WITH THE SIX Nations getting underway this weekend, we rank the contenders ahead of the opening round of fixtures.
1. France
On paper, there’s not much to seperate Ireland and France, but Les Bleus might just be in a better place at the moment.
Toulouse and Bordeaux are flying in the Champions Cup and key men are fit. Antoine Dupont is back after sitting out last year’s tournament to pursue his Olympic dream, while Romain Ntamack is over his injury struggles. To have that brilliant half-back pairing available is a game-changer for Fabien Galthié.
The French coach has been feeling some heat post the 2023 World Cup, with the 2022 Six Nations win the only trophy that has arrived on his watch. With players like Charles Ollivon and Anthony Jelonch among their injured list, the squad isn’t quite at full strength but France have the depth to absorb those losses. A title will be hard won given they to travel to play England and Ireland, but it could all come down to round four in Dublin.
2. Ireland
The defending champions are in relatively good health, although the loss of Tadhg Furlong for Saturday’s opener against England – at the very least – is a blow. Otherwise there is strong competition across the squad. The selection at 10 will grab headlines again, but there are tough calls at centre and in the second row, while a rising talent like Jamie Osborne tries to force his way into an established backline.
Andy Farrell’s absence adds another layer of intrigue. Farrell will surely have some input across the championship but Simon Easterby will be the man in charge as Ireland look to become the first side to win three Six Nations titles in a row. Ireland didn’t hit their usual levels in November and Easterby is now tasked with getting more out of the squad in this window. The priorities will be to sharpen up Ireland’s attacking game, which looked surprisingly laboured last year, and fix the long-term lineout inconsistencies.
The fixtures fall nicely for Ireland, with England and France both coming to Dublin, and if they get off to a winning start against Steve Borthwick’s men this weekend the Grand Slam talk will start.
3. England
Arguably the most interesting team in the tournament. England’s results haven’t been good – losing seven of their 12 Tests in 2024 – but Steve Borthwick’s side have shown glimpses of potential.
They impressed in beating Ireland at Twickenham last year and were competitive in losing to New Zealand (three times), Australia and South Africa, although that string of near-misses has created an unwanted trend. Some turbulence behind the scenes hasn’t helped, with defence coach Felix Jones making a shock exit last year just as his ideas were appearing to embed.
Interestingly, Borthwick has shaken up his team for this weekend, with Tom and Ben Curry starting a Test together for the first time, while Cadan Murley debuts on the wing. Borthwick has also changed his captain for this tournament, with Maro Itoje taking over from Jamie George. We wait to see if those moves make the desired impact. England have the players and can beat anyone on their day, but still look capable of a slip up or two along the way.
4. Scotland
Might have pipped England if Sione Tuipulotu was fit, but the centre’s pectoral injury – which will rule him out of the entire championship – is probably the most significant injury across all the teams this year. To add to Scotland’s woes, lock Scott Cummings is nursing a broken arm.
Scotland have been threatening to take the next step under Gregor Townsend, without quite making the leap. A controversial disallowed try denied them victory against France last year, and they’ve won the last four Calcutta Cup meetings with England.
They have plenty of potential, but remain frustratingly inconsistent. Having gone 27-0 up in Cardiff last year Scotland clung on to win 27-26, and followed up a home win over England with an away loss to Italy. They ultimately finished fourth, will all five of their games decided by single-figure scores. It could be a similar story this time around – close, but just not quite there yet. Home games against Italy and Ireland in rounds one and two offer the chance to build early momentum.
5. Italy
Made real progress under head coach Gonzalo Quesada last year, drawing with France and beating Scotland and Wales on the way to a fifth place finish. Keeping that momentum is the minimum aim this time around. They shipped 50 points to Argentina in November, and need to eradicate days like that out of their system.
Italy have exciting talents in their squad, with Ange Capuozzo in fine form for Toulouse and Benetton centre Tommaso Menoncello named player of the tournament after his superb performances in last year’s championship.
The key is balancing the talents of those game-breakers alongside cohesive team performances. Italy play some wonderful attacking rugby and have made big strides with their defensive work, but set-piece remains an issue. Knit it all together and they can pull off a couple of wins.
6. Wales
A young Welsh team who have endured some difficult days could be in for another testing campaign. Last year saw Wales take the Wooden Spoon for the first time since 2003 and they will be desperate to avoid that unwanted back-to-back. Add in the summer and November Tests, and Wales lost all 11 games they played in 2024.
Flanker Jac Morgan is the standout talent in a young Welsh squad. Eight of Gatland’s 34-man selection will be hoping to earn their Six Nations debuts, while 18 of the squad have 10 caps or less to their name. The return of Taulupe Faletau, Liam Williams and Josh Adams from injury is much-welcome.
Wales have plenty of spirit and have put in some massive defensive efforts across those defeats last year, but overall their gameplan looks limited and their squad too light. Italy in round two looks their best chance of getting a win on the board, but at the moment, they’ll head to Rome as underdogs.
Can’t really disagree with the 1 & 2, 3 could be Scotland and 4 England. Unfortunately for Wales it looks like the wooden spoon.
Wales def wooden spoon material. England and Scotland could make life uncomfortable. Just can’t see past France for the title. Yeah, we will run them very close, but im not sure that our attack is sufficiently potent at the mo to go toe to toe and slug it out in the final 10 mins.
This is a joke… Clearly England favourites followed by Scotland, France, Italy, Ireland and Wales
Doesn’t matter about England’s near misses; they should have won those games, especially at home. For quite a while, Ireland has been doing well on overseas tours. I do expect other home nations and France to start winning at least one game on tour against the big three. Once that starts happening regularly, it will definitely give the extra push we need for tight games in the knockout stage at the World Cup.
@Knob: but they didnt