World News – UK – Everything you need to know before Super Saturday in the Guinness Six Nations

by

Paul Eddison

Here we are then, Super Saturday with Wales heading for a Grand Slam and their main title rival, France trying to stop them

Wayne Pivac’s team has gained momentum throughout the championship but is now facing the biggest challenges and winning on the streets of Paris to win the Grand Slam

They have to go back to 1971 when they last made a clean run from Cardiff in Colombes against France that year In the 2021 version of Les Bleus, you face the only team that can refuse to give you the title

Fabien Galthié’s men, who were last beaten by England last weekend, know that they will have to get back on their feet on Saturday to maintain their ambitions in the championship before they rearrange themselves with Scotland

Meanwhile, the Scots open Super Saturday in Edinburgh to recover from consecutive home defeats with a total of five points

They say hello to an Italian side who are desperately trying to end their campaign at the height of their maiden championship away win

Attention is then turned to Dublin, where CJ Stander will get his championship swan song against an English team back in shape after beating France

That has everything a thriller before the resistance at the Stade de France on Saturday evening has to offer

SCOTLAND V ITALY, BT MURRAYFIELD, KO 14:15 (GMT), LIVE ON BBC ONE HD AND VIRGIN MEDIA ONE HD

Scotland will regret some of their previous home defeats, losing two points to Wales before Johnny Sexton’s last penalty later denied

Against Italy they will seek redemption and do so with a vastly different side, especially with Stuart Hogg, who starts for the first time in the test half at test level in the absence of Finn Russell

He has a new half-back partner in Scott Steele while there are injuries in the second row, meaning the alliterative duo Sam Skinner and Grant Gilchrist begin

Elsewhere, Huw Jones is rewarded with a start for his attempt to score against Ireland, with Darcy Graham in the back three and Dave Cherry and Zander Fagerson in the front row

Italy made a number of changes The full-back Edoardo Padovani rose from the bench to the home page after the last impressive win

Federico Mori makes his first test start in the Nr12 jersey, while Marco Riccioni and Federico Ruzza will strengthen the pack

On the bench, Riccardo Favretto could make his test debut, while Marco Zanon could make his 23rd Matchday returns

Scotland: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Stuart Hogg (c), 9 Scott Steele; 1 Rory Sutherland, 2 Dave Cherry, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Sam Skinner, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 7 Hamish Watson, 8 Matt Fagerson Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Alex Craig, 20 Nick Haining, 21 Ali Price, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Chris Harris

Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Federico Mori, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Luca Bigi (c), 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Johan Meyer, 8 Michele Lamaro Substitute: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Maxime Mbandà, 21 Marcello Violi, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Marco Zanon

IRELAND V ENGLAND, AVIVA STADIUM, KO 4:45 PM (GMT), LIVE ON ITV HD AND VIRGIN MEDIA ONE HD

England have handled their recent encounters with Ireland better and Eddie Jones has stuck to the tried and tested trip to Dublin with just one injury-related change

Henry Slade’s injury means Elliot Daly has his first off-center start since 2016, but otherwise it’s the same team that won heavily against France

Ireland has since made major changes to CJ Stander’s last appearance in the championship, with the Hinterrower retiring at the end of the season

He moves to the flanker when Tadhg Beirne moves to the second row instead of the injured James Ryan.In fact, it’s a completely different back row since Jack Conan at No. 1 starts 8 and Josh van der Flier comes on for the injured Will Connors

Elsewhere, Dave Kilcoyne gets the chance to start at Loosehead, and his Munster teammate Conor Murray is back on the starting line-up alongside Johnny Sexton in half-back

In the three quarters, Garry Ringrose’s injury marks a start for Bundee Aki as Robbie Henshaw strips one off while Jacob Stockdale makes his first start of the championship on the left wing

Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 1 Dave Kilcoyne, 2 Rob Herring, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 Iain Henderson, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 6 CJ Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Jack Conan replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Jordan Larmour

England: 15 Max Malins, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny 10 May George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Billy Vunipola Exchange: 16 Jamie George, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Ollie Lawrence, 23 Joe Marchant

FRANCE V WALES, STADE DE FRANCE, KO 20:00 (GMT), LIVE ON BBC ONE HD AND VIRGIN MEDIA ONE HD

A second Grand Slam in three years, a fifth since 2005, is on the agenda for Wales in Paris on Saturday evening

It is a strange quirk that each of the previous four would have ended on a crescendo in Cardiff while this is in front of an empty Stade de France

Wayne Pivac only made one change to his team Adam Beard is back in the second row when Cory Hill falls on the bench

There are three more changes among the substitutes with Nicky Smith, James Botham and Tomos Williams all getting into 23

France still has championship ambitions of its own, with the requirements set out in our permutation piece

Fabien Galthié has named an unchanged starting team for Saturday, Matthieu Jalibert continues at halftime

There are three changes on the bench as Uini Atonio, Swan Rebbadj and Arthur Vincent all get into 23

France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Gaël Fickou, 11 Damian Penaud, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Antoine Dupont, 1 Cyril Baille, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Mohamed Haouas, 4 Romain Taofifenua, 5 Paul Willemse, 6 Dylan Cretin, 7 Charles Ollivon, 8 Grégory Alldritt Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Uini Atonio, 19 Swan Rebbadj, 20 Anthony Jelonch, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Romain Ntamack, 23 Arthur Vincent

Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 George North, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Adam Beard , 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 6 Josh Navidi, 7 Justin Tipuric, 8 Taulupe Faletau Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Cory Hill, 20 James Botham, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Willis Halaholo

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