Wales caretaker coach Rob Howley has named four uncapped players in a 38-man training squad to prepare for next month's clash against the Barbarians and three-Test Australia tour.

Wasps v Newcastle

Danny Cipriani wept when he informed his Super 15 clubmates in Melbourne that he would be leaving town ahead of schedule and returning to England to start preparing for the resurrection of his international career.

It will be a baptism of fire for the new England coach with South Africa away but it's all about the bigger picture of a home World Cup in 2015

So now, naturally, English rugby union agonises over whether Stuart Lancaster should have been thanked, patted on his head and sent on his way with his pail of water and cleaning utensils.

Wales 16 France 9

ENGLAND v WALES

Dwayne Peel is hurt by his international rejection but is glad to be working for a Diamond in Manchester. He talks to Chris Hewett

Flood is in pole position to fill Wilkinson's boots, but young son of England coach may be the future

Mike Tindall, the England centre whose drunken antics during the early stages of the recent World Cup in New Zealand were a significant factor in the collapse of the national team's campaign, was last night reinstated to the elite squad by the Rugby Football Union's outgoing chief executive Martyn Thomas, whose decision will be widely seen as the latest blow struck in Twickenham's increasingly destructive committee-room conflict. Tindall also finds himself £10,000 better off, having had a £25,000 fine cut by two-fifths on appeal.

England may not have wanted a piece of Danny Cipriani during the months leading into the World Cup, but now the Martin Johnson regime has passed into history, Cipriani very definitely wants a piece of England. "I don't want any more ifs, buts or maybes," he said yesterday during preparations for a return to Twickenham with the Barbarians, who play Australia on Saturday. "I don't want to give people any more reasons not to pick me."

Prodigal son says he has put youthful mistakes behind him as he returns to UK for Baa-Baas match

England's new look side did enough to warm up for the Four Nations, as they got over a tricky patch in the first half in Avignon to again prove too strong for the French, winning 32-18 last night.

Suddenly, the Ireland-England contest in Dublin this coming Saturday is a must-win affair for both teams. The visitors are in need of a pick-me-up following their astonishingly profligate performance in Cardiff last time out, while the home side have drawn a blank in all three of their warm-up games so far.