England coach Steve Borthwick believes Marcus Smith will benefit from playing on his return to Harlequins after the fly-half was left out of his 26-man training squad.

Smith was omitted from Borthwick's selection ahead of England's Six Nations meeting with holders France next week.

While the 24-year-old has not been counted out of contention for that match at Twickenham on March 11, it does cast doubt on his position in the matchday squad.

However, Borthwick – who recalled George Ford – is confident game time with his club will do Smith good.

"The decision was that Marcus would benefit from game time at his club and having that match sharpness," Borthwick said.

"I'm not picking a squad for France. We're not in Test week, we're in a training camp week.

"George played for his club at the weekend, and this is an opportunity for Marcus to go and play.

"Marcus had very limited game time against Wales because of the nature of the game, so I thought this was a step forward for him.

"On a weekly basis, you're making a decision on what is the right thing for the player this week to be then ready to play for England.

"For all our players, I'm making those decisions. For some, it's to go and get game time, for others it's to be in the training camp here."

Ford has only just recovered from injury but Borthwick, who worked alongside him at Leicester Tigers, has not hesitated in getting the Sale Sharks fly-half into the fold.

"We are blessed with some fantastic fly-halves in this country," Borthwick said. "They all have different skillsets and different qualities, so that means it is a great position of strength for England.

"George is looking tremendously sharp and in great condition, and is clearly a very experienced player.

"That adds to the strength we have in that position. I am looking forward to seeing Marcus play this weekend, and when you add in Owen [Farrell] and Fin Smith – who I have been hugely impressed by – it shows [it's] a position where we are blessed to have a number of top-quality players."

Max Malins has been left out of the squad while he nurses an ankle issue, with Jonny May called up in his place.

Finlay Bealham has been ruled out of Ireland's remaining two Six Nations games with a knee injury.

The 31-year-old prop started Ireland's wins over Wales, France and Italy, but he twisted his knee during Saturday's 34-20 victory in Rome.

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) confirmed on Monday that Bealham will play no further part in the 2023 tournament.

However, Bealham's lay-off coincides with Tadhg Furlong's return to the Ireland squad for this week's mini-camp.

Furlong has recovered from a calf injury that has ruled him out of his side's opening three games, while scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Parker is back from a hamstring problem.

Skipper Johnny Sexton and centres Robbie Henshaw and Gary Ringrose are also part of Andy Farrell's 27-man training squad.

Ireland top the Six Nations standings and are on course for a first Grand Slam since 2018 ahead of facing Scotland at Murrayfield on March 12.

The world's top-ranked side conclude their campaign against England at the Aviva Stadium six days later.

Scotland boss Gregor Townsend claimed his team did everything but take their chances as they fell 32-21 to France in Paris, seeing Grand Slam hopes collapse.

The visitors came back from an early 19-0 deficit to close to 25-21 going into the final moments, when Gael Fickou went over for a clinching try.

After beginning their campaign with wins over England and Wales, the Scots arrived at the Stade de France believing they could extend their successful run, but an early red card for Grant Gilchrist put them in trouble.

Fabien Galthie's hosts pulled clear but were down to 14 men themselves when Mohamed Haouas was ordered off for a head-on-head hit on Ben White.

Head coach Townsend said: "From our perspective we're disappointed not to win. I'm so proud of a lot of aspects of the game, how we played, the effort that we put in, our togetherness, our resilience that was on show, but we created enough chances to win the game.

"We created enough chances to be leading at half-time, which was incredible to think when we were a man down and points down on the scoreboard. We believed we could win that in the second half, and we're just disappointed we didn't come away with a win.

"In the second half the game opened up even more, and we had opportunities to take them on wide, which we did. We just didn't take those opportunities. Credit to France in defence, but we probably played better today than in our last two games, and we did enough to win. We feel we did enough to win, but you've got to take those opportunities when you play the top teams in the world."

There is still a chance of a Triple Crown, with unbeaten Ireland heading to Murrayfield in two weeks' time.

"It's big for us to be still in the competition with two games to go, to be playing for a trophy and the Triple Crown," Townsend said. "It'll be a different game against Ireland. I don't think it will be as open. We'll wait and see if it is, and they're a difficult team to play against.

"But we really believe in what we have here. We've got up against one of the best teams in the world on their own patch with 14 men, and we've come away really disappointed not to get a win or get four tries against their defence."

France defence coach Shaun Edwards reflected on a dramatic match, saying Les Bleus knew the size of the challenge they faced.

"It's difficult to sum it up because there were so many ebbs and flows: red cards, fantastic tries, interceptions," Edwards said. "It had the lot, some fantastic goal-kicking as well. It was a high-class game.

"We knew we were playing against a high-quality opponent. They're the only team to have beaten us here since Fabien took over, so we were doubly determined not to let that happen again.

"It ended up being 14 against 14 so that was equal, but obviously having an advantage at first for us was something we took, and we picked up some points. It doesn't affect that much in defence. I think both teams adapted well."

France got back to winning ways in the Six Nations with a 32-21 bonus-point victory over Scotland at the Stade de France.

Scotland headed into Sunday's game having opened the competition with back-to-back wins for the first time ever in the Six Nations era, but their hopes of setting up a potential Grand Slam decider against Ireland were ended as France bounced back from their 32-19 defeat to Andy Farrell's side in their last outing.

France were ahead within five minutes through Roman Ntamack, with Thomas Ramos adding the extras, and things went from bad to worse for Scotland shortly after when Grant Gilchrist was sent off for a high tackle on Anthony Jelonch.

The hosts extended their lead to 19-0 with tries from Ethan Dumortier and Ramos, though they were down to 14 men themselves when Mohamed Haouas saw red for a head-on-head hit on Ben White.

Huw Jones reduced the deficit prior to the break before going over again shortly after the restart to spark hopes of a Scotland revival, though a Ramos kick went through the posts to stretch France's advantage to 11 points.

Finn Russell then barrelled over before converting his own try to cut the lead to just four, and his team got the ball back with less than two minutes to play.

Scotland needed to go almost the full length of the field, but a penalty handed possession back to France, and the hosts capped the victory through Gael Fickou.

England boss Steve Borthwick has told his players they must "accelerate" their progress after a 20-10 victory over Wales in Cardiff.

In Borthwick's third game as head coach, his team followed up victory over Italy last time out by getting the better of a Wales side who endured a disrupted build-up to their week three Six Nations challenge.

A contract dispute with the Welsh Rugby Union meant there was doubt until midweek that Saturday's game would even go ahead, amid talk of possible strike action.

Borthwick was hugely impressed by how Wales contributed so much, but it was his England who triumphed thanks to tries from Anthony Watson, Kyle Sinckler and Ollie Lawrence.

Captain Owen Farrell struggled with his kicking again, but England did enough.

They have won eight of their last 10 meetings with Wales in the Six Nations, but this result ended a run of two consecutive losses on the road against the Welsh.

England's last six victories over Wales had come by margins of six points or fewer, so by those standards this was a relative drubbing. In reality, it was nip and tuck until the final minutes.

Borthwick told BBC One he was "really proud of the team and what they did".

"That was a tough Test match. There wasn't much in it really," he said. "I think you've got to give those Welsh players such enormous credit and incredible respect.

"We've got quite a number of young men in there. There were a number of guys who played well. Now we've got to push on. There were bits in that performance that we can really push on with in this rebuilding.

"We need to accelerate. We've got two big games to finish the championship. For now, we've got to make sure we enjoy that win."

England have France at home on March 11, followed by Ireland away seven days later, taking on the teams ranked second and first in the world rankings.

It will be a lot clearer after those games where England stand, as they continue to build towards the Rugby World Cup under their new coach, who replaced the sacked Eddie Jones in December.

Farrell described England's showing as "a step forward", accepting his repeatedly wayward kicking was to blame for the visitors not pulling away.

"But it was a good test for us," he added. "We stuck in there, and we fought to the end and took control of the last 20 minutes I thought.

"There's bits starting to show, but we're laying some foundations at the minute and we want to keep building on it all."

Lawrence's try in the 75th minute put the game out of Wales' reach, with it having been on a knife edge to that point.

It meant England scored three tries away to Wales in Cardiff for just the second time in 12 Six Nations matches and for the first time since 2001.

Wales coach Warren Gatland saw good reason to be positive about his team's performance, even though they suffered a third successive loss in the championship.

Gatland said: "I can't be critical of the effort. We spoke in the changing room about being tough on ourselves, about some of the errors we made, things we can fix up and be better at.

"If we look at the mistakes we made that shifted the momentum back to England, they were at pretty critical moments.

"The message at half-time was to just stay in this arm wrestle and we'll get opportunities. The unfortunate thing is we turned the ball back over on too many occasions, dropped a couple of high balls and that was pretty frustrating, and a couple of penalties as well.

"Still for us there's work to do, but I thought there was improvement in some areas."

England made it back-to-back Six Nations wins as they overcame a beleaguered Wales 20-10 at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.

Wales, whose preparations for the game were hampered after a dispute with the Professional Rugby Board and Welsh Rugby Union, have now suffered three straight defeats in this year's competition.

Captain Owen Farrell got England up and running with an early penalty from 45 metres, before winger Anthony Watson – making his first international start in almost two years – went over to cap a wonderful team move.

Farrell was unable to add the conversion from the touchline, which helped Wales reduce the deficit to five through Leigh Halfpenny's penalty.

Farrell squandered the chance to extend England's lead as he struck a penalty just wide of the posts, before Wales stunned the visitors within a minute of the second half when Louis Rees-Zammit intercepted a pass 40 metres out and raced over.

That try was converted by Halfpenny to put Wales ahead, yet England responded almost immediately as Kyle Sinckler powered over from close range, with Farrell adding the extra points.

Wales pushed hard to claw their way back into the game, but England's victory was sealed with five minutes remaining when Ollie Lawrence went over in the corner. 

Wales fail to end tough week on a high

Wales boss Warren Gatland said the threat of strike action by his players had taken the team "to the brink of disaster" this week.

The worst case scenario was avoided, however, after an agreement was reached with the Welsh Rugby Players' Association on several key issues, including wages and changes to the 60-cap rule that governed international selection.

The saga evidently took a toll on Wales' players, who fought hard but just lacked the quality and energy required to overcome Steve Borthwick's side.

England maintain fine run over Wales

England have now won eight of their past 10 Six Nations meetings with Wales. Their six previous victories before this all came by margins of six points or fewer. 

This latest win moves them onto 10 points in the Six Nations table, five adrift of leaders Ireland. 

Key Opta Facts: 

- Watson scored his first try for England since March 2021 (v France) - he has now scored five tries in his last five Six Nations starts and five in six matches against Wales.

- Sinckler has scored just his second ever Six Nations try in what is his 28th appearance in the competition - both of his tries have come away from home (also v Italy in Rome in 2022).

- Alun Wyn Jones played in his 16th Six Nations match against England; no other player has featured more than 13 times against England in the Championship.

- England have won a Six Nations game against Wales in Cardiff for the first time since 2017 (21-16), with their tally of just 10 points conceded being their lowest in the Welsh capital since 2003 (26-9).

What's next?

Wales face Italy in Rome's Stadio Olimpico in a fortnight – the same day England take on France at Twickenham.

Andy Farrell was relieved Ireland "found a way" to overcome an impressive Italy side as his team stayed on course for a Grand Slam by winning 34-20 in Rome.

Mack Hansen crossed for two tries, including a late clincher to end Italian hopes, with James Ryan, Hugo Keenan and Bundee Aki also going over as the visitors picked up a bonus point.

It means Ireland are three-fifths of the way to a clean sweep in this season's Six Nations, with Scotland away in a fortnight's time followed by England coming to Dublin.

Head coach Farrell could not be sure his team would survive unscathed against Italy until the closing stages, and he gave the hosts plenty of credit for that.

Farrell said: "I suppose the positive is the chances we did create, but the negative is we didn't take them all.

"What was it, four or five tries we left out there? But all credit must go to Italy, that was a proper Test match, that was tough, they're a proper side.

"Everyone can see the progression, but when you're here and you're facing it... they were tough, they were resilient, and the forwards gave us absolutely nothing.

"Defending their own line they were very physical, and in attack they were cutting us open from time to time, so congratulations to them, I thought they were great.

"We let them into the game through lack of discipline at times and didn't control the game as well as we should do in that regard.

"But Test match rugby doesn't go your way the whole time, and we found a way, even though we threw away four or five tries. It's nice the bonus-point win away from home."

Scotland, who tackle France on Sunday in Paris, have also begun this championship with successive wins.

It could, depending on Scotland's performance this weekend, be a clash between two unbeaten sides in Edinburgh on March 12.

"Going to Murrayfield is a really tough place to go," said Farrell, "as is here in Rome."

Ireland kept their Six Nations Grand Slam charge on track after a 34-20 victory over a spirited Italy in Rome.

Mack Hansen crossed twice while stand-in captain James Ryan, Hugo Keenan and Bundee Aki also went over at Stadio Olimpico for Andy Farrell's side, who recorded their third straight bonus-point win in this year’s tournament.

Although without the injured Johnny Sexton, the visitors registered their 23rd Six Nations win over Italy in 24 attempts – and 10th on the bounce.

Despite a determined display, the hosts continued their dismal record on home soil, where they have now suffered 24 successive defeats since beating Ireland 10 years ago.

Ireland came flying out the blocks, and although TMO denied James Lowe the opening try after just 90 seconds, the Leinster wing soon turned provider for Ryan to cross.

Having pushed reigning champions France all the way in their Six Nations opener, Italy responded with Stephen Varney going over after a rapid burst from Lorenzo Cannone.

But the visitors soon established control. Keenan broke through and rode challenges to regain the lead, while a series of sharp offloads enabled Aki and Hansen to cross in the corners.

Italy gave themselves hope before the break as Pierre Bruno intercepted Aki's offload on halfway to dash for the line.

A tight second half ensued with the hosts drawing on all their defensive resolve to prevent Ireland from extending their advantage as Paolo Garbisi and Ross Byrne exchanged kicks.

But the visitors finally put the result beyond doubt nine minutes from time when a neat offload released Hansen, who made no mistake in claiming his second try.

Ireland centre Garry Ringrose has been ruled out of their Six Nations trip to Italy after failing to overcome a calf injury in time.

Ringrose suffered the problem during their week two victory over holders France but was named in the starting XV for Saturday's game at Stadio Olimpico.

He has failed to overcome the issue however and has now been withdrawn, with Stuart McCloskey now in line to start and utility back Jimmy O'Brien elevated to the bench.

Andy Farrell will hope Ringrose recovers in time to take part in their final two games next month, against Scotland and England.

Ringrose had been in line to win his 50th cap for Ireland in this weekend's fixture and was looking to score on his third consecutive visit to Rome.

The centre has been a standout performer for Ireland in the Six Nations too, beating more defenders than any of his team-mates in the tournament so far, on eight occasions.

Warren Gatland is keen to "draw a line in the sand" ahead of Wales' Six Nations clash with England, saying the threat of strike action had taken the team "to the brink of disaster" this week.

Saturday's fixture at the Principality Stadium was in serious doubt as Wales players considered making themselves unavailable amid a dispute with the Professional Rugby Board (PRB) and Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). 

On Wednesday, however, PRB chair Malcolm Wall confirmed an agreement had been reached with the Welsh Rugby Players' Association on several key issues, including wages and changes to the 60-cap rule that governed international selection.

Wales coach Gatland was forced to delay naming his team due to the uncertainty, and he says the effects of Saturday's game not taking place would have been dire. 

"Looking back now, few people realise just how close we came to the brink of disaster," Gatland wrote in a column for The Telegraph. "What took me by absolute surprise was the level of frustration and anger that boiled over from the players on Monday morning.

"Learning the extent of their frustration was one of the hardest things I had to deal with. I have always prided myself on putting the demands of the players first.

"I was caught in the middle. You want to support the players as much as possible, but you've got to be very careful about how much of the line you cross from that perspective.

"I'm not sure that they had thought about the potential consequences or the long-term effects of the game not going ahead. It would have had such an impact on all rugby in Wales, and potentially led to one or two of the regions going under.

"What hurt me most was hearing a couple of emotive comments from players, second hand, that I didn't care about them. That was the hardest thing because I have always been about putting the players first and looking after them. I just think it was the emotions of the time."

Gatland was eventually able to name his team on Thursday, as Wales look to respond to defeats against Ireland and Scotland in their first two Six Nations contests.

While the 59-year-old is acutely aware of the impact this week's events have had on Wales' preparations, the team are now keen to move on.   

"I am pretty sure I would have easily got a team if I had walked up St Mary Street and asked who was up for beating England. But thankfully we never got that far," Gatland said.

"On Thursday morning I finally named the team. I said it had been a challenging week and we needed to draw a line in the sand and focus entirely on playing against England.

"In fairness to the boys, given what has been going on, they have trained hard and been good in the sessions. It has probably been a welcome distraction to them and I have to take my hat off to them.

"The difficult thing to assess is what impact the mental stress of this week has had on the players. One thing I can promise the Welsh supporters is that the players know how much it means to you. Armageddon or not."

Wales captain Ken Owens said the ordeal had made Welsh rugby "a laughing stock" as he urged the players to pull together in order to get a much-needed result in Cardiff.

France head coach Fabien Galthie has selected Mohamed Haouas as the replacement for the suspended Uini Atonio for France's Six Nations clash with Scotland.

Atonio was handed a three-week ban for a high tackle on Ireland's Rob Herring, with Haouas coming in at tighthead despite not featuring in France's first two games.

That is the only change made by Galthie from the 32-19 defeat in Dublin on February 11.

Captain Antoine Dupont will play alongside Romain Ntamack in the half-backs, while Yoram Moefana and Gael Fickou remain as the centre pairing.

France have won 18 of their last 19 Test matches on home soil, including their last nine in a row, with their only defeat in that spell coming against Scotland in 2021. They will be aiming to win 10 straight home games for the first time since 1986-1989.

Scotland are looking to make it three wins from three after victories over England and Wales, and coach Gregor Townsend has also made just the one alteration to his side from last time out.

The 2021 Six Nations Player of the Championship Hamish Watson comes in to replace Luke Crosbie after recovering from a head injury sustained against New Zealand in December.

Crosbie and Chris Harris are not even named on the bench, with Sam Skinner coming in, while Ali Price is also back and among the replacements.

Stuart Hogg went off with a head injury in Scotland's defeat of Wales in round two, but has been passed fit to start.

France XV: Thomas Ramos, Damian Penaud, Gael Fickou, Yoram Moefana, Ethan Dumortier, Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont (c); Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Mohamed Haouas, Thibaud Flament, Paul Willemse, Anthony Jelonch, Charles Ollivon, Gregory Alldritt.

Replacements: Gaetan Barlot, Reda Wardi, Sipili Falatea, Romain Taofifenua, Francois Cros, Sekou Macalou, Baptiste Couilloud, Matthieu Jalibert.

Scotland XV: Stuart Hogg, Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell, Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Richie Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie (c), Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson.

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, WP Nel, Jonny Gray, Sam Skinner, Jack Dempsey, Ali Price, Blair Kinghorn.

Courtney Lawes is poised to make his England return at the Principality Stadium, while Dan Biggar drops to the bench as Warren Gatland has made nine changes to his team for the Six Nations clash on Saturday.

Lock Lawes has been named among the replacements after recovering from injury and is set to make his first appearance for the Red Rose since captaining his country for the series victory in Australia last year.

Anthony Watson has got the nod to start on the left wing ahead of Ollie Hassell-Collins in the only change to the team that beat Italy 31-14 before the weekend off.

That means Marcus Smith is on the bench once again, with captain Owen Farrell staying at fly-half.

Warren Gatland has wielded the axe following a 35-7 hammered at the hands of Scotland, fly-half Biggar among those to lose his place. George North, Liam Williams and Wyn Jones miss out altogether.

Centre Mason Grady will make his senior bow, Owen Williams comes in at number 10 and the fit-again Louis Rees-Zammit is back on the wing.

It was confirmed on Wednesday that the game will go ahead following a threat of strike action from Wales players, who will attempt to get up and running following defeats to Ireland and Scotland.

Wales team: Leigh Halfpenny, Josh Adams, Mason Grady, Joe Hawkins, Louis Rees-Zammit, Owen Williams, Tomos Williams; Gareth Thomas, Ken Owens (captain), Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones, Christ Tshiunza, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Bradley Roberts, Rhys Carre, Dillon Lewis, Dafydd Jenkins, Tommy Reffell, Kieran Hardy, Dan Biggar, Nick Tompkins.

England team: Freddie Steward, Max Malins, Henry Slade, Ollie Lawrence, Anthony Watson, Owen Farrell (captain), Jack van Poortvliet;  Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, Lewis Ludlam, Jack Willis, Alex Dombrandt.

Replacements: Jack Walker, Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole, Courtney Lawes, Ben Curry, Alex Mitchell, Marcus Smith, Henry Arundell.

Craig Casey and Ross Byrne will make their first Six Nations starts for Ireland when they travel to Rome to face Italy on Saturday.

With Johnny Sexton out with a groin injury and Conor Murray dropped to the bench, Casey and Byrne will pair at half-back as coach Andy Farrell makes six changes to the team that beat France last time out.

Ronan Kelleher replaces Rob Herring at hooker, while Jack Conan comes in for Peter O'Mahony and Bundee Aki earns a start after coming off the bench in the first two games, replacing Stuart McCloskey.

Dan Sheehan is fit again and has been named among the replacements.

James Ryan will captain the side in Sexton's absence as Ireland look to make it three wins from three following victories against Wales and France.

Ireland have won 22 of their previous 23 matches against Italy in the Six Nations, including the last nine in a row, with their only defeat in that spell coming in Rome in 2013, which was the last time Italy won at home in the competition against anyone.

Italy have made three changes from the side that lost to England in their last game, with fly-half Paolo Garbisi back in for Tommaso Allan.

Coach Kieran Crowley has also recalled Pierre Bruno to the left wing, while Simone Ferrari is in for Marco Riccioni at tighthead prop.

Italy XV: Ange Capuozzo, Edoardo Padovani, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Pierre Bruno, Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Simone Ferrari, Niccolo Cannone, Federico Ruzza, Sebastian Negri, Michele Lamaro (c), Lorenzo Cannone.

Replacements: Luca Bigi, Federico Zani, Marco Riccioni, Edoardo Iachizzi, Giovanni Pettinelli, Alessandro Fusco, Luca Morisi, Tommaso Allan

Ireland XV: Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, James Lowe, Ross Byrne, Craig Casey; Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham, Iain Henderson, James Ryan (c), Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.

Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Dave Kilcoyne, Tom O'Toole, Ryan Baird, Peter O'Mahony, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Stuart McCloskey.

Wales' Six Nations clash with England will go ahead this weekend after strike action was avoided following crunch talks on Wednesday.

Professional Rugby Board (PRB) chair Malcolm Wall confirmed an agreement had been reached with Welsh Rugby Players' Association (WRPA) chief executive officer Gareth Lewis over a series of key issues that had led to a realistic threat of the fixture not taking place.

The settlement of a significant contract dispute came after the PRB agreed a reduction to the 60-cap rule that governs international selection and revised the fixed-and-variable contract offer for players.

Only 25 international caps will be required for players before being able to play freely outside of Wales, and still be available for the national side, while Lewis will attend all PRB meetings.

A new contract agreement, under the newly proposed new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA), will contain a fixed-only option, as well as a fixed-variable deal that Wales' professional sides will work under.

"We have listened to our players and have been able to resolve the three issues presented, quickly and efficiently," said Wall after the announcement.

"The six-year framework we have agreed has always had the players' best interests at heart and we have been happy to allay their understandable concerns with the adjustments described.

"Negotiations at PRB will continue in earnest as we seek to sign our new six-year PRA as soon as possible and we continue to be grateful to our professional players for their understanding and patience at this most critical time for the game in Wales."

Warren Gatland delayed his squad announcement on Tuesday amid ongoing discussions, with Wales players reportedly keen to have matters sorted by the following day.

Those plans came to fruition after negotiations between the four Wales professional sides and WRPA representatives at Principality Stadium, and a further meeting among international and club players.

"I'm grateful to PRB members for the meaningful consultation that has taken place over the past days and weeks and for the compromises they have made in getting to this point," said WRPA's Lewis.

"The impasse that was reached this week is of course regrettable for all parties but, having now been granted a place within PRB, the players' voices can now be heard which will avoid any repeat of situations like this in the future.

"The players are now keen to put this matter behind them and concentrate on preparations for one of the biggest matches in the international sporting calendar in Cardiff on Saturday."

Welsh Rugby Union interim chief executive officer Nigel Walker added: "The PRB has been agile and receptive to the players' requests and the players have, equally, been responsible and reasonable in their dealings with the PRB which is a credit to all parties.

"We will all now put this matter behind us and I know the nation will also unite as one behind the team when they face England.

"The game is on and, whilst there is still some detail to discuss and some fine tuning to be done in our negotiations at PRB, this is undoubtedly been a linchpin moment from which we can build."

Wales are bottom of the table after losing to Ireland and Scotland at the start of Gatland's second spell as head coach.

Tom Curry will not return before the end of the Six Nations due to another hamstring injury.

Curry had been in line to return for England against Wales this week after missing time with a tear to his right hamstring.

But after making his comeback for Sale Sharks on Saturday, he injured the same muscle in his left leg.

On Tuesday, England confirmed Curry would be replaced in the squad by brother Ben.

An update followed from Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson, who ruled the back rower out for the remainder of the tournament.

"It's a grade 2c hamstring injury on the opposite side to the one that he did six weeks ago," Sanderson said.

"It's a soft muscle injury that extends into the tendon. It's four to six weeks."

Sanderson explained the injury had been sustained after linking up with England this week rather than in the club match against Northampton Saints.

He attributed the setback to "something to do with the loading and the physical demands of an international camp compared to your club".

Defending the decision to involve Curry against Northampton, Sanderson said: "Tom knows his body and his mind better.

"This is not a guy who needs two or three games to warm up. He can just go straight in and be at the top of his game."