Who will win the Six Nations?

Kayless

Based on performances during the AIs I think France, Wales, England and Ireland will all be contenders but of course there are other factors to take into account such as home advantage and fixtures.

From an Ireland point of view I think we are at an advantage having Scotland up first (I know they beat us last year) because it gives Schmidt a chance to get off to a good start whereas England have France up first which I think most would agree is a much more daunting prospect.

ScissorPaperRock

If Ireland can find consistency there's no reason that we couldn't. But there's no evidence yet that we have found consistency, and there have been plenty of false dawns in recent years.

Tox56

England win in France in their 1st game they become favourites, lose that and it's a toss up between the top 4

Corkbah

all depends on England/France game …. who is at home !! …. whoever it is …will win the 6Nations.

Italy will surprise and get more than 1 win …so Italy with 2 wins and not the wooden spoon for them !!

thomond2006

France vs Ireland with both going for the Grand Slam would be something to see!

Phoeey

I think France have the easiest fixtures. Then England. If England do beat France then they'd have to be favourites.

We should beat Scotland and Italy. Its not that definite that we will beat Wales, even at home, and if we do manage to then after that it only gets more difficult having to go away to England. If we did manage to win our first three games it's not unimaginable that all the other teams could have lost at least once by then.

ArmaniJeanss

Italy

They really really really need to change the cycle after every 2 years.

I'm surprised the organisers can't see how illogical it is to stick with the exact same fixture template for I think 10+ years at this point.

errlloyd

Scotland

thomond2006 wrote: »

France vs Ireland with both going for the Grand Slam would be something to see!

BOD hatrick - leave by the same door he entered through.... So to speak.

Grimebox

Scotland

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

They really really really need to change the cycle after every 2 years.

I'm surprised the organisers can't see how illogical it is to stick with the exact same fixture template for I think 10+ years at this point.

Whats wrong with them?

ArmaniJeanss

Italy

Grimebox wrote: »

Whats wrong with them?

Everyone consistently has one year they can realistically aim to win big, and one year where its difficult.
So for us the year we are home to England and France, and away to the other 3 is our shot at winning the championship/grand slam; when the fixtures are reversed our chances are reduced.
Everyone else has a similar easy/hard routine.

Always been a bugbear of mine and annoyed me to see that the 2015 fixtures in the earlier post are sticking with it.
Would love to see it mixed so that we could have say France, Scotland, Italy at home and England & Wales away one year. But increasingly looks like they'll have the current template until I die.

Probably not the thread for it anyway.

errlloyd

Scotland

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Everyone consistently has one year they can realistically aim to win big, and one year where its difficult.
So for us the year we are home to England and France, and away to the other 3 is our shot at winning the championship/grand slam; when the fixtures are reversed our chances are reduced.
Everyone else has a similar easy/hard routine.

I used to also believe this, but I've increasingly realised that with form switching around in Rugby so much, it is not necessarily as true as it was when France and England were a proper step above us.

molloyjh

Scotland

This is a really tough one. Ireland haven't found the consistency yet, but then that can't be done in 3 games. I don't think the fixture list is too unkind on us at all though. A home game against Scotland to help get us up to speed, a home game against a Welsh side we'll be mad keen to beat and then a week off before the game in London and a week off after it is great. Then the Italy game at home to build up for the France game. I think that's as good a run as we could get on an even year.

England are an incredibly well drilled side. Nothing spectacular but I really like what Lancaster has done there. France are, well, France. I don't think anyone knows what to expect from them. And the Welsh look strong still. If we bring some form and consistency (and France do as well) this could go to any one of 4 sides. It's set up to be a cracker of a tournament right now, I really hope it lives up to it. I've backed Ireland above, with my heart more-so than my head. The NZ could have been another false dawn, but there's something different about it for me and knowing Joe and the standards he tends to hold players to I can't shake the feeling that this will be different.

<Touches wood, crosses fingers, prays to God and begs the Mocker Gods.....>

.ak

I reckon England will be the most consistent team and will be in with a good shout for a win.

awec

Wales

I don't think we are in contention tbh. It's between England and France for me.

And 2nd or 3rd place finish would be a good 6N for us.

matthew8

Ireland having England/France away is the biggest reason we won't win it for me. France have a nice fixture list and an excellent pack of forwards to go with their strong centres, and shouldn't have an out-half disaster next year.

Hard to see anyone doing the slam with 4 strong teams (If the NZ game wasn't a fluke) in there.

awec

Wales

matthew8 wrote: »

Ireland having England/France away is the biggest reason we won't win it for me. France have a nice fixture list and an excellent pack of forwards to go with their strong centres, and shouldn't have an out-half disaster next year.

Hard to see anyone doing the slam with 4 strong teams (If the NZ game wasn't a fluke) in there.

Yea.

I think Ireland would do well to get 3 home wins. I can't see us going to Twickenham and beating England.

I suspect that England v Wales on the second last weekend will be England going for the grand slam.

Koobcam

Scotland

Fixture list is good for us (Ireland)..except that we have the shortest turnaround from week 1-2, Scotland is on a Sunday, the Wales match on a Saturday. Might be a factor, might not. Hard to think beyond that from an Ireland point of view, we haven't won back-to-back six nations matches in a while. Overall, I'd say 4 wins might be enough this year, France-England in week one and Ireland v Wales in week 2 are probably the key games in terms of who is in contention on the final weekend.

Koobcam

Scotland

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

They really really really need to change the cycle after every 2 years.

I'm surprised the organisers can't see how illogical it is to stick with the exact same fixture template for I think 10+ years at this point.

Completely agree, they should just do a draw every two years and decide it that way. Then again, having England and France at home in the same season every two years has worked out ok for us in the past, the biggest problem now is that we forgot how to easily beat the Welsh

Grimebox

Scotland

Stubbornly picked Ireland in the poll of course

Neil3030

I trust Schmidt to have the team in the right frame of mind to stay focused for Scotland and Italy. The natural mentality of the Irish team will see us raise our game, as we have usually done in recent years, away to England and France. Not saying we'll win these games, but I'd say they'll at least be close.

The real banana skin is Wales at home. They will obviously come to Dublin with no fear whatsoever, but if we can handle George North exploding into the central channels, we should have the beating of them up front.

An awful lot hinges on Ferris for me. If we can somehow get him fit for the tournament, we have a real chance.

Koobcam

Scotland

I think Morgan Parra is out for the tournament, which is great as he seems to love putting the boot into Ireland-my image of France-Ireland fixtures is either him booting over loads of penalties or Vincent Clerc scoring a hat trick. Don't know if Clerc will be in the squad, but I'm happy to see Parra out

wittycynic

Neil3030 wrote: »

An awful lot hinges on Ferris for me. If we can somehow get him fit for the tournament, we have a real chance.

For us it'll come down to injuries. If we have no injuries to our top 25 or so players coming into the championship, I'd be tempted to back us to win it. If we are missing a couple of important bodies, just winning our home games would be a success.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Wales

Ferris won't be playing in the six nations, not at this stage

He's not even back running yet

awec

Wales

As an Ulster fan I hope he's not involved in the 6N. Needs a good bit of time playing Rabo level etc before being thrown into test rugby.

Maybe the summer tour depending on how he's going, if not the AIs next year.

paulmcshane

Scotland

Ireland.....comfortably......based on no solid evidence whatsoever. I'm ok with that.

Neil3030

awec wrote: »

As an Ulster fan I hope he's not involved in the 6N. Needs a good bit of time playing Rabo level etc before being thrown into test rugby.

Maybe the summer tour depending on how he's going, if not the AIs next year.

But... but... it's Ferris...

Can't he just glare at the injured body part to speed up the recovery time?

Philo Beddoe

Wales

After the Wallabies game I decided that reasonable expectations were to have us competing for the 2015 6 Nations rather than the upcoming tournament. The NZ performance has me tempted to revise my ideas, but it's still just one game, there's no knowing with Ireland in recent years whether they can put performances back to back. I think a really good tournament for us would be to win our home games and get a win in Paris. What a statement of intent it would be from the new management group if they could get us to put the French to the sword away from home.

[Jackass]

Scotland

Pretty open I'd say. Ireland, England or Wales could all conceivably win it and you can never write off the French, if they decide to show up their squad is as good as anybodies... I'd take 5 really good performances over silverware at this point, maybe next season hoping to win it, with us peaking at the world cup.

corny

We'll win our three home games and it'll be very tight against England. If the French have something to play for in the last game i don't think we'd beat them.

I'd be happy with 5 decent, solid performances while showing a clear and discernible game plan tbh.

Phonehead

Ireland

Can't see anyone doing the Slam, while the NZ game gives me some confidence I'm still not convinced we can consistently perform to the level required to beat England, France and Wales. Gun to my head, Wales or England to win the Championship

Kayless

Scotland

I'm not sure how England are going to beat us if they can't score try's. They have a great pack at the moment but there backs looks dismal compared to us, France and Wales.

I think we will win our home games (Wales could be very close) and beat England, France in Paris is anyone's guess but like someone else said if they beat England in their first match they will be a very tough nut to crack.

Swiwi.

Wales

What we can say with 100% confidence: neither Italy nor Scotland will win!

It depends what side of the bed Ireland get out of: the Australian side, and they finish 4th; the NZ side and they can win the whole thing.

England > Wales > Ireland = France > Scotland > Italy

Kayless

Scotland

England are not looking good on the injury front:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/picturegalleries/10487606/Wasps-winger-Christian-Wade-joins-almost-a-full-team-of-England-players-out-injured-in-pictures.html#?frame=2751839

P.Walnuts

Wales

Kayless wrote: »

I'm not sure how England are going to beat us if they can't score try's. They have a great pack at the moment but there backs looks dismal compared to us, France and Wales.

I think we will win our home games (Wales could be very close) and beat England, France in Paris is anyone's guess but like someone else said if they beat England in their first match they will be a very tough nut to crack.

Our backs haven't looked good for a long while*, we might try play a bit more out wide but we havent exactly been successful at it in the past few seasons. I definitely wouldn't say England look dismal compared to us!

*Last week doesnt count

stefan idiot jones

George North.

deadybai

Ireland

I think Ireland will go back to their usual ways by the time six nations comes around. People seem to forget all about how we were trounced by Australia. And people also think we will be favorites because the way we performed vs The All Blacks. Im not trying to be negative but im just being realistic. I do hope Ireland will win the Grand Slam.

penybont exile

Ireland

Looks like the bookies fancy Wales even with two away games in the mini-league of the top four countries. Ireland have two as well. England & France have two home games from that group.

Saying that you can never discount Scotland or Italy from upsetting the apple cart ...... it's happened before and will happen again.

I think it's too close to call.

For me ...... I think if Wales beat Ireland on the 8th February they would be in a very good position to retain the title. This is the pivotal game for Wales.

Wales have beaten England and France on the last two occasions they've played and I don't see any reason why they won't do it again this season.

Thekidneybean

Scotland

I'm pretty sure in 08 nobody would have had huge expectations after that year and the world cup previous in 07. Then we won the slam in 09. It's possible but....meh :P

Fireball07

On paper, we're no worse than any of the other teams..... in fact, you might even make a case for us being the strongest.


Of course, games are not won on paper, and injuries will play a big part too. But I've gone into every 6N since about 2004 thinking that we could win it, and I don't see any reason to be less optimistic now.


It's all about putting together 5 good performances...we know we are capable of reaching that required level, it's about sustaining it.

Teferi

Wales

If we can play 5 good games in a row we're in with every chance and we've a nice opening round at home to build momentum. Every interview I've ever seen about the 6 Nations has mentioned the word 'momentum' and how it's vital to to build it up.

pickarooney

Wales

We'll scrape third behind England and Wales.

.ak

pickarooney wrote: »

We'll scrape third behind England and Wales.

I'd be very happy with that.

irelandrover

My opinion is France to win, as they normally do after a lions tour.

scriba

Scotland

I lumped for us, because we start with two home games, and I fancy a nicked result in Paris this time, if we can stay relatively injury free. The other consideration is that I think it's going to be a very competitive series, and we might even see a 3-2 team top the table (if Italy take a couple of scalps this year). Overall though, I lumped for us because I'm a fool filled with stupid hope. Like always. I'd be very surprised to see a Grand Slam this year, and anyone from England, Ireland, Wales and France can win it.

who_me

.ak wrote: »

I'd be very happy with that.

Really?

cityman 18

Wales

who_me wrote: »

Really?

I wouldn't, with an excellent coach in tow i expect Ireland to improve from last years 6N (Couldn't have been much worse in fairness). i can see us wining in Paris this year, we're due a win against France, especially over there. The Welsh game is the crucial game from an Ireland point of view, the Welsh as always will be full of confidence when they play us. It is very hard to call that game at the moment, injuries at the time could be the telling factor. i can't see us slipping up again against Scotland, and it's a good opening game to have. England, although they are pretty ordinary in my opinion could win the 6N if they win on the opening weekend in Paris. Very well drilled with a very competent out half, London will be the toughest game for us.

Italy will get a few scalps and maybe even Scotland might avoid the wooden Spoon, Wales will either win it or finish 5th or 6th, what with most of their team playing until the late summer.... France are serious dark horses after a lions summer as well. Could be one of the most entertaining 6N in years.

danthefan

Wales

I'm hoping for four wins, so wherever that leaves us.

Berticus

Wales

I think we'll see a few selection surprises/squad development selections for the Scotland game. Nothing too crazy but likely a few interesting calls. Kind of similar to what Joe did for the Samoa with a packed bench.

I believe we'll beat Scotland well, Italy well and beat Wales. England will be very tough in twickers. If we beat them I think we'll get a championship at least. Taking my Irish hat off though, I'd say England might do a job on us unfortunately. Ideally France will beat them before that comes to pass though.

Valentine1

Scotland

Good to see that hope sprigs eternal on this board with almost 40% predicting Ireland to lift the Championship in the Spring. I'd be hopeful for an improvement and lord knows anything can happen but I don't think anyone could seriously consider us likely winners.

England and France are always contenders and the Wales team have out performed in all of our recent meetings. If we win 3 games I'd be pretty happy as it would be a progression, win 4 and I'll be delighted. Win all 5 and I'll probably explode with joy, that's more or less what happened the last time anyway.

sydthebeat

Wales

Scotland and Italy at home should be expectant victories.

Wales in the second week will be tough, they have a day extra to recoup, though its hard to see how Italy in cardiff will test them too much. Hopefully we have our Scotland game in the bag by 60 mins, which i fully expect. However, we're at home, wales were slow starters last year, and hopefully that should give us enough to get over the line against them.

away to england is a big ask, especially if we dont beat wales. To me our chances of a grand slam rest on this game.

Going into a final game against france with a GS at stake and id be confident. We have been neck and neck with the feckers over the last few seasons. However if its a championship at stake and we have a aggregate score to beat, i wouldnt be hopeful.

Berticus

Wales

Valentine1 wrote: »

England and France are always contenders and the Wales team have out performed in all of our recent meetings. If we win 3 games I'd be pretty happy as it would be a progression, win 4 and I'll be delighted. Win all 5 and I'll probably explode with joy, that's more or less what happened the last time anyway.

Except we did beat Wales in Cardiff the last time we met...

I don't think that we will be underdogs going into that fixture.