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Six Nations captains (L-R Sergio Parrise- Italy, Chris Robshaw- England, Gregi Laidlaw -Scotland, Paul O Connell-Ireland, Sam Warburton- Wales , Thierry Dusautoir- France : PIC VIA :INTHELOOSE |
This Friday sees the kickoff to the brand new RBS Six Nations Championship taking place, where the best of the northern hemisphere countries going at it once again in the oldest rugby union competition in the world. This will be a good chance to see where the respective sides are as we head towards the Rugby World Cup later in the year. This year’s competition looks to be an interesting championship for sure and sees a very competitive championship on paper for all concerned and all sides seem to have stories leading into the Six Nations this season. Looking at the runners and riders, Ireland look stronger than ever, along with Wales and England challenging once more. Scotland with a new coach has given them a new found spark in international rugby, while the continental sides in France and Italy may see them struggle with the latter looking like the early favourites for the wooden spoon.
ITALY
The Italians led by forwards Sergio Parisse and Alessandro Zanni, will be hoping they can cause a shock along the way in the upcoming Six Nations with the ‘Azzurri’ going into the tournament looking to build their confidence for the World Cup. Italy led by Frenchman Jacques Brunel has seen his side improve on past performances and even though their set plays and all the important mechanics of the game have got better over the years, it hasn't brought them results over the seasons. However as Brunel and everyone in sport knows nowadays, you can have the best team and the best manager and have all the know how on the game, but this is a results driven business and if they can`t pick up wins then the coach will be joining a long line of former Italian coaches that have come before him and that have improved the side too, but with just no end product. Italy will have a good test in their opening two rounds of the championship, with the Italian side up against the champions in Ireland in Rome on match day one, they then travel to Twickenham to face England. The Italians strongest asset is their scrum and that cause problems even the best rugby playing countries as they have shown over the years. The weaknesses in their side though are that they can lose their discipline easily and also struggle with the fast tempo that some sides adopt into their style of play. Pundits and fans will without doubt have Italy marked down for the bottom spot and even though i expect them to trouble their opponents at set plays, I don`t personally see them finishing other than bottom again in the championship.FRANCE
For the men from France, it saw them enjoying a much better year in the Six Nations last time out as opposed to 2013 where ‘Les Bleus’ found themselves with the wooden spoon in the competition and it was a complete shock. It was only four years ago that the French found themselves in a World Cup Final and to then find themselves propping up the rest in the Six Nations a few season later is unheard off. It shows some flaws within the way the French go about their rugby in recent years, as their Top 14 league has seemed to have become a place where the top stars play, but with that, it also harms the national side too. There haven’t been too many French youngsters forcing their way through in their first side, with perhaps only a handful making the grade.
France who have always seemed to adopted a kind of run and gun approach to their game, it sees them play with brilliance and flair when things are going well. When they don`t go well, they can play like a bunch of individuals and lack any cohesion to their team play at all and leads to them giving up more points. One player to look out for on the French team is winger Teddy Thomas who ply’s his trade at Racing Metro in France and has impressed for his country in the Autumn internationals too. On his test debut against Fiji, it saw him scoring a hat trick in a 40-15 win over the Fijians in Paris. He followed his hat trick exploits with a try the following week in a 29-26 win against Australia and will be one of the stars for France in this championship. France truly are the Jekyll and Hyde of international rugby, as they are hard to plan for at times as you never know what to expect from them. France can easily win the title or they can finish rock bottom depending on their demeanor.
SCOTLAND
Last year was arguably the best the Scots had
played in my view in a Six Nations championship in recent years. Despite the
lack of points on the boards that they had put up, their team play and certain
aspects were moving in the right direction. That was shown when they picked up
their first away win in a few seasons with a last gasp drop goal from
Duncan Weir that saw Scotland record a massive victory in Rome and stunned the
Italians to help the ‘tartan army’ from getting the wooden spoon. Scotland also
had interim coach Scott Johnson move upstairs to become Head of Rugby for Scotland
and become the first ever in that position, after he led the side in 2014 as
they awaited the arrival of their new coach.
The stumbling block for the Scots
saw their new head coach in New Zealander Vern Cotter being announced as the
man in charge back in May 2013, but problems with his club side in French side
Clermont, had them failing to agree a deal to release Cotter earlier. Eventually, Cotter took over the reins and started with a 4-match tour in
which they faced the US, Canada, Argentina and then South Africa. The game
against the Springboks saw him hampered, having only the use of Glasgow
Warriors or Edinburgh players due their availability. It saw brave loss to
world number 1 side New Zealand, where they went down 24-16 but that score line
didn`t tell the full story. Their second game against Argentina and was
Cotter`s first home match in charge, saw Scotland scoring five tries in the
41-31 win over the Pumas. It was the first time a Scottish side had
accomplished that feat since 2007 v Ireland. A win over Tonga saw the ever
improving Scots going in the right direction and that will give them belief
heading into the championship. Scotland also hand Glasgow Warriors
Fly-Half in Finn Russell his debut in the competition and it will interest to
see how the kicker performs at international level.
ENGLAND
In the autumn it saw Stuart Lancaster setting the target of 3 wins from 4 against the Southern hemisphere sides, and instead a return of two out of four with mostly below performances haven`t exactly filled the home supporters with confidence heading into a World Cup year. Owen Farrell who came in for a lot of criticism during the autumn, with suggestions of his father the former Rugby league great in Andrew Farrell, being a big reason as to why the Saracens man wasn’t dropped after a string of poor performances with his play and his kicking. George Ford was brought in for the Samoa and Australia games to get some international experience and the Bath man did a solid job in the number 10 role.
However questions over who should wear the all important 10 shirt for this Six Nations, has caused many arguments over the position. Danny Cipriani has saw his inclusion being made stronger despite his previous stints in the English set up, where his his party life style and personality got him in trouble a lot. But that has seemingly been put to bed since his move up North to the Sale Sharks as he has matured not only as player but as a person too. One element he does bring that the rest don’t have in their locker is to produce a bit of quality and genius that can turn matches in a blink of an eye. Although Ford and Myler have the best boot in the Aviva Premiership, they are solid players and very reliable but they don`t have that extra magic to them. This for me will prove to be a much sterner championship for England than in previous years and the big questions will come more on their travels, with visits to the cauldron that is the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for their opener with Wales and also their clash with champions Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. If they can come from away with wins from there then they`ll have a large confidence boost ahead of a tough year ahead.
WALES
For the men from the Valleys, it will be a case of
trying to correct a couple of poor performances from last year that saw key
games losing Warren Gatlain side their Six Nations crown to Ireland. A couple
of poor matches against England and their biggest loss against eventual
champions Ireland in the second round of matches, stopped their hope of
retaining the title for a third year in a row. The loss to their bitter enemy
in England didn’t just knock another nail in the Welsh coffin, but it
hurt them more knowing that their slim chance of making a comeback in the title
race was ended by the English.
The autumn saw their early preparations for the
World Cup start off mixed with a heartbreaking loss to Australia, in a game
that was full of positives but the one negative was that on the scoreboard.
Australia edged the Welsh out 33-28 with all the good the hosts did and then to
see it unraveled towards the end, saw the Aussies just proving to much to
cross the line first. Wales then beat Fiji before holding off the All Blacks
for 60 minutes, before a late onslaught by the world champions saw them to
victory 34-16, though the scoreboard flattered New Zealand in all fairness. The
autumn series ended with Wales breaking their southern hemisphere hoodoo
after a 12-6 win over South Africa with Leigh Halfpenny kicking all the
points in a famous win in Cardiff to see them finish on a high note.
Heading into this championship the Welsh will be boosted from that last
result and will look to build on with huge clash awaiting them this Friday
evening at a packed out Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, as they welcome their
old friends in England to kick off of the new RBS Six Nations championship
for 2015. Sam Warburton and Alun Wynn-Jones will be the old heads leading
from the front and with George North and the two Rhys in Priestland and
Webb in the back row, it will be another tough Welsh assault on the title
front. Plus not forgetting also that they have arguably the best kick in the
world at the moment in full-back and kicker Leigh Halfpenny, with the Toulon
man being deadly with the boot once again much like he his with his club and
will be a mistake to concede many penalties within his range.
Whats not been said about Ireland that hasn’t
already been said before. They are the current and reigning Six Nations
champions and on current form you wouldn`t bet against the men from the Emerald
Isle making it a second straight championship to add to last year’s crown
either. Of course the Irish have some players missing from their ranks as
every side do and not able to take part in the championship, like Paddy Jackson
from Ulster and the possible miss of Johnny Sexton in their line up as he
recovers from an enforced 12 week lay off from suffering four concussions in 12
months. That means that Irish coach Joe Schmidt will hand the task of
kicking to either Leinster’s Ian Madigan or Munster’s Ian Keatley who has
played seen Keatley play well for his club side, but remains to be seen if he
can do it at International level.
However who ever does wear the jersey
knows it is only on borrowed time, with Sexton a cert to reclaim the number 10
when the Racing-Metro star is fit and healthy. This year will also see a change
in captaincy for Ireland after six year, as just 12 months ago it brought the
curtain down on the end of the legendary Brian O’ Driscoll international
career, as he led his side to a triumphant final season which culminated in Six
Nations glory. This year sees a new man in charge to lead the Irish and it is
the task of Munster’s Paul O’ Connell taking on the responsibility of leading
them into battle and on wards to the World Cup where a good championship from
Ireland could see them hoping to transform their Six Nations form into World
cup form and stand a great chance of lifting the Webb Ellis trophy later this
year.
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