The game is vital to both teams as Ireland are looking to bounce back from the crushing defeat in Paris last time out, while England will be looking to build on two solid but uninspiring victories over Wales and Italy.

Ireland will be looking for a vintage performance from Murphy on Saturday

Ireland coach Declan Kidney has tinkered with the team slightly for the game, Murphy replacing Rob Kearney at full back after he was injured in France while Kidney has opted for young Leinster prospect Johnny Sexton at fly half, Donncha O’Callaghan replacing Leo Cullen in the second row and Rory Best replacing the banned Jerry Flannery at hooker.

“Last year there was some negative press over England but they still finished second in the championship, England teams are always very strong.” said Kidney when asked about the recent unimpressive displays from Johnson’s side.

Murphy will be looking to put himself back in Kidney’s plans this Saturday after recent injury problems have hampered his season. He’s excited about playing at Twickenham and facing some Leicester team-mates, old and new.

“I have played with and against some of the (England) guys on a regular basis and know Twickenham well,” Murphy added.

England will be looking to beat Ireland to keep their chances alive of a surprising Grand Slam, Martin Johnson keeping faith with the same fifteen who laboured to a victory over Italy in Rome, ignoring some of the ridiculous calls in the press to drop Wilkinson, who has had his bad days at the office but is still a world-class player when it comes to it.

“Jonny missed a few kicks and suddenly everyone’s calling for his head which I find pretty disappointing and surprising,” the former England captain said.

England were very disappointing against Italy and Johnson knows that but he is a realist and knows that despite just getting past Italy, they didn’t lose the game and are in a better Championship position than their Irish opponents whose back to back Grand Slam dreams were extinguished against an explosive France side.

Twickenham is sure to be a cauldron of noise and raw emotion on Saturday come 4 o’clock, when we could possibly see the best game of the championship so far with two teams wanting to prove everything to their doubters for different reasons.

England: 15-Delon Armitage, 14-Mark Cueto, 13-Mathew Tait, 12-Riki Flutey, 11-Ugo Monye, 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Danny Care; 1-Tim Payne, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Simon Shaw, 5-Steve Borthwick (captain), 6-James Haskell, 7-Lewis Moody, 8-Nick Easter

Replacements: 16-Lee Mears, 17-David Wilson, 18-Louis Deacon, 19-Joe Worsley, 20-Paul Hodgson, 21-Toby Flood, 22-Ben Foden.

Ireland: 15-Geordan Murphy, 14-Tommy Bowe, 13-Brian O’Driscoll (captain), 12-Gordon D’Arcy, 11-Keith Earls, 10-Jonathan Sexton, 9-Tomas O’Leary; 1-Cian Healy, 2-Rory Best, 3-John Hayes, 4-Donncha O’Callaghan, 5-Paul O’Connell, 6-Stephen Ferris, 7-David Wallace, 8-Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: 16-Sean Cronin, 17-Tony Buckley, 18-Leo Cullen, 19-Shane Jennings, 20-Eoin Reddan, 21-Ronan O’Gara, 22-Andrew Trimble.

Warren Gatland

Wales face a considerable task when they face six nations favourites France at the Millennium stadium tomorrow night.

Coach, Warren Gatland knows that his side’s discipline and defence have to improve if they want any chance in a game that could see the 2008 Grand Slam champions struggling.

In their first two games Wales have conceded 54 points and five tries, winning one and losing one, whilst France are looking for their third straight victory which would keep them on track for their first tournament clean sweep since 2004.

Gatland said: “The key for us is starting well. France have got some big strong ball-carriers, and we have to get in their faces and stop them.”

“France like to have a bit of time on the ball, and they will take risks. They do make mistakes, and discipline is a key for us.”

Defensive blunders has led to Wales falling behind in recent matches against Australia, England and Scotland. This is an area that needs to be tightened up considerably.

Gatland is confident they will sharpen up on this side of their game, and also promises to keep their positive approach and at the same time entertain.

He said: “I believe you need to be positive in the way you play. As a coach, I like us to be smart and positive.”

“We know we need to improve on our performance against Scotland.”

However, Wales will have their work cut out, France have only lost one of five previous Six Nations games at Cardiff, scoring 135 points.

Les Bleus have been in inspired form and were too strong for Scotland before ending Irish hopes of a second successive Grand Slam by blitzing them 33-10 in Paris.

Gatland said: “I think France have been impressive. They were clinical against Ireland, although I felt Ireland shot themselves in the foot a little bit.”

Stage One started in Rome with wintry conditions offering a tough challenge to Dallaglio and his peers.His squad of cyclists  include ex-footballers Lee Dixon and Les Ferdinand who have cycled into the Bourgogne region of the south of France set for Stage Two to commence.

By Sunday 21 February, Dallaglio and his crew had cycled a remarkable 1225km, leaving them with with 1663km remaining. Having negotiated through the relatively traffic-free countryside of France, the team are now set to enter the manic streets of Paris.

Dallaglio: “I’m nervous but aiming to raise £1m, its a round                                                 number, but also happens to be a big round number.”

Lawrence is on course to complete the cycle in his desired 24 days.

For more information of the ride visit:   www.sportrelief.com/whats-on/challenges/dallaglio/donate

Riki Flutey returns to face Italy

The New-Zealand born centre was kept out of England’s 30-17 triumph over Wales last Saturday due to a knock which he picked up in training. Flutey, who turned 30 on Wednesday, will be eager to maintain England’s 100% start of this season’s Six Nations against the lackluster Italians.

He was one of England’s best players throughout the Six Nations last year, scoring four tries which was joint highest, including two against France as well as setting up one. Flutey will replace Toby Flood after recovering from his thigh injury.

Flutey missed England’s Autumn internationals too through injury and is ready to be back in the England set-up.

He said: “I can’t wait to get out on the field and play alongside some of these great players in this England team.”

England’s opponents Italy were beaten 29-11 in last weekends Six Nations opener away at Croke Park in a one-sided affair. The Italians failed to record a single win in last year’s championship and things didn’t look any better in Ireland. Injuries have hampered their chances already with their talisman captain Sergio Parisse already ruled out of the entire championships as well as lock Carlo Del Fava and scrum-half Simon Picone missing this weekend’s game.

England’s impressive win over championship rivals Wales will certainly stand them in good stead ahead of their encounter in Rome. Injuries to the Italian side won’t help their cause, in a game that even at full strength they would struggle to win.

This weekend sees grand-slam chasing Ireland take on England at Croke Park, and Scotland hosting the Italians at Murrayfield.

Ireland are looking to avenge their humiliating defeat at Twickenham last year by trying to emulate their famous victory over the English at Croke Park in 2007.

That time Ireland thumped England 43-13, in an emotionally charged atmosphere.

“Two years ago we had a record win over England but that was a real one-off,” said Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll. 

Ireland will want to continue their good run, after defeating France on the opening day of the championship and beating Italy in Rome two weeks ago.

Declan Kidney, the Irish coach, has named an unchanged squad to face England on Saturday.

Ulsterman, Paddy Wallace has been given the thumps up after suffering from a head injury against France, which needed 16 stitches over his left eye.

England will be desperate to get their campaign back on track after being soundly beaten by champions Wales 23-15, two weeks ago.

Toby Flood is England’s only change. He gets the number 10 shirt, replacing Andy Goode, who drops to the bench.

England coach, Martin Johnson, said “he has played pretty well coming off the bench, so we think it’s a great opportunity for him to come in and start.”

Danny Cipriani, the young fly half talked up as the next Johnny Wilkinson, has failed to impress while wearing the England shirt and is again left out of Martin Johnson’s squad, despite having a good run of domestic form for Wasps.

The Scotland-Italy match has been marked down as the wooden spoon decider, but the with their nations pride at stake, expect to see 80 minutes of raw passion on show.

Scotland coach, Frank Hadden, has made two changes to his squad, with both Euan Murray and Alastair Kellock coming in.

“We are delighted to recall Euan Murray and bring someone as experienced as Al Kellock in to replace Jim Hamilton,” said Hadden.

 The Italians themselves have also made changes to the side that lost to Ireland two weeks ago.

Andrea Marcato and Marco Bortolami return from injury to join the Azzuri along with Leonardo Ghiraldini and Gonzalo Garcia.

This will be an extremely important weekend for all the teams and should prove to be a great spectacle of rugby.