NatWest Rugby 6 Nations Fourth Round

Ireland leads after NatWest 6 Nations Round Three

Round Four of the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations tournament kicks off on Saturday 10th March with top of the championship Ireland v Scotland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. France and England will meet in Paris, France for 'Le Crunch' at Stade de France. On Sunday, Wales will go face-to-face with Italy at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Buy Ireland v Scotland Six Nations tickets for the March 10th clash at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. France v England tickets are for sale now for the Six Nations March 10th match at Stade de France in Paris. Great Wales v Italy tickets for the exciting Sunday, March 11th game at Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, United Kingdom.

England captain Dylan Hartley is out with injury and his replacement Owen Farrell has the chance to prove his long-term captaincy credentials when he leads England for the first time against France on Saturday. The Saracens star will fill in for injured hooker Dylan Hartley in the Six Nations match in Paris. Ireland are in first place after three rounds and England are five points behind the leaders, after a defeat by Scotland in their last outing. England head coach Eddie Jones says he wants Farrell to be his usual "aggressive and passionate" self. "It's an opportunity for him to show he is capable of being a captain in the future," Australian coach Eddie Jones. "His first job is to be the best player on the field, and for him to be the best player on the field he needs to be aggressive and he needs to be in their face."

Jones feels Farrell's leadership potential has grown, with Ferrell regularly stepping in for Hartley at the end of games. "The last 12 months he has accelerated in that area and taken a real interest in it," Jones continued. "We know he is a straight-shooter. He's up front and an intense player, but he has added a tactical understanding to his game, and his work off the field with the players has been very impressive." Farrell who has won 56 caps for England since making his Test debut in 2012 reflected on the "massive honor" of leading the side. The 26-year-old added his famed robust streak has been channelled in the wrong way in the past, but feels he has now matured to be "calm and clear-headed". "I think that's what a lot of leadership is about," Farrell said. "You can't be asking people to do things you're not willing to do yourself. You have to get your own stuff right and then hopefully others will follow you then. It's something that I figured out a while ago now," he added. That's somewhere I have probably matured a bit over the years, but at the same time you try and be aggressive at the right times. I don't think anybody goes onto the pitch and wants to go backwards."

England go into Saturday's match after a defeat in Scotland in their last game. Jamie George will replace Hartley at hooker, while full-back Mike Brown has been dropped for the first time under head coach Eddie Jones. Anthony Watson goes to full-back with Elliot Daly returning on the wing. Worcester's Ben Te'o replaces Jonathan Joseph at outside center. Prop Mako Vunipola has been named vice-captain, with Farrell leading the side. Luke Cowan-Dickie will be on the bench as back-up to George, while forwards James Haskell, Sam Simmonds and Kyle Sinckler also return. Jones said, "We want a response from the players this week. Mike Brown has been excellent for us but he was a little bit off against Scotland and we've decided to start Anthony Watson. We want to attack a little bit more so Anthony starts at full-back with Elliot Daly on the left and Jonny May right. It's a great back three for us." Jones added it was "always the plan" to bring in Te'o for the lighter Joseph at outside centre, where he will line up against Mathieu Bastareaud. "We felt we'd need someone a bit bigger and stronger on a slower track at the Stade de France and this is why Ben Te'o starts," said Jones. "Owen will be very proud to be captain but at the same time he is disappointed for Dylan to miss out through injury and he knows the position of captain carries a lot of responsibility. We need to make sure we have one strong voice among the forward leaders and Mako has been doing some great work behind the scenes." France have made one change to their squad, with Francois Trinh-Duc coming in for the benched Lionel Beauxis at fly-half.

Squads

France
Bonneval; Fall, Bastareaud, Doumayrou, Grosso; Trinh-Duc, Machenaud; Poirot, Guirado (capt), Slimani, Gabrillagues, Vahaamhina, Lauret, Camara, Tauleigne. Replacements: Pelissie, Priso, Gomes, Taofifenua, Galletier, Couilloud, Beauxis, Fickou.

England
Watson; May, Te'o, Farrell (capt), Daly; Ford, Care; M Vunipola, George, Cole, Launchbury, Itoje, Lawes, Robshaw, Hughes. Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Marler, Sinckler, Haskell, Simmonds, Wigglesworth, Joseph, Brown.

2018 Natwest Six Nations table

1st Ireland 3 wins,14 points
2nd England 2 wins, 9 points
3rd Scotland 2 wins, 8 points
4th Wales 1 wins, 6 points
5th France 1 wins, 6 points
6th Italy 0 wins, 0 points

Six Nations round 3 results

Ireland 37-27 Wales
Saturday 24th February 2018
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Attendance: 51,700

Ireland (15) 37
Try: Stockdale (7', 81'), Aki (41'+1), Leavy (45'), Healy (54')
Conversion: Sexton (41'+2, 46'), Carbery (81'+1)
Penalty: Sexton (36'), Murray (76')

Wales (13) 27
Try: G Davies (21'), Shingler (62'), S Evans (77')
Conversion: Halfpenny (22', 64', 78')
Penalty: Halfpenny (3', 31')

Man of The Match: Chris Farrell (Ireland)

Squads

Ireland

Forwards
Cian Healy
Rory Best (CAPTAIN)
Andrew Porter
James Ryan
Devin Toner
Peter O'Mahony
Dan Leavy
CJ Stander

Backs
Conor Murray
Jonathan Sexton
Jacob Stockdale
Bundee Aki
Chris Farrell
Keith Earls
Rob Kearney
Replacements
Sean Cronin
Jack McGrath
John Ryan
Quinn Roux
Jack Conan
Kieran Marmion
Joey Carbery
Fergus McFadden

Wales

Forwards
Rob Evans
Ken Owens
Samson Lee
Cory Hill
Alun Wyn Jones (CAPTAIN)
Aaron Shingler
Josh Navidi
Ross Moriarty

Backs
Gareth Davies
Dan Biggar
Steff Evans
Hadleigh Parkes
Scott Williams
Liam Williams
Leigh Halfpenny

Replacements
Elliot Dee
Wyn Jones
Tomas Francis
Bradley Davies
Justin Tipuric
Aled Davies
Gareth Anscombe
George North

An in-form Ireland scored five tries defeating Wales 37-27 in a memorable Six Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium. Jacob Stockdale, Bundee Aki, Dan Leavy and Cian Healy all scored and Stockdale added an intercept with the last play of the game to make it three wins from three for Ireland who are in first place going into the next round.

Scotland 25-13 England

Saturday 24th February 2018
BT Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Attendance: 67,144

Scotland (22) 25
Try: Jones (15', 38'), Maitland (31')
Conversion: Laidlaw (16', 39')
Penalty: Laidlaw (3'), Russell (67')

England (6) 13
Try: Farrell (44')
Conversion: Farrell (44')
Penalty: Farrell (14', 18')

Man of The Match: Finn Russell (Scotland)

Squads

Scotland

Forwards
Gordon Reid
Stuart McInally
Simon Berghan
Grant Gilchrist
Jonny Gray
John Barclay (CAPTAIN)
Hamish Watson
Ryan Wilson

Backs
Greig Laidlaw
Finn Russell
Sean Maitland
Pete Horne
Huw Jones
Tommy Seymour
Stuart Hogg

Replacements
Scott Lawson
Jamie Bhatti
Willem Nel
Tim Swinson
David Denton
Ali Price
Nick Grigg
Blair Kinghorn

England
Mako Vunipola
Dylan Hartley (CAPTAIN)
Dan Cole
Joe Launchbury
Maro Itoje
Courtney Lawes
Chris Robshaw
Nathan Hughes

Backs
Danny Care
George Ford
Jonny May
Owen Farrell
Jonathan Joseph
Anthony Watson
Mike Brown

Replacements
Jamie George
Joe Marler
Harry Williams
George Kruis
Sam Underhill
Richard Wigglesworth
Ben Te'o
Jack Nowell

Scotland won the Calcutta Cup match for the first time in ten years with a thrilling 25-13 victory over England at Murrayfield. Scotland got off to a fierce start in the first half scoring three tries, including two from Huw Jones, to lead 22-6 at the break. England started the second half strongly. Owen Farrell scored a quick try, but Scotland defended well and held on to the end.

France 34-17 Italy
Friday 23rd February 2018
Orange Vélodrome, Marseille
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Attendance: 50,000

France: (11) 34
Try: Gabrillagues (5'), Bonneval (60'), Bastareaud (73')
Conversion: Machenaud (61'), Trinh-Duc (74')
Penalty: Machenaud (29', 40', 46', 65', 71')

Italy: (7) 17
Try: Penalty Try (10'), Minozzi (79')
Conversion: Canna (79')
Penalty: Allan (50')

Man of The Match: Yacouba Camara (France)

Squads

France

Jefferson Poirot
Guilhem Guirado (CAPTAIN)
Rabah Slimani
Paul Gabrillagues
Sebastien Vahaamahina
Wenceslas Lauret
Yacouba Camara
Marco Tauleigne

Backs
Maxime Machenaud
Lionel Beauxis
Remy Grosso
Geoffrey Doumayrou
Mathieu Bastareaud
Benjamin Fall
Hugo Bonneval

Replacements
Adrien Pelissie
Dany Priso
Cedate Gomes Sa
Romain Taofifenua
Kelian Galletier
Baptiste Couilloud
Francois Trinh-Duc
Gael Fickou

Italy
Andrea Lovotti
Leonardo Ghiraldini
Simone Ferrari
Alessandro Zanni
Dean Budd
Sebastian Negri Da Oleggio
Maxime Mata Mbanda'
Sergio Parisse (CAPTAIN)

Backs
Marcello Violi
Tommaso Allan
Mattia Bellini
Tommaso Castello
Tommaso Boni
Tommaso Benvenuti
Matteo Minozzi

Replacements
Luca Bigi
Nicola Quaglio
Tiziano Pasquali
George Fabio Biagi
Federico Ruzza
Edoardo Gori
Carlo Canna
Jayden Hayward

France finally ended their eight-game winless run with a 34-17 win against Italy at the Orange Vélodrome in Marseille, France. Paul Gabrillagues, Hugo Bonneval and Mathieu Bastareaud all scored tries for France in the first-ever Six Nations home match to played outside of Paris.