Italy v Ireland:No great surprises, no curve balls. Declan Kidney showed his hand for Ireland's opening RBS Six Nations assignment in Rome along largely anticipated lines although, of course, to a degree his options were limited.
With a dozen Test players sidelined, the team could perhaps be said to be operating at two-thirds of optimum level. Hence, three players will be making their first Six Nations starts, Mike Ross, Sean O'Brien and Fergus McFadden, yet only one of these Leinster tyros will be making their full Test debut, namely McFadden.
Most of the damage in the casualty ward is in the backrow and the back three, and it's an impressive statement of the customary loose forward strength in depth that in the absence of Jamie Heaslip and Stephen Ferris, Ireland can still field Denis Leamy, David Wallace and O'Brien, with the in-form Shane Jennings on the bench.
Italy's inspirational captain Sergio Parisse has recovered from a hand injury and, alongside outhalf Kristopher Burton, was named in the starting XV to face Ireland in their Six Nations opener.
Widely regarded as one of the best number eights in the world, Parisse will lead out a side at Rome's Stadio Flaminio showing four changes from the win over Fiji last time out. Edoardo Gori, who made his debut in the November tests despite not being a regular for Celtic League side Treviso, continues at scrumhalf but Australian-born outhalf Burton has surprisingly been preferred to Luciano Orquera and will pick up his fifth cap.
Experienced flanker Mauro Bergamasco and outhalf Craig Gower have all but certainly been ruled out of the Six Nations through injury but will hope to make comebacks in time for the World Cup in New Zealand. Italy are bidding to avoid another Six Nations wooden spoon under coach Nick Mallett.
Italy:L McLean (Treviso); A Masi (Racing Metro), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), A Sgarbi (Treviso), M Bergamasco (Racing Metro); K Burton (Treviso), E Gori (Treviso); S Perugini (Aironi), L Ghiraldini (Treviso), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), S Dellape (Racing Metro), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi), J Sole (Aironi), A Zanni (Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais, capt). Replacements:F Ongaro (Aironi), A Lo Cicero (Racing Metro), C Del Fava (Aironi), V Bernabo (Treviso), P Canavosio (Aironi), L Orquera (Brive), G Garcia (Treviso).
Ireland:L Fitzgerald (Leinster); F McFadden (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster); J Sexton (Leinster), T O'Leary (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), S O'Brien (Leinster). Replacements:S Cronin (Connacht), T Court (Ulster), L Cullen (Leinster), S Jennings (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster).
Wales v England:Wales named James Hook at fullback the Six Nations opener against England, while Northampton flanker Tom Wood will make his England debut at the Millennium Stadium. Hook, who has won the majority of his caps at centre, was preferred to Lee Byrne who drops to the bench.
Ospreys props Craig Mitchell and Paul James start in place of injured British and Irish Lions Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones. Alun Wyn Jones and Bradley Davies were named at lock and flankers Sam Warburton and Dan Lydiate join Andy Powell in the back row.
Mike Tindall captains the England team in place of the injured flanker Lewis Moody. Moody is out with a knee injury for at least the first two games of the championship and, with fellow flanker Tom Croft also injured, James Haskell comes in on the blindside.
Louis Deacon will partner Tom Palmer in the second row in place of the injured Courtney Lawes at the Millennium Stadium. The backs have come through the last few weeks' Premiership and Heineken Cup action unscathed and Johnson is able to field the same men who ripped through Australia in November.
Wales:J Hook (Ospreys); M Stoddart (Scarlets), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), J Davies (Scarlets), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys); P James (Ospreys), M Rees (Scarlets, capt), C Mitchell (Ospreys), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), A-W Jones (Ospreys), D Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues, A Powell (Wasps). Replacements:R Hibbard (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys), J Thomas (Ospreys), D Peel (Sale Sharks), R Priestland (Scarlets), L Byrne (Ospreys).
England:B Foden (Northampton); C Ashton (Northampton), M Tindall (Gloucester, capt), S Hape (Bath), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); T Flood (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole (Leicester), L Deacon (Leicester), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Wood (Northampton), J Haskell (Stade Francais), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements:S Thompson (Leeds Carnegie), D Wilson (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), D Care (Harlequins), J Wilkinson (Toulon), M Banahan (Bath).
France v Scotland:Sebastien Chabal will have to make do with a place on the bench for France's opener against Scotland while centre Yannick Jauzion was left out of the match-day 22 altogether. Imanol Harinordoquy was selected ahead of Racing Metro's popular number eight who was named among the substitutes for the game at the Stade de France.
Coach Marc Lievremont has selected Perpignan's Maxime Mermoz instead of Jauzion. The versatile Damien Traille, used as an outhalf during November's tests, has been named at fullback. The other surprise on the list was inexperienced wing Yoann Huget, who made his debut in November and was picked ahead of Vincent Clerc who has 43 caps and scored 22 tries with France.
As Scotland go in search of a first Six Nations win in Paris, captain Alastair Kellock joined by Glasgow team-mate Richie Gray in the secondrow and Nathan Hines starting at flanker.
Johnnie Beattie, who missed the autumn internationals following shoulder surgery, has not been selected in coach Andy Robinson's match day 22, leaving Hines at blindside, Kelly Brown at number eight and John Barclay at openside flanker.
France:D Traille (Biarritz); Y Huget (Bayonne), A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), M Mermoz (Perpignan), M Medard (Toulouse); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne); T Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), W Servat (Toulouse), N Mas (Perpignan), J Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), L Nallet (Racing Metro), T Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), J Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz). Replacements:G Guirado (Perpignan), L Ducalon (Castres), J Thion (Biarritz), S Chabal (Racing Metro), D Yachvili (Biarritz), D Skrela (Toulouse), C Poitrenaud (Toulouse).
Scotland:H Southwell (Stade Francais); N Walker (Ospreys), J Ansbro (Northampton Saints), N De Luca (Edinburgh), M Evans (Glasgow); D Parks (Cardiff Blues), R Lawson (Gloucester); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Newcastle), R Gray (Glasgow), A Kellock (Glasgow, capt), N Hines (Leinster), K Brown (Saracens), J Barclay (Glasgow). Replacements:D Hall (Glasgow), M Low (Glasgow), R Vernon (Glasgow), R Rennie (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh), R Jackson (Glasgow), S Lamont (Scarlets).
