Rugby:A brief overview of how they teams will line out this weekend.
Italy v England:Italy coach Jacques Brunel made two changes to the side that was beaten 30-12 by France last week, handing starts to Aironi lock Marco Bortolami and Clermont Auvergne centre Gonzalo Canale for the Saturday's game against England in Rome's Stadio Olimpico (4pm).
Veteran flanker Mauro Bergamasco has been included on the bench after recovering from the shoulder injury that ruled him out of the 2011 championship.
Chris Robshaw will captain an unchanged England side.
Interim coach Stuart Lancaster staged a full-blooded training session on Tuesday afternoon to give every member of the squad a chance to force his way into the starting line-up. But Lancaster has opted to stick by the same team that launched England’s title defence with a gritty 13-6 victory over Scotland last weekend.
Northampton’s Phil Dowson has held off a challenge from Ben Morgan to keep his place at number eight, in direct opposition to the dynamic Italy captain Sergio Parisse.
Morgan will be primed to make an impact off the bench at the sold-out Olympic Stadium, just as the 22-year-old did on a confident Test debut against Scotland.
The Northampton pair of Courtney Lawes and Tom Wood are also still sidelined.
ITALY:A Masi (Aironi Rugby), G Venditti (Aironi Rugby), T Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), L McLean (Benetton Treviso), K Burton (Benetton Treviso), E Gori (Benetton Treviso); A Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro Paris), L Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi Rugby), M Bortolami (Aironi Rugby), A Zanni (Benetton Treviso), R Barbieri (Benetton Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais).
Replacements:T D'Apice (Aironi Rugby), L Cittadini (Benetton Treviso), A Pavanello (Benetton Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Aironi Rugby), F Semenzato (Benetton Treviso), T Botes (Benetton Treviso), L Morisi (BancaMonte Parma Crociati).
ENGLAND:B Foden (Northampton Saints); C Ashton (Northampton Saints), B Barritt (Saracens), O Farrell (Saracens), D Strettle (Saracens); C Hodgson (Saracens), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers); A Corbisiero (London Irish), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), D Cole (Leicester Tigers), M Botha (Saracens), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester Tigers), C Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), P Dowson (Northampton Saints).
Replacements:R Webber (London Wasps), M Stevens (Saracens), G Parling (Leicester Tigers), B Morgan (Scarlets), L Dickson (Northampton Saints), J Turner-Hall (Harlequins), M Brown (Harlequins).
France v Ireland:France scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili has been ruled out of Saturday's Six Nations clash against Ireland in Paris (8pm) with a back problem, with Clermont Auvergne's Morgan Parra drafted into the starting XV by coach Philippe Saint-Andre.
Imanol Harinordoquy, named on the bench last weekend, has been selected ahead of Julien Bonnaire due to his lineout presence. Jean-Baptiste Poux comes in for Vincent Debaty at prop, hooker Dimitri Szarzewski replaces William Servat, and Yoann Maestri has been given the nod ahead of Lionel Nallet in the secondrow.
Declan Kidney had made just one change to the Ireland side that lost to Wales, with Keith Earls replacing Fergus McFadden at outside centre.
McFadden drops to the bench and David Kearney drops out following Earls’s return to the side after he missed the opening defeat to Wales for personal reasons.
Earls was named in the starting XV for the 23-21 defeat at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday only to be withdrawn when his new-born baby girl was admitted into hospital with an unspecified illness.
FRANCE:M Medard (Toulouse); V Clerc (Toulouse), A Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), W Fofana (Clermont Auvergne), J Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne); F Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), M Parra (Clermont Auvergne); J-B Poux (Toulouse), D Szarzewski (Stade Francais), N Mas (Perpignan), P Pape (Stade Francais), Y Maestri (Toulouse), T Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), I Harinordoquy (Biarritz), L Picamoles (Toulouse).
Replacements:W Servat (Toulouse), V Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), L Nallet (Racing Metro), J Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Julien Dupuy (Stade Francais), L Beauxis (Toulouse), M Mermoz (Perpignan).
IRELAND:R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), K Earls (Munster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster); J Sexton (Leinster), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster) (capt), S Ferris (Ulster), S O'Brien (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster).
Replacements:S Cronin (Leinster), T Court (Ulster), D Ryan (Munster), P O'Mahony (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), F McFadden (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster).
Wales v Scotland:Former Wales captain Ryan Jones will take the place of banned lock Bradley Davies in Sunday's Six Nations clash against Millennium Stadium visitors Scotland (3pm).
Wales coach Warren Gatland has, as expected, moved Jones from blindside flanker to partner his Ospreys colleague Ian Evans in the secondrow. And in a triple fitness boost for Gatland, flanker Dan Lydiate has recovered from an ankle injury to reclaim the number six shirt, prop Gethin Jenkins has shaken off knee trouble to start and skipper Sam Warburton also features.
Scotland have made two enforced changes for the clash in Cardiff, with Greig Laidlaw set to make his first Test start after the sudden retirement of outhalf Dan Parks.
Laidlaw is poised to win his fourth cap in place of Parks, who yesterday announced his retirement from international rugby with immediate effect following a poor display in last Saturday's 13-6 loss to England at Murrayfield.
Edinburgh prop Geoff Cross has been recalled in place of Newcastle tighthead Euan Murray, who does not play on Sundays for religious reasons, in the only other change to the starting XV.
WALES:L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); A Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), J Davies (Scarlets), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), G North (Scarlets); R Priestland (Scarlets), M Phillips (Bayonne); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), H Bennett (Ospreys), A Jones (Ospreys), R Jones (Ospreys), I Evans (Ospreys), D Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt), T Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements:K Owens (Scarlets), P James (Ospreys), L Reed (Scarlets), A Powell (Sale Sharks), L Williams (Cardiff Blues), J Hook (Perpignan), S Williams (Scarlets).
SCOTLAND:R Lamont (Glasgow Warriors); L Jones (Edinburgh), N De Luca (Edinburgh), S Lamont (Scarlets), M Evans (Castres); G Laidlaw (Edinburgh), C Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (capt, Edinburgh), G Cross (Edinburgh), R Gray (Glasgow Warriors), J Hamilton (Gloucester), A Strokosch (Gloucester), R Rennie (Edinburgh), D Denton (Edinburgh).
Replacements :S Lawson (Gloucester), E Kalman (Glasgow Warriors), A Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), M Blair (Edinburgh), D Weir (Glasgow Warriors), S Hogg (Glasgow Warriors).
