WALES V ITALY
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has made two enforced
changes for Saturday's Six Nations match in Italy.
Aaron Jarvis comes in at at tight-head and Rob Evans makes
his first start at loose-head in place of the injured Samson Lee and Gethin
Jenkins.
There are four changes on the bench, with Rhys Gill, Ken
Owens and Scott Andrews coming in as front row cover with hooker Richard
Hibbard ruled out.
Scarlets scrum-half Gareth Davies comes in for Mike
Phillips.
Sergio Parise is out for Italy The No.8, who at times has
resembled a one-man team for the Azzurri, suffered the damage during the 29-0
home defeat to France last weekend.
New Zealand-born Haimona had pulled out of the meeting with
Les Bleus 24 hours before kick-off but has been declared fit for Italy’s
attempt to win two matches in a Six Nations campaign for only the third time
since joining the European showpiece 15 years ago.
taly: L McLean; L Sarto, L Morisi, A Masi, G Venditti; K
Haimona, E Gori; M Rizzo, L Ghiraldini (capt), M Castrogiovanni, G Biagi, J
Furno, F Minto, S Vunisa, M Bergamasco. Replacements: A Manici, A De Marchi, D
Chistolini, Q Geldenhuys, G Palazzani, R Barbieri, L Orquera, E Bacchin.
Wales team to face Italy
Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon); George North (Northampton Saints),
Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont Auvergne), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Liam
Williams (Scarlets); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Rob Evans
(Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys), Luke Charteris
(Racing Metro), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Sam Warburton
(Cardiff Blues, capt), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Rhys Gill (Saracens),
Scott Andrews (Cardiff Blues), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys),
Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Scott Williams
(Scarlets).
MY PREDICTION
Wales need a big score to stay in the competition and I am
not that sure whether they can I feel that to stand any chance of winning they
need to win the match by 30 points and I think that Italy are too strong to
allow that to happen.
SCOTLAND V IRELAND
Forwards Blair Cowan, Ross Ford and Richie Gray, plus centre
Mark Bennett, full-back Stuart Hogg and scrum-half Greig Laidlaw, the team
captain, become ever-presents in the starting line-up during the Six Nations.
Scotland forward Ryan Grant
Glasgow Warriors forward Ryan Grant returns to the Scotland
starting line-up
Wing Tim Visser is on the replacements' bench instead of
number eight Johnnie Beattie.
Jamie Heaslip returns from injury to start in the back row
for Ireland in their Six Nations clash with Wales at the Millennium Stadium
this Saturday
The No 8 missed Ireland’s victory over England, having
suffered three cracked vertebrae in the win over France in round two. Heaslip’s
return to the side is the only change to the starting XV.
Jordi Murphy drops out of the XV and assumes the role of
back row replacement on the bench.
Scotland
15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt
Scott, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell9 Greig Laidlaw, 1 Ryan Grant, 2 Ross
Ford, 3 Euan Murray, 4 Jim Hamilton, 5 Jonny
Gray, 6 Adam Ashe, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 David Denton
16 Fraser Brown, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Tim
Swinson, 20 Rob Harley, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Greig Tonks, 23 Tim Visser
Ireland
15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie
Henshaw, 11 Luke Fitzgerald 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 1 Cian Healy 2 Rory
Best, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Devin Toner5 Paul O’Connell, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 7 Sean
O'Brien 8 Jamie Heaslip
16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Iain
Henderson, 20 Jordi Murphy 21 Eoin Reddan 22 Ian Madigan23Felix Jones
MY PREDICTION
I am not too sure how this game will go I want to say a 20
point win for Ireland but my head is saying it could be a lot closer maybe by
about 8
ENGLAND V FRANCE
British and Irish Lion Parling is the only change to the
side which beat Scotland 25-13 in their last outing.
Attwood is dropped from the squad altogether with Nick
Easter taking his place among the replacements.
England go into the final round of matches top of the table
but level on points with Ireland and Wales.
France have made two changes from the side which beat Italy
29-0 in Rome on Sunday, both enforced through injury.
Jules Plisson replaces Camille Lopez at fly-half while
Vincent Debaty starts at loose-head prop in place of Eddy Ben Arous.
Teams
England: M Brown (Harlequins); A Watson (Bath), J Joseph
(Bath), L Burrell (Northampton), J Nowell (Exeter); G Ford (Bath), B Youngs
(Leicester); J Marler (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole
(Leicester), G Parling (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), C
Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Vunipola (Saracens).
Replacements: T Youngs (Leicester), M Vunipola (Saracens), K
Brookes (Newcastle), N Easter (Harlequins), T Wood (Northampton), R
Wigglesworth (Saracens), D Cipriani (Sale), B Twelvetrees (Gloucester).
France: S Spedding, Y Huget, G Fickou, M Mermoz, N
Nakaitaci, J Plisson, S Tillous-Borde; V Debaty, G Guirado, N Mas, A Flanquart,
Y Maestri, T Dusautoir (capt), B Le Roux, L Goujon.
Replacements: B Kayser, R Slimani, U Atonio, R Taofifenua, D
Chouly, R Kockott, R Tales, M Bastareaud.
MY PREDICTION
I think that England will win this match by about 10 points.
MY CHAMPION
I think that England look the strongest of the teams but
Ireland can get a big enough win to make them nervous
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