The other newcomers are Will Greenwood the Tigers centre and Adedayo Adebayo

The other newcomers are Will Greenwood, the Tigers centre, and Adedayo Adebayo, the Bath left-wing.The Welsh, whose injury problems are considerably more acute, have named a 26-strong squad featuring three locks – Craig Quinnell, Mike Voyle and Paul Arnold – who all have legitimate hopes of replacing Mark Rowley in the engine room. Rowley pulled out this week after fracturing his left wrist while playing for Pontypridd.Meanwhile, England whittled down their World Cup Sevens squad to 12 in preparation for the tournament in Hong Kong in a fortnight. Six players – Lawrence Dallaglio, Tim Rodber, Chris Sheasby, Dave Scully, Nick Beal and Adebayo – were in the victorious 1993 title-winning side, but one or more may lose out when Andrew Harriman, the team manager, names his final 10 on Sunday week.ENGLAND PRELIMINARY SQUAD (v Wales, Cardiff, 15 March): Backs: T Stimpson (Newcastle), J Sleightholme (Bath), W Carling (Harlequins), P de Glanville (Bath), T Underwood (Newcastle), P Grayson (Northampton), A Gomarsall (Wasps), J Guscott (Bath), M Catt (Bath), A Healey (Leicester), A Adebayo (Bath), W Greenwood (Leicester). Forwards: G Rowntree (Leicester), M Regan (Bristol), J Leonard (Harlequins), M Johnson (Leicester), S Shaw (Bristol), L Dallaglio (Wasps), T Rodber (Northampton), R Hill (Saracens), D Garforth (Leicester), P Greening (Gloucester), B Clarke (Richmond), A Diprose (Saracens), G Archer (Newcastle), J Mallett (Bath), N Back (Leicester). Team to be announced on Tuesday 11 March.WALES SQUAD (v England, Cardiff 15 March 15): Backs: N Jenkins (Pontypridd), I Evans (Llanelli), G Thomas (Bridgend), W Proctor (Llanelli), A Bateman (Richmond), N Davies (Llanelli), S Gibbs (Swansea), J Davies (Cardiff), R Howley (Cardiff), P John (Pontypridd). Forwards: C Loader (Swansea), D Young (Cardiff), L Mustoe (Cardiff), J Davies (Neath), S John (Llanelli), J Humphreys (Cardiff, capt), G Jenkins (Swansea), G Llewellyn (Harlequins), C Quinnell (Richmond), M Voyle (Llanelli), P Arnold (Swansea), S Williams (Neath), S Quinnell (Richmond), H Taylor (Cardiff), D McIntosh (Pontypridd), C Charvis (Cardiff).Sevens squad, Digest.

With no Women’s National League programme this weekend, the 96th Varsity Match at Cambridge captures the attention with Cambridge looking to repeat their 3-0 victory of last year at Oxford. The good news for Cambridge is that their captain, Ruth Gilpin, is back after a two months long ankle injury. However, their first choice goalkeeper, Katy Roberts, is training with England Under-21, so Caroline Wright takes over in goal.
Oxford’s president, Josie Saunders, also back after a broken ankle, is in the Dark Blues squad announced yesterday.At Milton Keynes, Bromsgrove School won the British Aerospace National Schools Under-18 title, winning their last game 6-0 against Tadcaster Grammar School with Fiona Gibson scoring three times. The title was effectively decided earlier when Bromsgrove beat runners-up Cheltenham 3-0.OXFORD UNIVERSITY SQUAD (v Cambridge University, Cambridge, 11 March): C Deane (University, capt), E Williamson (St Hughes), L Atkinson (Jesus), C McKenna (Merlin), C Birk (St John’s), L Hudsmith (Lady Margaret Hall), C Pickford (Queen’s), V Pope (Pembroke), A Rendu (New), N Jacobsen (St Hughes), J Saunders (New), C Taylor (Queens), A Morgan (Corpus Christi), N Watson (Keble), A Brown (St Anne), B Hall-Thompson (Trinity)..

Brian Lara and Carl Hooper exposed the frailties of limited Indian bowling on a lifeless pitch to build a commanding position for the West Indies on the opening day of the first Test here yesterday. They came together in mid-afternoon when the Indians had done commendably to restrict the home team to 143 for 3.
Lara had reached an unbothered 83 in three hours when a casual flick off his legs against the second new ball provided a low catch to wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia and gave India’s Test debutant Abey Kuruvilla, a tall slim bowler of just above medium pace from Bombay, a deserving second wicket. But Hooper saw through the day to be 87 not out with the West Indies still formidably placed at 300 for 4.The Indian attack, short of penetration at the best of times, had been diminished even before the tour started last week when their classy fast bowler Javagal Srinath aggravated tendinitis in his bowling shoulder and was obliged to return to South Africa to seek the attention of the specialists who had successfully treated it a few months ago. Predictably, he was badly missed.Yet Kuruvilla, his replacement with the new ball, produced a telling opening spell, plucking out the off stump of opener Stuart Williams with a perfectly disguised change of pace after nine overs. He and his colleagues then pinned down Sherwin Campbell and the left-handed Shivnarine Chanderpaul to such an extent that they each laboured for an hour and three-quarters without ever being able to break free.Campbell fell, cutting the left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, for 40 and Chanderpaul went, also to a catch behind the wicket, off the fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad for 52.The entry of Lara still, as he was in Australia, at No 4 rather than his natural No 3, had changed the momentum with his positive strokeplay and Hooper followed his example.