England v Italy(Twickenham, Saturday, 2.30pm): England manager Martin Johnson had intended to send out the same starting XV that laid the foundations for England's 26-19 victory over Wales, their first in Cardiff since 2003, for the Six Nations visit of Italy on Saturday.
However, Andrew Sheridan has been ruled out of the game against with a back injury and Alex Corbisiero will make his Test debut at loose-head prop. The other change to England's 22-man squad comes on the bench, where Leeds flanker Hendre Fourie replaces Joe Worsley after recovering from a calf injury.
Fourie was not considered for the Wales game but he came through a 40-minute appearance for Leeds unscathed last weekend to prove his fitness.
Italy coach Nick Mallett has made four changes to the side that lost their opener against Ireland. Pablo Canavosio replaces injured Benetton Treviso scrum-half Edoardo Gori, who dislocated his shoulder during his team’s 13-11 defeat to Ireland at Rome’s Stadio Flaminio last weekend.
Kristopher Burton drops to the bench with Luciano Orquera taking his place at number 10. Orquera returns to the competition having not featured for the Azzurri in the Six Nations since 2005. Valerio Bernabo will also earn his first start in the tournament due to flanker Josh Sole’s ankle injury.
Benetton Treviso’s Carlo Antonio Del Fava will partner club team-mate Quintin Geldenhuys in the Azzurri’s second row, replacing Santiago Dellape who is among the replacements.
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 Corbisiero (London Irish), 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), H Fourie (Leeds Carnegie), D Care (Harlequins), J Wilkinson (Toulon), M Banahan (Bath).
Italy:L McLean (Treviso); A Masi (Racing Metro), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), A Sgarbi (Treviso), M Bergamasco (Racing Metro); L Orquera (Brive), P Canavosio (Aironi); S Perugini (Aironi), L Ghiraldini (Treviso), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), C Del Fava (Aironi), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi), V Bernabo (Treviso), A Zanni (Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais, capt). Replacements:F Ongaro (Aironi), A Lo Cicero (Racing Metro), S Dellape (Racing Metro), R Barbieri (Treviso), F Semenzato (Treviso), K Burton (Treviso), G Garcia (Treviso).
Scotland v Wales
(Murrayfield, Saturday, 5pm): Scotland head coach Andy Robinson has named an unchanged starting XV for Saturday’s the clash with Wales at Murrayfield. Scotland suffered defeat on the opening weekend of the Six Nations for the 11th time in 12 attempts, losing 34-21 to defending Grand Slam champions France in Paris last Saturday.
Scrum-half Rory Lawson (back) and wings Max Evans (dead leg) and Nikki Walker (knee) have shaken off knocks to retain their places.
Under-fire Wales coach Warren Gatland has named James Hook at outhalf for the match against Scotland in Edinburgh as he seeks to end a run of eight matches without a win. Stephen Jones, who started in the number 10 jersey in Friday's 26-19 defeat to England, drops to the bench having taken a limited part in training after a neck injury.
Lee Byrne replaces Hook at fullback, while Ryan Jones starts at number eight in place of Andy Powell, who injured his shoulder against England. With the Welsh backline struggling in recent games there has been a clamour in the Welsh media for Hook to start at outhalf, despite barely playing in the position for the Ospreys this season.
Winger Morgan Stoddart, Wales’s try scorer against England, retains his place despite breaking a bone in his hand in Friday’s match.
Scotland:H Southwell (Stade Francais); N Walker (Ospreys), J Ansbro (Northampton), 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), J Barclay (Glasgow), K Brown (Saracens). Replacements:S Lawson (Gloucester), M Low (Glasgow), R Vernon (Glasgow), R Rennie (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh), R Jackson (Glasgow), S Lamont (Scarlets).
Wales:L Byrne (Ospreys); M Stoddart (Scarlets), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), J Davies (Scarlets), S Williams (Ospreys); J Hook (Ospreys), 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), R Jones (Ospreys). Replacements:R Hibbard (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), J Thomas (Ospreys), J Turnbull (Scarlets), T Knoyle (Scarlets), S Jones (Scarlets), R Priestland (Scarlets).
Ireland v France
(Aviva Stadium, Sunday, 3pm): It was hardly vintage stuff in Rome last week, but Ireland coach Declan Kidney saw enough to suggest a minimal amount of tinkering would suffice ahead of France's visit to Dublin on Sunday.
The return of Jamie Heaslip is the only personnel change to the side that sneaked a 13-11 win over Italy and his presence means Se�n O'Brien will operate on the blindside of the backrow this week, while Denis Leamy must settle for a place on the bench.
"If we start slowly this weekend we will get torn apart," said Kidney when announcing his team. "Sometimes you need to play with that fear factor that will get you out of the blocks nice and early."
If not fear, there will certainly be a few nerves on the part of Fergus McFadden, who retains his place on the right wing ahead of his first start on Irish soil.
It is a measure of both France's content and intent that the Tinkerman has resisted the temptation to tinker. Even the one change which Marc Lievremont has made to the starting XV from the side which kicked off their Six Nations with a 34-21 win over Scotland last Saturday was forced upon him.
Entering his fourth Six Nations campaign, Lievremont has used 85 players in his time as French coach, and admitted to toying with the idea of changing his secondrow or backrow to accommodate the power of Jerome Thion or Sebastien Chabal, but after Les Bleus handsomely rediscovered traditional French virtues after their horror show last time out in November, when losing 59-16 to Australia in Paris, decided not to do so.
"Finally in the end, I chose stability," he declared from the French squad's base in Marcoussis outside Paris, which are not words the French rugby media have heard too often in the last three and a half years. Perhaps he was also mindful of his reputation and the Parisian crowd's booing when he began emptying his bench early in the second half against Scotland at a time when the French pack were turning the screw.
Thus, the one change sees Damien Traille move from full-back to inside centre in the absence of the injured Maxime Mermoz who will miss the remainder of the season due to shoulder surgery. Clement Poitrenaud, who appeared off the bench against Scotland in the reshuffle which followed the departure of Mermoz in the 44th minute, starts at fullback with Yannick Jauzion recalled to the bench.
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), S O'Brien (Leinster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements:S Cronin (Connacht), T Court (Ulster), L Cullen (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster), P Wallace (Ulster).
France:C Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Y Huget (Bayonne), A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), D Traille (Biarritz), 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), S Marconnet (Biarritz), J Thion (Biarritz), S Chabal (Racing Metro), D Yachvili (Biarritz), Y Jauzion (Toulouse), V Clerc (Toulouse).
