England are off to Japan to kickstart their summer tour where they will bump into an old friend, their former coach, Eddie Jones.
Jones, sacked by England 18 months ago before a disappointing stint in charge of Australia, is back as head coach of the Brave Blossoms for a second time and will be looking to mastermind a first-ever victory for Japan against his former team.
Steve Borthwick's England will then head off to New Zealand to shackle the All Blacks while meanwhile, back at Twickenham, there is also international rugby being played there this weekend.
On Saturday the headquarters of England rugby stages an international double header with world champions South Africa taking on Wales ahead of a game between the Barbarians and Fiji.
- JAPAN +19.5 V ENGLAND
- GEORGE FURBANK ANY TIME TRY SCORER
- SOUTH AFRICA -18.5 V WALES
- APHELELE FASSI ANY TIME TRY SCORER
Japan Can Run England Close
Eddie Jones comes up against his former team in Tokyo on Saturday morning and while there is very little talk of a shock win in the offing, an honourable loss looks entirely possible.
The Japanese have played England eight times in internationals, four of them officially, and lost the lot.
The most recent came at last year's World Cup where a full-strength England powered to a 34-12 win in Nice.
Now, though, a very different England side arrives in Japan still with questions being asked after a stop-and-start Six Nations campaign which saw an impressive win over Ireland offset by disappointing performances against Italy, Wales and Scotland.
The handicap for this fixture in Tokyo is 19.5 and despite plenty of support for the visitors it's Japan who look far likelier to cover that than England.
There is an experimental look to both sides with 12 uncapped players in the Japan squad while Borthwick is missing the likes of Owen Farrell, George Ford, Danny Care, Manu Tuilagi and Elliot Daly.
Conditions are going to be humid and sapping which also makes kicking harder, should see more handling errors and may not encourage an expansive, running game.
All in all, there are enough grounds for believing it could get messy and with a lot of new faces - on both sides - it could also get close.
Furbank Full Of Eastern Promise
England full-back George Furbank has scored two tries in nine appearances so far for England and can make it three in 10 against Japan.
Furbank, who was handed his first England cap under Jones, scored both his England tries in this spring's Six Nations, one in defeat against Scotland at Murrayfield, the other in that dramatic win over Ireland at Twickenham.
Furbank will be feeling on top of the world after captaining Northampton Saints to Premiership glory over Bath at Twickenham earlier this month.
The pacy Furbank will get chances joining in the line. Against an experimental Japan defence he's worth backing to take one of those opportunities and score a try at any time.
GEORGE FURBANK ANYTIME TRY SCORER
Tough Task for Gatland's Dragons
Wales coach Warren Gatland admits his team have their "backs to the wall" as they prepare to take on world champions South Africa at neutral Twickenham.
This is the Springboks' first Test since they won the World Cup in France in November and Rassie Erasmus is sending a super-strong XV out onto the pitch.
The handicap has been set at 18.5 and the mighty South Africans can cover that mark.
There are two uncapped players named in the starting XV, Edwill van der Merwe on the wing and Jordan Hendrikse at fly-half.
But the rest of the team captained by totemic flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit has a familiar and powerful look to it.
Ten players in the matchday 23 featured in the World Cup final against New Zealand, including the likes Faf de Klerk, Vincent Koch and Eben Etzebeth, whose 119 caps are more than the entire Welsh starting pack have won.
Wales were forced into going down a different route following their calamitous Six Nations campaign which saw them lose all five matches and Gatland offer his resignation.
So it means a debutant at scrum half in Cardiff's Ellis Bevan, three more rookies on the bench and second-row duo of Ben Carter and Matthew Screech who have 180 fewer combined caps than the two men they will be up against, Etzebeth and Franco Mostert.
This is a huge learning lesson for the Welsh with the overriding sense that it promises to be way beyond them.
Fassi Can Cross In Boks' Onslaught
South Africa will no doubt chuck everything at the Wales defence and should score a few tries with Aphelele Fassi among those set to get his name on the try sheet.
Fassi is a relative newcomer to the Springbok ranks, the 26-year-old having won just three caps.
He has though already scored a couple of tries and you feel sure that the full-back will get opportunities with ball in hand, and against a depleted and inexperienced defence is value to get his name on a potentially crowded try sheet.
APHELELE FASSI ANYTIME TRY SCORER
