6 nations 22

If France don't win it this year, they never will. It couldn't be set up better for them, with us and England at home and their toughest away game being against the weakest Wales team in years.

Eddie has picked a squad to win next year but it's still a really strong squad good enough to win their home games. But France will have too much for them in Paris.

We'll win our home games but England and France away is a bit of a nightmare. We need to be competitive in those two games and not be comprehensively beaten in both like we were in 2020. That would be progress.

Wales have tight 5 thats seriously lacking in quality and experience which will be their undoing. They still have a very good back row and backline.

As for Scotland, maybe this is their year. Sure hasn't it been for the last 15 years.

1. France
2. England
3. Ireland
4. Wales
5. Scotland

Who exactly has blamed blazers? And why would you cut the mens wages to pay the ladies, when it's the men's game that generates all the Revenue. Imagine your boss telling you you're getting a pay cut, because we need to fund another team.

No one knows what to expect from Wales this year.

If our pack can front up (per the Boks game in the autumn where we matched them) we might have a chance. Like all sport the trick is to stay in the fight & let the pressure build. Ireland are expected to win this game next week ..... comfortably. There is no pressure on Wales despite what EJ has been saying.

Next week is a free hit for us!

What I'll be looking for on top of the commitment required is a solid set piece & a game plan designed to keep us in the match. If we are within a couple of points at 60 mins I believe we'll win .... getting to that point the challenge.

IMO the players missing are not an issue. Most are coming to the end of their international careers in any case. Time to move on and this is as good a time as any ..... 18 months out from a WC.

I can’t really call this 6Ns. France can still do a France. They proved that last year by losing at home to Scotland when they could have actually won the Championship. The Welsh game could be their trap game as they seem to fall flat in games they and everyone else expect them to win. I don’t see them losing to Scotland again after last year and Italy are incredibly poor. It’s the Wales game that seems to me to be their trap game.

France have to be favourites but how much of a spanner Covid has thrown into the works remains to be seen. They’re lucky that the only game it should impact is the Italy one. And maybe that’s going to be enough for them to start to build a bit of momentum. The round 2 game in Paris would seem to be a Championship decider effectively at this stage but it will be interesting to see how England go this week.

I think it’ll be France, Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Italy.

Genuine answer ...... I don't feel we lose much with Basham & Wainwright. So yes I would pick them.

Tipuric & Faletau haven't played since last summer. Both are the wrong side of 30 Faletau has also suffered a lot of injuries. Time for the new guard in my view. We should be looking at Jac Morgan & Ioan Lloyd as well. I like the look of Lloyd @12.

Optimistic ... not really. Recent history says Ireland will probably win but i think we have a better chance than the media here are giving us. People might be surprised how competitive our pack will be.

Ireland don't have many weaknesses but if Sexton goes down the likely 8,9,10 decision making axis doesn't look as convincing.

I think Wales will be very aggressive on Saturday. Ireland beat NZ by keeping the ball & playing in a very structured style. Wales will need to disrupt that by being as abrasive as possible around the ruck & 10/12 channel. We'll need to keep the penalty count down. We'll need a solid set peice.

In our favouur we do have the strike runners out wide to cause Ireland problems if we can break the game up. Lots of 'ifs' there but who knows.