The British & Irish Lions today sent out a strong message of intent by naming a powerful side to take on Bay of Plenty in their opening tour match on June 4.

Brian O'Driscoll has been confirmed as captain of the Lions squad to tour New Zealand this summer, with 11 Irish players included but no place for England's Jonny Wilkinson.

ENGLAND boss Andy Robinson has warned his players they will face a Scotland side fuelled by a raw “hatred” of their oldest foes in this evening’s Calcutta Cup clash at Twickenham.

Simon Taylor has been named in the Scotland team to face Italy in the RBS 6 Nations Championship at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Scotland coach Matt Williams has kept faith with the same 15 which narrowly lost in France for the RBS 6 Nations Championship clash with Ireland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Scotland international Allister Hogg is facing an anxious wait on his fitness ahead of the RBS 6 Nations opener against France on February 5.

Scotland coach Matt Williams has reduced his squad ahead of Saturday’s Autumn Test against Australia to 23 players.

Hugo Southwell completed a remarkable rise to prominence today when he was named as Scotland’s starting full-back to take on Australia, the World Cup finalists, in Melbourne on Sunday.

Head coach Matt Williams today admitted Scotland face a “massive task” in Sunday’s first Test against Australia in Melbourne but backed his players to rise to the challenge.

Instead of preparing for Friday’s Test match against Samoa and a sixth Scotland cap, Tom Philip was today left to contemplate knee reconstruction surgery and nine months of intense rehabilitation after a seemingly innocuous accident on the beach left him with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

Glasgow winger Sean Lamont will make his Scotland Test debut against Samoa in Wellington on Friday.

Scotland coach Matt Williams has named five uncapped players in the 22-man squad for Saturday's Staffware Tour challenge match against the Barbarians at Murrayfield.

Scotland head coach Matt Williams has handed captain Chris Paterson the full-back berth for the final RBS 6 Nations game against Ireland on Saturday.

Scotland head coach Matt Williams has made three changes to his side for the RBS 6 Nations game against France on Sunday.

Scotland head coach Matt Williams has added three players to his squad for the RBS Six Nations Championship game against Italy on Saturday, March 6.

DEFIANT Scotland coach Matt Williams boldly declared today that his young side will give “every drop of desire, passion, sweat and blood” to topple England on Saturday.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has taken a massive World Cup gamble by naming Chris Paterson at stand-off for Saturday’s make-or-break qualification decider with Fiji.

Glasgow skipper Cameron Mather has won a starting place in Scotland’s team for Saturday’s Pool B World Cup clash with France in Sydney.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan identified the United States’ physical strength as his team’s biggest obstacle when the two sides meet in their World Cup Pool B match in Brisbane on Monday evening.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has brought prop Tom Smith back into his starting line-up after injury but left veteran fly-half Gregor Townsend on the bench for the World Cup opener against Japan on Sunday.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has omitted Brendan Laney from his World Cup squad to play in Australia next month.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has kept faith with the same team which were narrowly edged out by South Africa for the second Test in Johannesburg this Saturday.

Scottish fly-half Gregor Townsend has a simple recipe to stop South Africa in their first Test tomorrow at King’s Park – halt Joost van der Westhuizen and the rest will follow.

SCOTLAND coach Ian McGeechan has made five changes to the side for tomorrow’s Test match against South Africa in Durban.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has reshuffled his back line for tomorrow’s encounter with the Barbarians at Murrayfield.

Worcester centre Ben Hinshelwood returns to the Scotland international fold for the first time since November.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has named an unchanged side for the RBS 6 Nations clash with Italy at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan makes two changes to his team for the RBS 6 Nations clash with England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Scotland have named their squad to face England in the RBS 6 Nations Championship at Twickenham on Saturday, March 22.

Scotland fly-half Brendan Laney has been ruled out of the squad to play Wales in the RBS 6 Nations Championship at Murrayfield on March 8.

CLIVE WOODWARD has vowed to take no notice of the Six Nations form guide, which suggests tournament favourites England will give Wales a Millennium Stadium mauling on Saturday.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has made just one change to his squad for the RBS 6 Nations clash in France despite suffering an embarrassing home defeat by Ireland on Sunday.

London Wasps wing Kenny Logan has been handed the chance to reclaim a Scotland international jersey after being named in a 50-strong RBS Six Nations Championship training squad for senior and A teams.

Glasgow 17

MUNSTER’S three new signings will all play their club rugby in Limerick this year with Eddie Halvey returning to play his club rugby with Shannon, Dominic Malone teaming up with UL Bohemians and Australian prop Simon Kerr joining Garryowen.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan has opted for wholesale changes for the game against Canada West tomorrow.

Newcastle lock Stuart Grimes has been axed from the Scotland side to face Lloyds TSB Six Nations favourites France at Murrayfield.

Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan is confident his side can get their Lloyds TSB Six Nations campaign back on track against Scotland at Lansdowne Road tomorrow.

Kenny Logan has been recalled to Scotland's 24-man squad for the Six Nations Championship game against Italy.

Teams for Scotland versus England, Lloyds TSB Six Nations Championship, Murrayfield, tomorrow, 4pm.

Scotland squad to face England at Murrayfield in the Lloyds TSB Six Nations opener on February 2:

The Scotland team that will play Ireland at Murrayfield in the Six Nations Championships on Saturday has been named.

Nathan Spooner has been forced to withdraw from the Leinster team for tonight's game against Glasgow, his shoulder injury preventing him from making his debut.

Lawrence Dallaglio will make his comeback from a tour-threatening knee injury when the Lions tackle Australia ‘A’ in Gosford on Tuesday.