgh); S Webster (Edinburgh), B Cairns (Edinburgh), G Morrison (Glasgow), S Lamont (Northampton); P Godman, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), G Cross (Edinburgh), J White (Sale), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Hogg (Edinburgh), S Taylor (Stade Francais), J Barclay (Glasgow). Replacements: D Hall (Glasgow), A Dickinson (Gloucester), K Brown (Glasgow), S Gray (Northampton), C Cusiter (Perpignan), C Paterson (Edinburgh), M Evans (Glasgow).
Wales: L Byrne (Ospreys); L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), G Henson (Ospreys), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), M Rees (Scarlets), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Ospreys), A-W Jones (Ospreys), R Jones (Ospreys, capt), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), A Powell (Cardiff Blues). Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), D Jones (Scarlets), D Peel (Sale Sharks), J Hook (Ospreys), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues).
