England vs Ireland

Kickoff: 2:10pm, Saturday 21st February

Venue: The Allianz Stadium, Twickenham

Watch on: ITV1

Predicted winner: England

This could be a defining moment for both teams. Ireland are in a transition phase, and still have some big questions to answer, but they did manage to stabilise things with a narrow victory over Italy last weekend. England, on the other hand, were on a winning streak that was abruptly halted by Scotland on Saturday. England are under much more pressure than the visitors, but Ireland will know that a win over England would completely change the vibe around Irish rugby.

Steve Borthwick has made a few big changes to the England side that was swept aside by Scotland. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the inclusion of Henry Arundell. The Bath winger managed to avoid suspension and has been backed by Steve Borthwick after his nightmarish outing at Murrayfield. The other winger that weekend has not been so lucky; Tom Roebuck has struggled in both games this Six Nations and has been dropped as a result. Tommy Freeman has moved back out to the right wing in his place which allows the fit-again Ollie Lawrence to come in at outside centre. These changes give England a much better platform from which to attack with the ball in hand. 

The tight five is unchanged after being the only facet of the England team that wasn't terrible in the Calcutta Cup. Even the, Maro Itoje was ineffective once again and is yet to find his regular form. The back row has been completely reshuffled. Ben Earl is the only survivor from the starting group last week but he has been moved to flanker. Henry Pollock will take up the no.8 spot instead whilst Tom Curry replaces Guy Pepper. This should give England some more athleticism and allow them to break open the game in a way that they couldn't against Scotland. 

Underhill and Pepper were only demoted as far as the bench. The other forwards on the bench are unchanged from the previous game. George, Davison, Rodd and Coles will all be alongside Underhill and Pepper. The final two changes were made in the backs on the bench. Jack van Poortvliet has been preferred to Ben Spencer and Marcus has replaced Fin as the fly-half option. These changes continue the theme of additional pace to this team that was given the runaround by the Scots.

Despite beating Italy, Andy Farrell has made some big changes to his team. Tadhg Furlong has been brought into start despite failing to fix Ireland's scrum issues when he came off the bench against Italy. He is the only change in the tight five with Sheehan keeping his place after being out-played by Kelleher. McCarthy and Beirne have kept their places at lock but that hasn't stopped Beirne from coming into the starting XV. He has replaced Cormac Izuchukwu who is unlucky to miss out entirely. He and Edogbo miss out completely after being in the squad last week. Elsewhere in the back row, Andy Farrell has returned to one of his most trust men (Josh van der Flier) to be a more conventional openside flanker. This means that Jack Conan drops to the bench with Nick Timoney. Beirne starting in the back row has given Andy Farrell the freedom not to pick a second row on the bench and go with a 5-3 split. 

The changes in the backs were expected. Gibson-Park has replaced Casey at scrum-half and Jack Crowley has replaced Sam Prendergast at fly-half with Ciaran Frawley on the bench, leaving Prendergast out of the team entirely. The team looked better when Gibson-Park and Crowley were on so this should be the strongest possible version of Ireland. Interestingly, Frawley is one of 3 backs on the bench. Casey and O'Brien are with him in a surprising move that has been made in spite of England's pack strength. Edogbo and Izichukwu are very surprising omissions from this team.

Team news

England

Starting XV
1.Ellis Genge 2.Luke Cowan-Dickie 3.Joe Heyes 4.Maro Itoje(C) 5.Ollie Chessum

6.Tom Curry 7.Ben Earl 8.Henry Pollock 9.Alex Mitchell 10.George Ford

11.Henry Arundell 12.Fraser Dingwall 13.Ollie Lawrence 14.Tommy Freeman 15.Freddie Steward

Bench

16.Jamie George 17.Bevan Rodd 18.Trevor Davison 19.Alex Coles

20.Guy Pepper 21.Sam Underhill 22.Jack van Poortvliet 23.Marcus Smith

Ireland

Starting XV
1.Jeremy Loughman 2.Dan Sheehan 3.Tadhg Furlong 4.Joe McCarthy 5.James Ryan

6.Tadhg Beirne 7.Josh van der Flier 8.Caelan Doris(C) 9.Jamison Gibson-Park 10.Jack Crowley

11.James Lowe 12.Stuart McCloskey 13.Garry Ringrose 14.Robert Baloucoune 15.Jamie Osborne

Bench

16.Ronan Kelleher 17.Tom O'Toole 18.Finlay Bealham 19.Nick Timoney 

20.Jack Conan 21.Craig Casey 22.Ciaran Frawley 23.Tommy O'Brien

Wales vs Scotland

Kickoff: 4:40pm, Saturday 21st February

Venue: The Millennium Stadium

Watch on: BBC ONE

Predicted winner: Wales

After two heavy defeats to start the tournament Steve Tandy has made some big changes to his Wales team. In the second row, Adam Beard has been dropped entirely after a very poor game against France. Ben Carter starts in his place with Freddie Thomas on the bench. The decision to drop Beard will be popular but Welsh fans should be wary that Beard has been crucial to the line-out and it drops off massively in his absence. Last year, the Welsh line-out was 20% more efficient when he was in the team. The other dropped player in the pack is Olly Cracknell. The Leicester man is unlucky to miss out and has been replaced by Taine Plumtree. Plumtree is an exceptional athlete but his discipline leaves much to be desired. If he cant figure things out, he will be a key piece of this team going forward. Wales aren't blessed with great athletes so some patience will inevitably be granted to those who are as gifted as he is.

There are two changes to the backs. Despite being one of the best players in the Welsh team, Ellis Mee has been dropped in favour of Gabriel Hamer-Webb. However, the big news comes at fly-half. In a shocking move, Steve Tandy has dropped Dan Edwards completely from the 23-man squad and Sam Costelow leap-frogs Jarrod Evans into the starting jersey. Costelow has been in and out of the starting side since 2023 but is yet to really make his mark. Edwards has also shown promise in the jersey so perhaps Tandy is just exploring his options fr the future.

After trouncing England Gregor Townsend has made several changes to his team. Some have been enforced due to injury whilst others are a matter of preference. In the front row, Turner is demoted to the bench with Cherry starting. In the second row. Max Williamson makes the starting XV after starting the first 2 games on the bench. This allows Gregor Brown to move to the back row to replace the injured Jamie Ritchie. Josh Bayliss joins Grant Gilchrist on the bench.

There are two changes in the backs with Duhan van der Merwe replacing Jamie Dobie, due to injury, and Blair Kinghorn making his first appearance in place of Tom Jordan. This Scottish back-line is much more similar to the one that we've seen in recent years. Scotland should win this game but, even though they have struggled in recent times, Wales have posed consistent challenges for the Scots. This is exactly the kind of game that Scotland have been guilty of letting slip away in the past.

Team news

Wales

Starting XV

1.Rhys Carre 2.Dewi Lake(C) 3.Tomas Francis 4.Dafydd Jenkins 5.Ben Carter 

6.Taine Plumtree 7.Alex Mann 8.Aaron Wainwright 9.Tomos Williams 10.Sam Costelow

11.Josh Adams 12.Joe Hawkins 13.Eddie James 14.Gabriel Hamer-Webb 15.Louis Rees-Zammit

Bench

16.Ryan Elias 17.Nicky Smith 18.Archie Griffin 19.Freddie Thomas 

20.James Botham 21.Kieran Hardy 22.Jarrod Evans 23.Blair Murray

Scotland

Starting XV

1.Nathan Mcbeth 2.Dave Cherry 3.Zander Fagerson 4.Max Williamson 5.Scott Cummings

6.Gregor Brown 7.Rory Darge 8.Matt Fagerson 9.Ben White 10.Finn Russell

11.Duhan van der Merwe 12.Sione Tuipulotu(C) 13.Huw Jones 14.Kyle Steyn 15.Blair Kinghorn

Bench

16.George Turner 17.Pierre Schoeman 18.Elliot Millar-Mills 19.Grant Gilchrist

20.Josh Bayliss 21.George Horne 22.Tom Jordan 23.Darcy Graham

France vs Italy

Kickoff: 3:10pm, Sunday 22nd February

Venue: Stade de France

Watch on: ITV1

Predicted winner: France

France have been completely dominant in their first two games against Ireland and Wales. They have played some dazzling rugby which is highlighted by their 45 offloads. Their opponents this weekend are second in offload number with just 15. This just goes to show how special this team is. France haven't won as many slams as they should've in recent years and this is a golden opportunity. It should also be noted that France have consistently won this tournament in the editions that follow a Lions Tour as this one has. Last time these teams met in France, Italy were very unlucky not to win so this is a game that could jeopardise France's grand-slam hopes. 

In the pack, the locks from the Wales game have been swapped which means that Flament and Meafou are starting whilst Ollivon and Guillard are on the bench. The back row remains unchanged. On the bench, Mauvaka is back once again along with Colombe at tighthead prop. Colombe is a man-mountain who looks the part for international rugby but has struggled with the physicality of the game in the past. With Uini Antonio no longer playing, Colombe needs to step up and fill his gigantic boots. The French backs are unchanged after impressing last week with Barassi replacing Nene on the bench.

Gonzalo Quesada has only made one change to his team from last week. Ange Capuozzo is fit once again and replaces Lorenzo Pani at fullback. The bench, on the other hand, has a couple of new players. Dimcheff comes in for Di Bartolomeo and Hasa is replaced by Zilocchi. Other than that, the Italian team is the same. This is partially because of players being unavailable, but it's also a result of some impressive performances from those who are currently in possession of an Azzurri jersey.

Team news

France

Starting XV

1.Jean-Baptiste Gros 2.Julien Marchand 3.Dorian Aldegheri 4.Thibaud Flament 5.Emmanuel Meafou

6.Francois Cros 7.Oscar Jegou 8.Anthony Jelonch 9.Antoine Dupont(C) 10.Matthieu Jalibert 

11.Louis Bielle-Biarrey 12.Fabien Brau-Boirie 13.Emilien Gailleton 14.Theo Attissogbe 15.Thomas Ramos

Bench

16.Peato Mauvaka 17.Rodrigue Neti 18.Georges-Henri Colombe 19.Charles Ollivon

20.Mickarl Guillard 21.Lenni Nouchi 22.Baptiste Serin 23.Pierre-Louis Barassi

Italy

Starting XV
1.Danilo Fischetti 2.Giacomo Nicotera 3.Simone Ferrari 4.Niccolo Cannone 5.Andrea Zambonin

6.Michele Lamaro(C) 7.Manuel Zuliani 8.Lorenzo Cannone 9.Alessandro Fusco 10.Paolo Garbisi

11.Monty Ioane 12.Leonardo Marin 13.Tommaso Menoncello 14.Louis Lynagh 15.Ange Capuozzo

Bench

16.Pablo Dimcheff 17.Mirco Spagnolo 18.Giosue Zilocchi 19.Federico Ruzza

20.Riccardo Favretto 21.David Odiase 22.Alessandro Garbisi 23.Paolo Odogwu