Your rugby evening headlines for Friday, February 25.
Greenwood predicts big England win
England World Cup winner Will Greenwood believes England will beat Wales comfortably at Twickenham.
Greenwood is predicting a 20-point home win as he backs the English to resist Wales' attempts to turn the match into an arm wrestle.
Writing in the Telegraph, he said: "Wales will draw England into a street fight. It’s their best chance. They don’t want this to be a game of sevens. England want it to be as fast as anything in front of the home crowd. Ball in play, let’s go.
"I think England will win comfortably. I really do. They’re good value in the 'market' to win by 20 points as well. It does not happen very often that’s why. I think they can. Do that, and they’re back in the Championship."
Elsewhere, former England international Andy Goode thinks England will coast to a win, even without Manu Tuilagi, as does Matt Dawson, who was speaking on Radio 5 Live.
Goode wrote in his RugbyPass column: "The conditions look set to be perfect and, while the absence of Tuilagi is a setback, England have the all-court game to beat Wales in different ways and I can see a comfortable 15-point victory for the home side."
Rees-Zammit on Gloucester bench
Louis Rees-Zammit has been named on the bench for Gloucester's clash with Leicester Tigers on Saturday.
The young winger was the shock omission from the Wales squad to play England at Twickenham and was released back to his club because he wasn't involved in the matchday 23.
He doesn't make the Gloucester starting XV though after being away with Wales for much of the past month, but is expected to get game time in the second half.
It comes after Wayne Pivac explained why he's dropped him, amid claims from Eddie Jones that Rees-Zammit is not fit.
The decision to axe the 21-year-old has divided fans, with pundit Gwyn Jones strongly criticising the move.
England v Wales is make or break
England forwards coach Richard Cockerill has conceded whoever loses tomorrow will see their title challenge go up in smoke.
Both teams are on thin ice having lost their opening round matches and another slip-up would be insurmountable.
As such, tomorrow's match is pivotal.
“If we want to have any opportunity to win the Championship, we need to win all three games," said Cockerill.
“That starts tomorrow. So it’s an important game for Wales and ourselves in particular.
“We know we have to win and to win we’re going to have to play well. It’s an important game.
“If we want to have a chance of being Six Nations champions, we have to win our last three games.”
On Wales, he added: “It was a fantastic, resilient performance against Scotland and they really showed guts and attitude.
“They’ve clearly got a lot of very good players, they work very hard for each other and if you give them opportunities, they’ll take them.
“They’ve got a really combative forward pack who are really tough to play against around the contact area and they’ve certainly got a threat in the back line.
“We’re treating them with huge respect and we know they’ll bring their ‘A’ game to Twickenham. We’ve got to make sure we do the same.”
Basham poised for 'huge game'
Wales vice-captain Adam Beard is predicting a big performance from young openside Taine Basham tomorrow.
The Dragons flanker has seen his stock soar in recent months, going from strength to strength at Test level. He was one of few to come out of the Dublin debacle with credit and is nailing down an extremely competitive spot in the squad.
Wales' trip to face England, though, will be the biggest occasion of his career to date.
“He’s been awesome to be fair. He’s just a bundle of energy," Beard said of Basham.
“You just look at his work rate around the park, he just gives us that go forward, and that spark. He’s been great ever since he’s come in.
“It’s going to be a huge game for him tomorrow, and he just stays calm, stays cool, and does his own job. That’s all he needs to do for tomorrow.
"He’s a confident character but for someone like him he needs to breathe that confidence because that’s when he brings the best out of himself.
“As long as he stays true to himself, stays the same, doesn’t change then he’ll have a good day tomorrow.”
Tuilagi expected back soon
England are confident that Manu Tuilagi's latest injury setback is only minor after being forced to tear up their midfield plans for Saturday's Guinness Six Nations clash with Wales.
Tuilagi on Thursday suffered a strain to the same hamstring that was torn against South Africa in the autumn, resulting in his withdrawal from the starting XV that had been named just hours earlier.
No sooner had Eddie Jones warned Wales that England's "gainline accumulator" was back to his rampaging best, adding that "we're planning for him to be at full tilt", than he was on his way home.
The Sale centre has not been ruled out of the final two rounds against Ireland and France pending an update on the severity of the strain, but given his long injury history, his prospects of being involved in this Six Nations look bleak.
"Manu had a slight hamstring strain at training on Thursday, so he's left camp and is at home," forwards coach Richard Cockerill said.
"It's not too serious as far as we know and hopefully he'll be back soon. Manu is in pretty good spirits. Unfortunately this is part of professional sport.
"Manu's still got a smile on his face and is optimistic that he'll be back playing for club and country pretty soon.
"On that front it's pretty positive but obviously we're disappointed for him personally, and it's disappointing for the team as he'd have been an important part of the squad."
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Ireland ring changes for Italy clash
Michael Lowry will make his Ireland debut during Sunday's Guinness Six Nations clash with Italy as part of six personnel changes to Andy Farrell's starting XV.
The selection of the in-form Ulster full-back brings to an end Hugo Keenan's run of 18 consecutive Test starts.
James Lowe, Robbie Henshaw, Dan Sheehan, Ryan Baird and Peter O'Mahony also come into the team beaten 30-24 by France in round two.
Fit-again captain Johnny Sexton has to settle for a place among the replacements, while lock James Ryan has been ruled out by an adductor issue, meaning flanker O'Mahony will skipper the side.
Joey Carbery has retained the number 10 jersey ahead of the influential Sexton, who has overcome the minor hamstring issue which kept him sidelined in Paris.
Hooker Sheehan and lock Baird make maiden Six Nations starts due to the injury absences of Ronan Kelleher and Ryan in an otherwise unchanged front five.
Andrew Porter continues at loosehead prop, with Leinster team-mate Tadhg Furlong carrying on at tighthead, ahead of the new second-row pairing of Baird and Tadhg Beirne.
In the back row, Caelan Doris switches to the centre, with O'Mahony coming in at blindside and Josh Van Der Flier continuing at openside, pushing Jack Conan to the bench.
Lowe has been restored on the left wing after injury ruled him out of the opening win over Wales and subsequent loss to Les Bleus, meaning Mack Hansen moves across to the right in place of Andrew Conway.
British and Irish Lion Henshaw has been preferred to Bundee Aki at inside centre and will partner Garry Ringrose in midfield, behind scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park.
Craig Casey is selected ahead of Conor Murray as the back-up number nine and is joined on the bench by Sexton, Conan, Rob Herring, Dave Kilcoyne, Finlay Bealham, Kieran Treadwell and James Hume.
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