England and New Zealand rugby legends, Will Carling and Zinzan Brooke will be riding The London-Paris 2010.

Carling, who won 72 caps for England and was captain from 1988-96, will cycle in the event from June 24th – 27th. Under his leadership, England won three Grand Slams and reached the 1991 World Cup final.

Will Carling and his new Specialized bike

Carling and his team will be riding for the international children’s charity Right To Play (www.righttoplay.org.uk), which aims to improve the lives of the world’s children by using the power of sport and play for development, health and peace. Right To Play works with communities to create sport and play projects that empower vulnerable children and foster leadership skills, teamwork, self-esteem and fair play.

Carling said: “The L2P is the Six Nations of cyclosportives and it’s going to be every bit as tough and demanding as a bruising encounter at Twickenham. But I’m training hard and we’re determined to make it to Paris.

“If it’s tough out on the road for us, all we have to think about is the young people we’re cycling for. Children across the globe face unimaginable hardships and through Right To Play we use sport as an educational tool to make a significant improvement to their lives.

“I’m really looking forward to leading my team out on the road to Paris. I only hope we make it to the Eiffel Tower.”

Brooke was a legendary number eight for the All Blacks who played in 58 Tests. Three years ago he survived a blood clot on the brain after a taxi accident in Spain, where he was coaching the Barbarians.

Zinzan Brooke

Brooke said: “I’m always looking for new challenges and when Will talked to me about The L2P, I immediately joined the Right To Play team. As a professional sportsman, I know the power of sport and how it can build self-esteem and self-confidence. Respect through sport is at the heart of what Right To Play is trying to do.”

The Six Nations resumes at the Stade de France and history could be and is in the making – the first Championship match to be staged on a Friday night and a Welsh victory would equal England and France’s joint record of nine consecutive tournament wins, plus Martyn Williams will make his 46th appearance in the Championship, overtaking Gareth Edwards to set a new Welsh record for the tournament.

Wales are two wins into their bid for back-to-back Grand Slams with victories over Scotland and England opening defeat to Ireland but took a step back despite victory over Scotland. France therefore must win to keep their Championship hopes alive while history beckons Wales.

Wales have reason to feel confident of securing their first win in Paris since their Grand Slam success in 2005. International Rugby Board Player of the Year Shane Williams returns to their side and will look to benefit from the player who has scored 45 tries in 62 Tests.

The return of Williams is the only change to the starting line-up while there is a place for Gavin Henson on the bench after returning from injury.

The weekends injury to Beauxis has forced Lievremont to gamble with selection, with a new half-back partnership. Benoit Baby gets the No.10 shirt while Morgan Parra comes in at scum-half, Matthieu Bastareaud is called up to make his debut at outside centre. Lievremont has also changed the back three with Maxime Medard reverting to fullback in place of Clement Poitrenaud and Julien Malzieu on the wing.

Italy in Rome follow before a likely title decider against Ireland in Cardiff on the final weekend of the Championship but to look that far ahead would be to discount France’s chances and a betting man cannot rule out the French as they have undoubted class and despite the lack of experience have the spirit to make a differrance.

The key strengths of Wales will be power and pace from a more ‘refined’ and settled team.Look forward to a cracking game.

France: Maxime Medard (Toulouse); Julien Malzieu (Clermont-Auvergne), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion, Cedric Heymans (both Toulouse); Benoit Baby (Clermont-Auvergne), Morgan Parra (Bourgoin); Fabien Barcella (Biarritz), Dimitri Szarzewski, Sylvain Marconnet (both Stade Francais), Lionel Nallet (Castres, capt), Sebastien Chabal (Sale), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz)

Replacements: Benjamin Kayser (Leicester), Thomas Domingo (Clermont-Auvergne), Romain Millo-Chluski (Toulouse), Louis Picamoles (Montpellier), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse

Wales: Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), Tom Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), Shane Williams (Ospreys); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Ospreys); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Ian Gough (Ospreys), Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys, capt), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), Andy Powell (Cardiff Blues).

Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), D Jones (Scarlets), D Peel (Sale Sharks), J Hook (Ospreys), G Henson (Ospreys).

Referee: Mark Lawrence (SA)

Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ire), Simon McDowell (Ire) Television Match Official: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ire)

Grand Slam champions Wales made a flying start to their RBS 6 Nations title defence with a 26-13 victory over Scotland. Wales were impressive and deserved the opening game of their Six Nations title defence at Murrayfield.

Ireland edged an enthralling RBS 6 Nations clash at Croke Park to claim a rare 30-21 victory over France that underlines their status as genuine title contenders. Lievremont’s men went down to an impressive Ireland side at Croke Park, but showed flashes of their talented best in tries from Imanol Harinordoquy and Maxime Medard. D’Arcy made a headline-grabbing return to the international stage in Ireland’s Six Nations opener after battling back from a broken arm suffered in the opening match of last year’s Championship. The Leinster stalwart’s playing comeback was delayed by complications but he announced his return by grabbing the decisive score at Croke Park before being mobbed by his team mates.

Despite their impressive showing Lievremont has elected to make four personnel changes for Saturday’s game at the Stade de France.

The main casualties are in the pack, with Fabien Barcella, Nicolas Mas and Romain Millo-Chluski replacing Lionel Faure, Benoit Lecouls and Sebastien Chabal. There is only one change in the backs, with Cedric Heymans replacing Julien Malzieu and joining his Toulouse team-mates Clement Poitrenaud in the back-three. Florian Fritz retains his place in the centre despite awaiting the verdict on a charge of alleged gouging.

England cruised to an opening 36-11 RBS 6 Nations victory over Italy but the jury remains out on their championship ambitions after a dismal day at Twickenham.

Some other interesting stats show they also drew 4.6 million viewers on Saturday, 7 February whilst the following match, Ireland’s win over France, drew 4.7 million viewers.

Welsh Rugby Union group chief executive Roger Lewis has rejected the prospect of forming a British League.

Lewis told the BBC’s Scrum V Radio that the Union’s main objective instead was to establish a new Anglo-Welsh competition to replace the EDF Cup.

“It’s not on our agenda,” he said. “This has been put on the table by someone else.

“Our agenda was focused on keeping these cross-border competitions and rivalries going.”

The EDF Cup comes to an end this season and the WRU is concerned about the impact of not having a replacement.

The absence of a competition involving the top English clubs and their Welsh counterparts would lead to a serious impact on the finances of the Blues, Ospreys, Dragons and Scarlets.

As well as gate receipts which the competition generates, each team currently receives £250,000 from the sponsors EDF.

And Lewis says that the war of words between the English clubs and the English Rugby Football Union is threatening to scupper hopes of creating a replacement competition.

He also revealed that the RFU has submitted a paper in order to kick-start negotiations, with the aim of forming a new British league involving the Celtic nations.