After a one-week break the Six Nations returns with teams looking for more than just Storm Doris to put the wind into their sails ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2019 pool draw.

Scotland and Wales kick off proceedings at Murrayfield on Saturday in a fixture that rarely disappoints.

Who could forget Gareth Edwards’ chip-and-chase effort in the Cardiff mud in 1972, Jim Calder’s wonderful team score 10 years later or Ieuan Evans bamboozling the Scottish defence with his swivelling hips in 1988?

More recently, George North added his name to that roster of wonder tries with the game-clincher against Scotland in last year’s epic encounter at the Principality Stadium.

Following on from events in Edinburgh, Ireland play France at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin – a match that will not only have serious implications on the respective teams' title chances but also their place in the World Rugby Rankings, which form the basis for the RWC 2019 pool draw.

VIEW THE FULL RANKINGS HERE >>

VIEW THE CURRENT SIX NATIONS STANDINGS HERE >>

While England and Italy look certain to be seeded in bands one and three at the draw in Kyoto on 10 May, there is still plenty at stake in Sunday’s fixture at Twickenham.

England can take another step closer to equalling the world record for consecutive test wins, having notched 16 on the bounce so far, while also taking another step towards achieving back-to-back Grand Slams.

For a proud Italian team propping up the Six Nations table, the hurtful 63-10 defeat suffered at home to Ireland a fortnight ago will no doubt serve as motivation to prove all their doubters wrong.

SCOTLAND (8) v WALES (5)

Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw misses his first Six Nations game since 2012 due to the Championship-ending ankle injury he picked up in the first half of the 22-16 defeat to France in Paris.

Scrum-half Ali Price is promoted off the bench for his first test start, while Henry Pyrgos is named among the replacements and is set to feature in the Six Nations for the first time since March 2013.

With Josh Strauss ruled out through injury, Ryan Wilson comes back in at number eight in a new-look back-row featuring John Hardie instead of Hamish Watson at openside. John Barclay starts his first match as Scotland captain.

Sean Maitland has not recovered from the knock he received while playing for Saracens last Friday and is replaced on the wing by Tim Visser.

Meanwhile, Wales welcome back George North as the winger goes in search of a Six Nations record. North has recovered from the leg injury which kept him out of the defeat to England and takes his place on the right flank at the expense of Alex Cuthbert.

If he crosses the whitewash at Murrayfield, North will have scored in six consecutive Six Nations matches, breaking a record held by eight other players from Tot Robinson back in 1897-1900 to Rory Underwood, Philippe Bernat-Salles and Shane Williams.

The only other change to the Welsh 23 that took on England sees Luke Charteris included on the bench at the expense of Cory Hill.

In brief

  • Wales have won the last nine matches between the two, including four at Murrayfield
  • Scotland’s only defeat in their last five home matches was by a single point to Australia at Murrayfield in November
  • Neither side has yet to receive a yellow card
  • Stuart Hogg marked his 50th cap against France with his third try of the Championship, putting him level with three Irishmen at the top of the charts
  • Leigh Halfpenny has slotted his last 11 kicks at goal

Rankings predictor

Scotland will drop out of the top eight – and into band three in pool draw terms –  if they lose to Wales with Argentina the beneficiaries.

Wales will move into the top four if they beat Scotland and Ireland draw or lose in Dublin. A draw would also be enough for Wales if France only manage a narrow victory in the Irish capital.

IRELAND (4) v FRANCE (7)

Johnny Sexton and Rory Best both return to face France in a line-up showing a total of three changes from the team that enjoyed a record 63-10 win over Italy in round two.

First-choice hooker and captain Best returns, after missing the Italy win with a stomach bug, in a front row that also features Jack McGrath instead of Cian Healy at loose-head prop.

Meanwhile, fly-half Sexton plays for the first time since taking on the All Blacks at the Aviva Stadium in November.

France coach Guy Noves has also made three changes to his line-up for the trip to Dublin. In an otherwise unchanged backline, Yoann Huget comes in for the injured Virimi Vakatawa on the right wing, while Rabah Slimani and Bernard Le Roux are recalled to the forward pack at prop and flanker respectively.
 
On the bench, loose-head Eddy Ben Arous returns for Noves' side while centre Henry Chavancy, who has over 200 matches worth of experience in the Top 14 and Europe with Racing 92, is in line for his debut if called upon.

In brief

  • Against Italy, Ireland achieved their biggest ever victory (63-10) and the most points they have ever scored in a Championship game since they contested the inaugural event in 1883.
  • Ireland’s only defeat in their last six tests at the Aviva Stadium was against New Zealand in November
  • The Irish have not been defeated at the venue in the Six Nations since England were the visitors in round two back in 2013
  • France have recorded only one Championship victory over Ireland in Dublin since 2007 – 25-22 at Aviva Stadium in 2011

Rankings predictor

Ireland will drop out of the top four – and band one for the RWC 2019 pool draw – if they lose to France, being replaced by either Wales or their conquerors. Victories for both France and Wales will see Ireland drop two places to sixth.

France can only move into the top four if they win and Scotland beat Wales, otherwise only a two-place climb above Ireland and South Africa is possible.

ENGLAND (2) v ITALY (14)

Vice-captain Owen Farrell wins his 50th cap for his country in an England team showing four changes to the one that beat Wales a fortnight ago.

Joining Farrell in a new-look midfield is Rugby League convert Ben Te’o, who has been rewarded for his impresisve showings off the bench in the first two rounds.

Danny Care trades places with Ben Youngs at scrum-half and the only other change in the backline see Jonny May line up on the wing.

James Haskell, one of England’s standout performers in 2016, returns to the back row in an otherwise unchanged pack.

For Italy, Tommaso Allan is preferred to Carlo Canna at fly-half and makes his first start for the Azzurri since June. Allan is one of four changes made by Italy coach Conor O’Shea to the side beaten 63-10 at the Stadio Olimpico a fortnight ago.

In addition to Allan, Michele Campagnaro comes in at outside-centre, Giulio Bisegni returns on the right wing in place of Angelo Esposito – reclaiming the spot he had occupied in round one against Wales – and Abraham Steyn replaces Maxime Mbanda, who has made the joint highest number of tackles (42) in the Championship.

In brief

  • This is England’s 300th test at Twickenham
  • England have won their last 16 test matches dating back to the defeat of Uruguay at RWC 2015 – their best sequence ever
  • Italy have never beaten England in 22 attempts
  • England have won their last nine Championship matches. The all-time record is 10 successive wins also achieved by England from 1882-86 and 1922-25
  • The Azzurri’s only victory in their last 17 Six Nations matches was 22-19 over Scotland at Murrayfield in 2015
  • Italy need two tries to reach 900 in tests, while England are one away from achieving the feat in the Championship alone.

Rankings predictor

England cannot improve their position or points total –  they are second on 91.02 points – as a result of the 19.21 rating points between the two nations before the home advantage weighting is factored in.

Italy can regain the 13th place they lost to Tonga thanks to their heavy defeat at the hands of the Irish if they manage a first-ever victory over England. Pull off a win by more than 15 points and the Azzurri will climb three places to 11th, relegating Japan, Georgia and Tonga one place in the process.

AMERICAS RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2017 Americas Rugby Championship enters the penultimate weekend with Argentina XV and the USA sharing the lead on 14 points, eight points clear of their rivals Canada and Uruguay.

VIEW ARC 2017 STANDINGS HERE >>

In round four, the USA Eagles travel to Chile and Uruguay entertain Canada, while Argentina XV host Brazil.

CHILE (30) v USA (17)

Bottom-of-the-table Chile continue with their squad rotation policy for the visit of the Eagles as only three of the starting line-up from last week’s 45-10 home defeat by Argentina XV survive the cut, all of them in the forwards.

Hooker Manuel Gurruchaga retains his spot in the front row and takes over the captain’s armband from centre José Ignacio Larenas, who drops out of the squad altogether. The only other returnees are second-row Mario Mayol and openside flanker Anton Petrowitsch.

Winger Nate Augspurger becomes the 42nd captain in the history of USA test rugby as he prepares to lead out a team showing six changes to the one that convincingly beat Canada in round three.

Ben Tarr and James Hilterbrand, who captained the Eagles for the first time against Brazil three weeks ago, join tight-head Chris Baumann in the front row, while Matt Jensen and Siaosi Mahoni form a new-look second-row partnership. Jensen is set for his first test start, having come off the bench in his only other appearance against Uruguay in round one.

Will Magie, so impressive against Canada, makes way for Ben Cima at fly-half, and the only other change comes on the right wing where Aaron Davis displaces Ryan Matyas.

In brief

  • The Eagles won last year’s match in Fort Lauderdale 64-0, their third biggest win of all time
  • The overall head-to-head is 2-1 to the USA, Los Condores having won 21-13 the only other time they played each other on Chilean soil in 2002
  • The USA will equal their best-ever run of consecutive test wins if they manage a fourth straight victory on Saturday. They last achieved the feat between November 2009 and November 2010
  • Eagles full-back Mike Te'o became the third USA player to score a hat-trick in as many years, following Blaine Scully (2014) and Todd Clever (2016) when he touched down for a treble against Canada last weekend

Rankings predictor

Chile will move up at least two places to 28th if they repeat their 2002 victory over the Eagles, moving above the Netherlands and Korea.

The USA can only close the gap on Romania above them by three-hundredths of a point if they win for the first time in Chile

URUGUAY (23) v CANADA (20)

Uruguay coach Esteban Meneses has opted for continuity as Los Teros look to build on last week’s win over Brazil.

Only two changes have been made to the starting XV, with Juan Echeverria preferred to RWC 2015 veteran Mario Sagario at tight-head prop and Franco Lamanna stepping in for Gonzaolo Soto on the blindside flank.

Canada coach Mark Anscombe has made two personnel and three positional changes to the team beaten 51-34 by the USA last time out.

In the backs, Nick Blevins moves in one position to inside centre to accommodate the arrival of Conor Trainor, with Guiseppe du Toit dropping to the bench, while Gordon McRorie returns to captain the side from scrum-half in place of Phil Mack.

Ontario Blues winger Lloyd Kainoa will win his first cap having come into the side in place of the prolific Taylor Paris.

The front five remains the same, although Anscombe had intended to play Conor Keys instead of Reegan O’Gorman in the second row until an injury in training on Thursday forced him to withdraw. Brett Beukeboom wears the No.5 jersey instead of four.

With Clay Panga selected at blindside in the back row, Lucas Rumball shifts to seven and Admir Cejvanovic packs down again at number eight.

In brief

  • The sides have met nine times before, Canada winning eight. Uruguay’s only success came in 2002 when they won 25-23 in Montevideo
  • Last year’s match ended in a 33-17 home win for Canada
  • Los Teros ended a four-game losing streak with their 23-12 win over Brazil last weekend

Rankings predictor

A win of more than 15 points will net Uruguay 1.32 points and see them climb three places to 20th while also dumping Canada outside’s the world’s top 20 for the first time since the rankings were introduced in October 2003. A narrower victory will move Los Teros up to 21st and to within three-hundredths of a point of Canada.

Any form of victory will be enough for Canada to leapfrog Russia and Namibia and move back into 18th place.

ARGENTINA XV v BRAZIL

Argentina XV will field an almost entirely different side to the one that beat Chile 45-10.

Only second-row Ignacio Larrague survives from the starting line-up, while the bench is completely unrecognisable from that of seven days earlier with seven of the eight replacements promoted and Emiliano Boffelli brought into the squad as he marks his return from knee ligament damage.

Fellow Jaguares players, prop Facundo Gigena and outside back Segundo Tuculet, join him in the squad. Gigena will get his first involvement in this year’s Americas Rugby Championship if he comes off the bench, while Tuculet has been named at outside-centre.

Brazil coach Rodolfo Ambrosio has made six changes to his side for a second successive match in anticipation of a tough forward battle in Ushuaia.

Having come off second-best to the big Uruguayan pack in round three, Ambrosio has reacted by bringing in sizeable prop Caíque Silva and lineout jumper Gabriel Paganin to the tight five. First-choice hooker Yan Rosetti is also available again after a minor knock kept him out of the Uruguay match.

Recalled on the flanks are Desterro duo João Luiz da Ros and André Arruda, while the only change to the backline sees Ariel Rodrigues named on the right wing.

In brief

  • Argentina XV clinched the inaugural ARC title when they beat Brazil 42-7 in São Jose dos Campos
  • Brazil’s tally of two tries is the lowest in this year’s competition. By contrast Argentina XV have scored 17, the joint highest alongside the USA
  • Of the 10 players at the top of the all-time ARC appearance chart (in tests from 2016-17), eight of them are Brazilian
  • Moises Duque needs four points to reach his half-century in the Americas Rugby Championship

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