DEFIANT Saracens ruined Harlequins’ record-breaking Christmas party and ended their unbeaten start to the Aviva Premiership season with a ferocious defensive performance at sold-out Twickenham.

France 19 England 12

England 67 Romania 3

MARTIN JOHNSON insists England’s preparations for tomorrow’s clash with Romania will not be thrown off course by the arrival in Dunedin of Zara Phillips.

Lewis Moody has returned from injury to captain an England team featuring nine changes for Sunday’s Rugby World Cup clash with Georgia.

Lewis Moody has returned from injury to captain an England team featuring nine changes for Sunday’s Rugby World Cup appointment against Georgia.

England were today considering whether to appeal against Courtney Lawes’ two-match ban for recklessly striking Argentina hooker Mario Ledesma with his knee.

FURIOUS Martin Johnson admitted he will not be great company on his family holiday this week as he picks through the bones of England’s 19-9 defeat to Wales.

Matt Stevens’ return from the ignominy of a drugs ban continued today when he was confirmed in England’s 45-man Rugby World Cup training squad.

IRELAND’S incredible record of achievement in the Heineken Cup is set to continue with Leinster being offered a tantalising opportunity to reverse last years painful semi-final defeat at the hands of mighty Toulouse.

Leicester boss Richard Cockerill last night offered no excuses for the Tigers’ Heineken Cup demise after they lost a titanic quarter-final against Leinster.

Leinster 17 Leicester 10

RICHARD COCKERILL wasn’t the first Leicester coach to dismiss the significance of an iconic Irish stadium when he glossed over the return of five of his players to the Aviva this evening so soon after their Six Nations trauma with England.

LEO CULLEN won a Premiership title and EDF Energy Cup and also played in a Heineken Cup final with Leicester Tigers but some of the Leinster captain’s fondest memories of his time in the East Midlands are reserved for his days on the club’s training pitches.

LEICESTER team director Richard Cockerill does not expect his England stars will be daunted by a return to the Aviva Stadium when the Tigers face Leinster in their Heineken Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

AS ALWAYS with the Heineken Cup, the cream tends to rise to the top when the knockout stages come calling in April.

England 17 France 9

Wales flanker Sam Warburton has predicted a wide-open RBS 6 Nations Championship this season – with no team winning the Grand Slam.

Wales 19 England 26

After a fortnight of “spicy build-up”, as Martin Johnson described it, the RBS 6 Nations exploded into life tonight as Wales clashed with England at the Millennium Stadium.

Martin Johnson has urged England to be ruthless in tonight’s RBS 6 Nations showdown and take full advantage of Wales’ desperation for a victory.

WALES’ coaching staff held a “long debate” about handing James Hook the fly-half playmaker’s role for their RBS 6 Nations showdown against England at the Millennium Stadium tomorrow night.

Leicester 62 Treviso 15

Louis Deacon has been recalled to the England squad for the RBS 6 Nations as a replacement for banned Gloucester lock Dave Attwood.

ENGLAND have suffered a major blow ahead of their RBS 6 Nations campaign with the news that Northampton forward Courtney Lawes will miss the entire championship.

MARTIN JOHNSON fired a warning to Australia that England will head Down Under next month with the strongest touring team since he lifted the Rugby World Cup on their shores in 2003.

FRANCE hooker William Servat has urged his team-mates to put all talk of the Grand Slam to one side as they prepare for today’s crunch battle with England in their final RBS 6 Nations test.

Jonny Wilkinson has been dropped by England for only the third time in his 12-year international career.

Lewis Moody has been dropped for England’s Calcutta Cup game against Scotland on Saturday.

Martin Johnson has confirmed that Simon Shaw and Delon Armitage are both unlikely to be fit for England’s Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland at Murrayfield on March 13.

England 16 Ireland 20

England 16 Ireland 20

England 6 Ireland 8

MARTIN JOHNSON is not the sort of man who indulges in mind-games, but yesterday he braced himself to face a wounded animal when Ireland head to Twickenham a week on Saturday.

Martin Johnson revealed England are preparing to take Italy on at their own game after he announced a forward-dominated bench for Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations showdown at the Stadio Flaminio.

England manager Martin Johnson has finalised a forwards-dominated bench for Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations clash with Italy.

Leicester 20 Clermont Auvergne 15

Ayoola Erinle will make his first England start after replacing Shane Geraghty at inside centre in the team to play New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday.

Leicester 22 South Africa 17

Steve Thompson will complete a remarkable international comeback when he starts for England against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.

Martin Johnson will name one of the most inexperienced England teams in memory to face Australia at Twickenham on Saturday – and that is despite the return of Jonny Wilkinson.

MARTIN JOHNSON finds himself in the rare position of being an England coach finalising his Test selection without having to fret over the fitness of Jonny Wilkinson.

GUTS, character, commitment.