Peter O'Mahony has been named captain of the British & Irish Lions for Saturday's showdown with the Maori All Blacks at Rotorua International Stadium.

Eddie Jones will send England out against Australia with orders to “break them mentally and physically” in Saturday’s climax to the autumn at Twickenham.

Here’s the lowdown on four big games across Europe...

Chris Ashton and Danny Cipriani have failed to make the cut for Eddie Jones' 45-man provisional England squad for the forthcoming Autumn series.

CHAMPIONS CUP: YOUR TEAM-BY-TEAM WEEKEND GUIDE

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has admitted to shedding tears over the selection of his 31-man World Cup squad.

Ireland squad manager Mick Kearney insists Cian Healy’s recovery from neck surgery is “coming on fine”.

Saracens travel to Racing Metro for their Champions Cup quarter-final tie tomorrow (Stade Yves-Du-Manoir, 12.45pm) full of confidence on the back of five straight wins.

England have made the first changes of their 2015 RBS 6 Nations campaign after naming Alex Goode and Jack Nowell in their starting XV to face Ireland on Sunday.

Leigh Halfpenny says Wales will carry their Twickenham "hurt" of last season into tomorrow night’s RBS 6 Nations opener against England.

Stuart Lancaster has pledged to "make it absolutely crystal clear" to Dylan Hartley that any more lapses in discipline could blow England’s Six Nations chances.

Danny Cipriani and Nick Easter have the chance to reignite their Test careers in England’s 34-man Six Nations training squad, with Sam Burgess also handed World Cup lift-off.

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has backed Owen Farrell to make an impact from the bench against Australia at Twickenham tomorrow after dropping him from his starting XV for the first time since June 2012.

Stuart Lancaster has no qualms about picking Anthony Watson on the right wing for tomorrow’s QBE International against South Africa and believes he is ready for his first Test start.

“Follow that,” quipped Robin Copeland two days ago as he wrapped up his media duties at Ireland’s team base and breezed out the door past Tommy O’Donnell.

Saracens 64 Connacht 6

Saracens 12 Toulon 24

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall put English rugby’s European failure down to the gulf in the salary cap between the Aviva Premiership and the rest.

Saracens rugby director Mark McCall is hoping his side can push on from the quarter-finals and become one of Europe’s elite clubs.

CONNACHT’S new coaching director Eric Elwood is sweating on the availability of players before a ball has been kicked in this season’s Magners League.

IRELAND’S U20s could do little to stop an English side boosting their World Championship credentials in Rosario as their hopes of claiming a semi-final spot were blown away.

IRELAND Under-20 coach Allen Clarke has made four changes to his side as they look to bounce back from Saturday’s defeat to France against England this afternoon.

England 10 Ireland 25