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RBS Six Nations: England v France
Venue: Twickenham Date: Saturday, 26 February Kick-off: 1700 GMT

Lewis Moody is expected to be left out on Thursday when England announce their side to face France in Saturday’s key Six Nations clash at Twickenham.

The flanker, 32, was expected to captain the side after returning from a five-week knee injury, playing 23 minutes for Bath last weekend.

But reports suggest he suffered a recurrence of the injury in training.

The Rugby Football Union refused to confirm those reports, with the team due to be announced at 1200 GMT.

Centre Mike Tindall has captained England in Moody’s absence, steering the team to wins over Wales and Italy.

England boss Martin Johnson said earlier this week that Moody’s return would be a bonus but added the flanker would only feature against France if he was ready.

“We would love him to be fit and fully raring to go for a Test match,” Johnson stated.

“There’s probably a little bit of a difference between playing 20 minutes in the Premiership and playing against France.

“He will know if he is right or if he is not right - and he’ll be honest with us and the team.

“It would be great if he is fit to go but if not the other guys have been playing very well.”

England and France are both unbeaten after two rounds of Six Nations action.

England began with a 26-19 win in Wales before crushing Italy 59-13 at Twickenham, while defending champions France defeated Scotland 34-21 in Paris before edging past Ireland 25-22 in Dublin.

We are very excited to hear that our very own Lions host, Robert Jones (Wales and Lions) has been asked to join a team of 15 ex-Wales captains to climb Kilimanjaro this September. Anoether of our previous hosts Ieuan Evans will also be making the climb and we wish them both all their best with their charitable endeavours. When I have more news about the charities we will place the links on here.

Good luck training!

Its early days at the moment but there is talk of an LWTL 2009 Lions reunion taking place before the Wales v England game on Friday 4 February, 2011. Watch this space for more news, but if all goes well there will be a pre-match party before the game and hopefully maybe even a game to watch! Rob Jones and John Bentley have both offered to dust off their boots so at this stage, anything looks possible!

This story pretty much sums up teh situation as it is happening in SOuth AFrica around the football world cup. OUr experience tells us that while hotels are forced into dealing with official accommodation banks such as Match, the situation is not going to go away. We would like to think that one day the poor hoteliers will see the sense of keeping their own hotels in their control and avoid this terrible situation. This is a repeat of the situation in France 98, Australia Rugby World Cup 2003, and the Lions in 2005 and last year. I suspecty the RWC 2011 will go exactly the same way and I only hope that London hotels do not go the same way, though news is that all of the large London hotels are already contracted to LOCOG. See this link for todays new…http://www.meetpie.com/Modules/NewsModule/NewsDetails.aspx?newsid=13061

As usual the England v Ireland match at Twickenham on 27 Feb 2010 has resulted in a shortage of hospitality packages being available. Having once sold out, we have managed to source a very limited amount of official places for the game on Saturday, so call today!

London Irish full-back, Delon Armitage, won’t play any of England’s autumn internationals following an injury sustained while playing for his club.

Armitage recently dislocated his shoulder and will need 12 weeks recovery following an operation. This means he will miss the Tests against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand as well as some of the early games in the Heineken Cup.

Despite missing out on a place on this winter’s Lions rugby tour, Armitage has been a key part of the England side in recent times, playing in all of last season’s Six Nations fixtures and even receiving a nomination for Player of the Tournament.

Armitage joins centre Riki Flutey on the sidelines, meaning England must fill two key places in their backline. Martin Johnson is seeing the positive side however:

“Injuries happen. We have to get them back playing and look at the next guys in line. There are some very good young players in the Saxons group and some good players outside it.”

At present, Olly Morgan is the only other full-back in the England squad, although players such as Mathew Tait and Mark Cueto have played in the position previously. Meanwhile, Shane Geraghty has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Flutey at centre.

England centre Riki Flutey is concerned that a shoulder injury may keep him out of the upcoming autumn internationals.

Flutey, who is currently playing for Brive in France, is set to go into hospital early next week and depending on the results, maybe be out for some time. He was first injured at the start of the year, but it was further exacerbated during the Lions rugby tour over the summer.

Speaking about what’s to happen next, he said:

“I’m having an arthroscopy. They’ll find it needs a clean-out or if it’s a big tear which means surgery and three months out.”

Having carried the injury for months, Flutey believes he needs to get the problem addressed so that he can go out and give 100% in future matches. He is now a first-choice player for England and played the third Lions Test, where they beat the Springboks 28-9.

However, he has played only once for Brive as a result of this injury. Therefore it has been deemed time to see a specialist.

England are set to play Australia, Argentina and New Zealand during November, but Flutey is likely to miss all three games.

England got together recently for their first training session ahead of their game against the Barbarians and Argentina. There are 34 of them and each player was anxious to impress Martin Johnson who has made it clear that nobody’s place is ‘safe’.

Of course there are players that should be in the team but if Johnson wants to have a look at a few, then each player will have try and catch the coach’s eye. It’s a tough business as players like Danny Capriani know very well. Other players like Goode, May and Vesty will be relieved that the coach has seen fit to pick players that are playing well.

The idea that you get picked on merit, not on reputation alone, gives players like Vesty the incentive to step up to the mark (which he has done in recent weeks in place of Toby Flood at Leicester) and stake a claim.

The work ethic is very much in place and stems from Johnson himself, a proven winner and a coach to look up to for the players. There’s little doubt that the competitive nature of the training sessions will ensure a mighty beast on the pitch.

It’s never a chore to remember the great World Cup win in 2003, but it’s amazing to think that for one star of the triumph 1997’s Springbok tour victory for the Lions was a greater achievement.

Lawrence ‘The Legend’ Dallaglio has revealed that his participation in the 1997 win brought him more satisfaction than the slapping down of the Wallabies in 2003!

Dallaglio who’s final Lions tour to South Africa was in 2005 said that the 1997 victory was the ‘highlight’ of his distinguished career. He went on to talk about the ‘wonderful’ feeling of running out in front of 45,000 fans.

Who are we to disagree? Dallaglio has won everything in the modern game having retired only last season at the age of 35.

Certainly there’s something in Dallaglio’s comments regarding the camaraderie, citing the fact that for ages our team’s ‘kicking lumps’ out of each other and then the player’s are in the same hotel and playing together as part of the same team; still, it must be a bit bizarre.

Whatever the motivation, surely the Lions will be on their game for this tour? The team can make legends o f themselves emulating the likes of Dallaglio and who knows, another World Cup win from these Isles?

Martin Johnson, the England manager, has offered a degree of hope for the English players who have been overlooked by the selection committee who picked the squad for the British and Irish Lions. Johnson says that his English players who hoped to make the tour of South Africa, the latest of the British Lions rugby tours, could still get a chance as the players who are currently in the squad could be beset by injuries.

Johnson added that by playing first class rugby for England, his players will make sure they’re match fit and in the thoughts of the Lions selectors. England have a series of games against the Pumas (Argentina) this summer, which should help his players stay sharp.

Two of the England players who were omitted from the squad were Tom Croft and Delon Armitage, but Johnson believes they may still make the rugby tour if injuries go their way.

I texted a few of the guys last week and reminded them that injuries happen on Lions tours.

If there are injuries, the best place they can be is playing tough rugby.

England’s series against Argentina won’t be hindered too much by the Lions tour as England only has eight players involved, one of their lowest turnouts for years. Johnson declared that despite the missing players, England aims to win the two games against one of the strongest emerging rugby nations, stating:

This is not a development tour. We are there to win the Test matches. I don’t want people to think it doesn’t matter because it is a development tour. We will put out our best team available to win that Test match.