This Saturday sees the first games involving northern hemisphere sides in the build up to the IRB Rugby World Cup in September.
England take on Wales at Twickenham and both managers have named strong starting teams, if not totally at full strength. Here are the sides:
England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Danny Care, 8 James Haskell, 7 Lewis Moody (capt), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mouritz Botha, 19 Tom Wood, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Charlie Hodgson, 22 Charlie Sharples.
Wales: 15 Rhys Priestland, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (capt), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Brad Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Lloyd Burns, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Scott Williams, 22 Morgan Stoddart.
The other game is Ireland against Scotland at Murrayfield. The Scots have named a relatively strong team, while Ireland are quite underpowered. Here are the line-ups:
Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Rory Lawson (capt), 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Alastair Kellock, 19 David Denton, 20 Greig Laidlaw, 21 Nick De Luca, 22 Jack Cuthbert.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O’Leary, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 Mike McCarthy, 5 Leo Cullen (capt), 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Marcus Horan, 18 John Hayes, 19 Mick O’Driscoll, 20 Kevin McLaughlin, 20 Isaac Boss, 22 Felix Jones.
What are Roarers’ thoughts on these fixtures? Predictions?
sledgeandhammer
Guest
You missed Canada vs USA
Football United
Guest
it's going to be enjoyable seeing tuilagi run straight through jonathan davies and jamie roberts. that kid is a beast.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Don't forget the tattoos, VC. Both Banahan and Tuilagi are stand-outs while Cueto & Haskell also sport tattoos. This is probably England's most heavily inked starting XV to date. If Lawes was in the line-up then there'd be another boost to the quota.
Untimelyzapped
Guest
The England team looks more like a training side. Way understrength. Shaw great for 40 mins but no more than that. Wales have a real shot even without Hook.
Viscount Crouchback
Guest
I predict bulging biceps but not much in the way of rugby.