Donal Lenihan's Ireland v Italy preview

There will be changes to the Ireland side. Obviously Andy Farrell does not like changing the squad that often, they have been away in Portugal for nine or ten days, so I wouldn't be surprised if he rotates a few players and brings that squad element into it.

Of course, all the time having that respect for Italy, who were very impressive in that performance against England last weekend.

Sebastien Negri and number 8 Lorenzo Cannone [pictured above] - Italy's two big ball carriers - are out. Cannone, in particular, is a superb athlete, so both of them will be missed.

On the plus side, Ange Capuozzo is back in the running to start; Italy's back line is really impressive and their team is backboned by a Benetton side who are second in the URC - and have only lost one of their nine games.

There is a lot of confidence there. At the same time you look at the cohesion of the Ireland attack and it's very difficult to see anything other than a good Irish win.

England v Wales

Wales against Scotland last week was a bizarre game really. We had a very unusual opening round for the Six Nations: all three away teams won. That doesn't happen too often.

The Welsh game was chaotic; Warren Gatland in making seven changes to his side is an acknowledgement that the may have got the selection wrong in the first place.

On the flip side, England announced an unchanged side for the first time since the 2019 World Cup final.

You can see [Steve] Borthwick trying to build a bit of continuity; they have a new captain in Jamie George, who has been outspoken in trying to bring the Twickenham crowd behind them, because England have been booed at home in recent games. It's a big game for England and I think they'll have enough to win it.

Scotland v France

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