Six Nations – Who will emerge victorious?

Ireland will open the tournament against Italy having last year thrown off the monkey of 1948 – the last time they had won a Grand Slam. Replacing the stale leadership of Eddie O’Sullivan with the fresh-faced Declan Kidney has reinvigorated the Irish. Kidney seems to have successfully united the men of Munster and Leinster, and has complimented the remnants of the “golden generation” with young talent such as Keith Earls and Jonathan Sexton. No doubt this has played a part in Brian O’Driscoll rediscovering his best form after a number of relatively subdued performances since injury in 2005. Alongside BO’D the attacking threat will primarily come from Rob Kearney and Tommy Bowe. Supported by the exceptionally athletic back row of Stephen Ferris, David Wallace and Jamie Heaslip, they should be able to overcome any potential vulnerability at the scrum. John Hayes continues to lumber towards 100 caps. They certainly achieved this in humbling the Springboks last autumn.

England start the tournament in a crunch game against Wales which one suspects may wreck the loser’s campaign and propel the victor towards the championship; such is the psychological importance of a quick start to the competition. Martin Johnson confessed that the autumn campaign was “over-prescriptive”, and the English public will now be hoping that the players can be liberated to a degree. Largely, the players seem paralysed on the international stage, unable to replicate their club performances. It would be nice to see the English players smiling and actually enjoying playing for their country again – it is a privilege after all! Perhaps then some ingenuity and cunning might re-enter their game. Certainly the resources are in place. The RFU is the biggest union in the world. It has more than two million players registered to it which is more than all the other Six Nations teams put together! Discipline must also be improved. England received 6 out of the 11 total sin-binnings last year. If this can be corrected, and the game plan executed, Johnson has the requisite pool of talent in place to challenge for the title.

Welsh preparation has been hampered by the two-week ban imposed on Lee Byrne for the “16th-man” affair against Leicester. Pending an appeal, the mercurial James Hook will wear the number 15 jersey. Hook, having delayed surgery, was expected to play at inside centre alongside Jamie Roberts in an attempt to spark more creativity. Further, both Mike Phillips and Dwayne Peel have been ruled out until the later rounds giving the relatively inexperienced Richie Rees a chance. It may also be a final opportunity for the now shaven Andy Powell to prove himself. Having crashed onto the scene as a bruising ball-carrier he has since flattered to deceive, often losing the ball in contact and being guilty of numerous handling errors. Fortunately for Warren Gatland the Lions front row has been reunited. Adam Jones, Matthew Rees and Gethin Jenkins will attack the relatively inexperienced David Wilson and Tim Payne on Saturday. What the Welsh must not do is get suckered into playing the romanticised “Welsh Way” and commit too few players to the breakdown. If they can play the game in the right areas, they have the incisive running lines to cause problems.

As always, on paper, the French are exceedingly strong. The depth of talent available to the erratic Marc Lievremont has meant he has left out both Maxime Médard and Cédric Heymans. On the other hand, Mathieu Bastareaud has been recalled having been forgiven for his boozy self-inflicted injuries on tour in New Zealand. However, first choice scrum-half Julien Dupuy is unavailable following a 23-week ban for eye gouging. Perceived as being mentally weak away from home, they crucially play two crunch games in Paris – Ireland and England. Also to their advantage is the fact 16 Welshmen and 14 Irishmen were involved in the Lions Tour. Come the final rounds of the competition these players may face “burn out”. Though the French will no doubt bemuse both themselves and their opposition at times, any team that beats New Zealand in Dunedin is a serious contender.

The Scots, having just defeated Australia in arguably their best result of the decade, aim to add more tries to their game. Indeed, Italy have scored more tries than them in the ten years of the Six Nations. To gain some insight into Scotland’s troubles in attack, Andy Robinson has been using a mini-helicopter to hover over training sessions. He must also decide whether to select the exciting Evans brothers and the uncapped Alex Grove, or to retain the likes of Graeme Morrison and Nick de Luca who endured a torrid tournament last year. Whatever happens, Chris Paterson seems set to be the first Scottish player to reach 100 caps. Incredibly, Paterson has missed just one kick at goal over the last three seasons in the Six Nations. The Scots must test him with more conversions.

Italy have a core of decent players; the Bergamasco brothers (as long as Mauro is not scrum-half), Marco Bortolami and Martin Castrogiovanni amongst them. We expect a solid scrum and lineout, but unfortunately little else. Their vulnerability will be amplified by the devastating loss of man-mountain Sergio Parisse. In the past able to rely on Diego Dominguez to slot the goals, they now have Craig Gower – another foreign import – who has convinced Nick Mallet that his drunken off field misdemeanours are a thing of the past. He has previously been fined for indecent exposure, assault and for vomiting on a team mate’s son. He will try to help improve on the paltry two tries Italy scored last year.

Though we cannot predict what will happen over the next two months, we can guarantee absolute entertainment. As always, we can expect Brian Moore – no matter the score – to lament more “crap” from England, Brian O’Driscoll to walk on more water, Jamie Roberts to still have a massive head, Chris Patterson to be described as a “kicking machine”, the French back-line to be ridiculously orange and Italy…well they’ll try to win a game. You would be foolish to miss such a feast.