Around the world of rugby

The Autumn Internationals culminate this weekend with a host of high-profile test matches on Saturday in another blockbuster international rugby weekend.

Here’s a full lineup of the major action:

16:30

Scotland vs Australia

Australia’s preparations for their meeting with Scotland have been severely hampered by having to train at Edinburgh University, and captain Stephen Moore described them as “probably one of the poorest I’ve ever seen.”

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has made four changes from the side that lost to New Zealand last weekend. Meanwhile, Australian skipper Moore will make his 129th and final test match appearance.

Teams:

Scotland

15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (captain), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Darryl Marfo

Substitutes: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Cornell du Preez, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Byron McGuigan

Australia

15 Kurtley Beale; 14 Marika Koroibete, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Reece Hodge; 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia; 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (captain), 6 Ben McCalman; 5 Blake Enever, 4 Rob Simmons; 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio

Substitutes: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Lukhan Tui, 20 Lopeti Timani, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Karmichael Hunt, 23 Henry Speight

17:00

England vs Samoa

England are aiming to make it three from three in the Autumn series but they must do so without Dylan Hartley at the helm for the first time under Eddie Jones.British and Irish Lions hooker Jamie George will make his full debut.

Teams:

England

15 Mike Brown, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Alex Lozowski, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford (co-captain), 9 Danny Care, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Chris Robshaw (co-captain), 6 Maro Itoje, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge

Substitutes: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Semesa Rokoduguni

Samoa

15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Paul Perez, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 David Lemi, 10 Tim Nanai-Williams, 9 Dwayne Polataivao, 8 Jack Lam, 7 TJ Ioane, 6 Piula Faasalele, 5 Chris Vui (captain), 4 Josh Tyrell, 3 Donald Brighouse, 2 Motu Matu’u, 1 Jordan Lay

Substitutes: 16 Manu Leiataua, 17 James Lay, 18 Hisa Sasagi, 19 Faatiga Lemalu, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Melani Matavao, 22 Rey Lee-Lo, 23 JJ Taulagi

19:15

Wales vs New Zealand

New Zealand have been hit by a second outbreak of mumps on their tour but are confident it has been contained before their final match against Wales.

Flanker Ardie Savea is in quarantine in the All Blacks’ Cardiff hotel. He follows the wing Reiko Ioane, who contracted it earlier on the tour and after recovering, injured a shoulder in the win against Scotland last Saturday. This will be New Zealand’s 15th test of the year, and they are counting the cost of that through numerous injuries and now the outbreak of mumps.

In the Wales camp, preparations are more serene. “It’s great to name an unchanged pack from the Australia match, we were pleased with a lot of aspects of our second half performance in that match so we are looking to build on that on Saturday” said coach Warren Gatland. “We have a couple of injuries in the backline but we also have players on form starting. Steff Evans and Hallam Amos are both on form and we are excited to see what they can do.We have spoken heavily about opportunity this autumn and there is no greater opportunity than lining up against the world champions.”

Teams: 

Wales

15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Hallam Amos, 13 Scot Williams, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Rob Evans

Substitutes: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Cory Hill, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Jamie Roberts

New Zealand

15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Nepo Laulala 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Kane Hames

Substitutes: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

19:30

Ireland vs Argentina

Adam Byrne will make his debut on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium when Ireland take on Argentina. Bundee Aki and Chris Farrell will earn their second caps but Robbie Henshaw is out with a hamstring injury.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt dismissed the notion of a grudge match – the Test in Dublin will be the first time Ireland will have played against the Pumas since the 20-43 defeat at Cardiff in the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals.

Teams: 

Ireland

15 Rob Kearney,14 Adam Byrne, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 1 Cian Healey, 2 Rory Best, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 James Ryan, 5 Iain Henderson, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 7 Sean O’Brien, 8 CJ Stander.

Substitutes: 16 James Tracy, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Andrew Conway

Argentina

15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Tomas Lezana, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy (captain), 1 Santiago Garcia Botta

Substitutes: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 23 Sebastian Cancelliere