by Paul Cook –
In part one, we ran the rule over England, Ireland and Wales. Part 2 completes the story with Scotland, France and Italy going under the Rugby News microscope…
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SCOTLAND
While the championship kicks-off in Paris with France v Italy, and a trip to Dublin for Ireland v Wales to follow on Monday morning, most pre-match focus is being afforded to the middle clash of the opening weekend’s trio of encounters. Scotland v England – the Calcutta Cup – is the oldest rivalry in the history of the sport, dating back to 1879, and the bragging rights on the line seem to gain extra importance with each contest. This one is particularly intriguing given it pits a resurgent Scotland side that were one questionable refereeing decision away from a World Cup semi-final, against an England team under new management and keen to exorcise the demons of their own making at the same competition. Head coach Vern Cotter has his feet firmly under the Murrayfield table now and the progress was there for all to see last September/October as they dispatched Japan – the Cherry Blossom’s only loss – Samoa and the USA, before pushing South Africa hard and going on to produce the nation’s best performance in many a long year to take the Wallabies to the wire in the Quarter-Final, only to suffer a gallant but shattering last-minute loss.
Their efforts – and those of 2015 Pro 12 champions Glasgow Warriors – have spruiked interest levels in the game again North of Hadrian’s Wall, and there is a fair degree of anticipation and expectation surrounding Cotter’s batch of young talent. A feisty pack, healthy competition for the backrow spots, an influential captain and points machine in Greig Laidlaw and the x-factor of players like Finn Russell, Mark Bennett and Stuart Hogg, combine to make this Scotland a handful for all-comers. The challenge now is to cement their good work with consistency as they look to go to the next level. With a record of only one win from their last 12 Six Nations matches, that shouldn’t be too difficult. Even though they were my dark horses last year and went on to finish last, I’m backing them in again to cause an upset or two.
ONES TO WATCH: Skipper Laidlaw showed at the World Cup that his influence on this Scottish side under Cotter has grown exponentially. His goal kicking is an obvious boon but his game management, control and cool temperament have been key in unlocking the best from both an improving forward pack and one of the most exciting backlines in the competition. Handed the captaincy role at Glasgow this season at the age of just 21-years-old, Jonny Gray has already stepped outside the giant shadow of elder brother Richie and is fast becoming a world class loose forward and a likely British & Irish Lion in 2017. WP Nel’s performances at scrum time should also be a highlight, the South African born tighthead is a gnarly competitor with plenty of guile and highly respected technique.
SQUAD: Forwards – Ross Ford (Edinburgh); Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors); Stuart McInally (Edinburgh); Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh); Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors); Moray Low (Exeter Chiefs); WP Nel (Edinburgh); Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors); Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh); Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors); Richie Gray (Castres); Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors); Ben Toolis (Edinburgh); John Barclay (Scarlets); Blair Cowan (London Irish); Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors); John Hardie (Edinburgh); Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors); Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors); David Denton (Bath); Backs – Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh); Greig Laidlaw (c) (Gloucester); Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors); Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors); Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors); Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors); Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors); Matt Scott (Edinburgh); Duncan Taylor (Saracens); Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors); Sean Maitland (London Irish); Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors); Tim Visser (Harlequins); Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps); Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)
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FRANCE
Perhaps the most comforting thought for incoming head coach Guy Noves is that the only way is up. Les Bleus’ last match ended in a 62-13 World Cup humiliation at the hands of the All Blacks – a record concession of points and a damning confirmation of the fall from grace of one of world rugby’s historical heavyweights. Then coach Phillipe Saint-Andre had overseen a tenure which produced a miserly 20 wins from his 45 matches in charge, a far cry from the success enjoyed by the side that won five Six Nations championships in nine years between 2002-2010. Of course, Saint-Andre could point to the power wielded by the Top 14 clubs over the national side, a situation which leaves the head coach with far less time with his players than that enjoyed by his counterparts. They also oversee a domestic competition that currently employs only 55% native players, an obvious drying up of the well for a national coach when it comes to selection time.
While Noves is seen as a steady hand to steer the French ship back to safer waters, while also repairing their reputation for Gallic flair, his appointment is seen by many observers as arriving a generation too late. Back in the mid-90’s-early 2000’s, the Noves-coached Toulouse side reigned supreme in European club rugby, and his final haul of nine Bouclier de Brennus titles and four Heineken Cups makes him the most successful domestic coach in French history. Indeed, he was one of the candidates tipped to replace Bernard Laporte at the end of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, but that position went to Marc Lievremont – and we all know how that ended. But there were no trophies at Toulouse in the last three years and a suspicion that the old master had perhaps lost his touch. The significant overhaul of the squad from the World Cup suggests he is keen to start afresh with a new batch of hopefuls and one eye on Japan 2019 and he will probably be afforded some slack as a result. But one look at the draw indicates he may be in a position to provide something more palatable for the long-suffering French supporters.
DRAW: Noves couldn’t have been handed a gentler introduction to the Six Nations than a home clash with Italy, and with another game in Paris a week later against Ireland, there is an opportunity to get off to the most positive of starts before they head to Cardiff and Edinburgh in weeks three and four. A win in one of those games could set them up for a potential title-winning ‘battle royale’ against England in the final match of the competition. If it’s anywhere near as thrilling as the 90pt bonanza the two sides served up to bring last year’s championship to a close, you won’t want to miss it.
ONES TO WATCH: While Dan Carter has been taking the plaudits for guiding Racing 92 to the top of the Top 14 ladder, it has been off the back of a hardworking, well-drilled and ball carrying pack, of which prop Eddy Ben Arous is often a standout. While Mathieu Bastareaud has been deemed surplus to requirements at this point in time, Noves hasn’t turned away from his big, bustling centre prototype – cue Stade Francais wrecking ball Jonathan Danty. If Les Bleus appeared to be a team at odds with their coach and themselves under Saint-Andre, the one reliable was the form of Louis Picamoles. The big no.8 will be his usual combative, rampaging self.
SQUAD: Forwards: Camille Chat (Racing 92); Guilhem Guirado (c) (Toulon); Uini Atonio (La Rochelle); Eddy Ben Arous (Racing 92); Vincent Pelo (La Rochelle); Jefferson Poirot (Bordeaux Bègles); Rabah Slimani (Stade Français); Alexandre Flanquart (Stade Français); Paul Jedrasiak (Clermont); Yoann Maestri (Toulouse); Sébastien Vahaamahina (Clermont); Antoine Burban (Stade Français); Yacouba Camara (Toulouse); Kevin Gourdon (La Rochelle); Wenceslas Lauret (Racing 92); Bernard Le Roux (Racing 92); Damien Chouly (Clermont); Louis Picamoles (Toulouse); Backs – Sébastien Bezy (Toulouse); Maxime Machenaud (Racing 92); Morgan Parra (Clermont); Baptiste Serin (Bordeaux Bègles); Jean-Marc Doussain (Toulouse); Jules Plisson (Stade Français); Jonathan Danty (Stade Français); Alexandre Dumoulin (Racing 92); Gaël Fickou (Toulouse); Rémi Lamerat (Castres); Maxime Mermoz (Toulon); Wesley Fofana (Clermont); Benjamin Fall (Montpellier); Maxime Médard (Toulouse); Marvin O’Connor (Montpellier); Teddy Thomas (Racing 92); Virimi Vakatawa (France Sevens); Hugo Bonneval (Stade Français); Scott Spedding (Clermont)
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ITALY
When coach Jacques Brunel first arrived from French club side Perpignan in 2011, his desire to expand upon Italy’s traditional strengths at the set-piece and introduce some French flair into the equation paid some immediate dividends. Defeats of Scotland in 2012 and France and Ireland in 2013 hinted at a coming force in European international rugby. But the last two years have seen the side go backwards at an alarming rate, compounded by a lacklustre showing at the World Cup. Blessed with a genuine – but ageing – world class player in no.8 Sergio Parisse, there is precious little talent coming up behind the captain as the domestic competition fails to produce the numbers needed to strengthen perennial Pro 12 strugglers Treviso and Zebre.
Having joined England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and France in 2000 to turn the Five Nations into Six, the Azzurri have been handed 11 wooden spoons in their 16 seasons of participation with a win ratio of just 15% – 12 of their 80 matches. Such has been the lack of progress, indeed the regression in the last few years, that calls for a Six Nations play-off qualifier between Italy and the fast improving Georgians are growing louder with each defeat. They somehow snuck a last-minute victory against Scotland last season to finish 5th on the ladder, but the two sides have been on vastly different trajectories ever since and it’s hard to foresee a similar outcome this time around. Brunel will hand the reins on to a new man at tournament’s end – most likely current Harlequins head coach Conor O’Shea – and the 19 changes from the squad picked this time last year suggests his focus is on blooding the next generation for his successor. It seems he will be handing over a poisoned chalice.
DRAW: History suggests the opening fortnight will be a struggle as they travel to Stade de France this weekend, a stadium they’ve never won in, before hosting England, the only Six Nations opponent they are yet to defeat. Week three’s home clash with Scotland provides the most reason for optimism, the visitors having suffered seven losses in 17 competitive matches at the hands of the Azzurri. But if they can’t sneak a win there, you wouldn’t hold out much hope of them taking anything away from Dublin or Cardiff in weeks four or five. Tough times.
ONES TO WATCH: It’s a sad state of affairs but it’s all about Sergio Parisse yet again. Where on earth Italy would have been without him for the last 10 years, one shudders to think. He’s 33-years-old now but showed with his form as he guided Stade Francais to the Top 14 title last year that he’s still a formidable force. Elsewehere, scrumhalf Edoardo Gori is a busy menace at the base of the scrum, if his forwards give him a platform, while out wide, Michele Campagnaro is the most likely to produce some magic with ball in hand.
SQUAD: Forwards – Davide Giazzon (Benetton Treviso); Ornel Gega (Benetton Treviso): Leonardo Ghiraldini (Leicester Tigers); Martin Castrogiovanni (Racing 92); Dario Chistolini (Zebre); Lorenzo Cittadini (Wasps); Andrea Lovotti (Zebre); Matteo Zanusso (Benetton Treviso); Valerio Bernabò (Zebre); George Biagi (Zebre); Marco Fuser (Benetton Treviso); Francesco Minto (Benetton Treviso); Jacopo Sarto (Zebre); Braam Steyn (Benetton Treviso); Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Treviso); Sergio Parisse (c) (Stade Français); Dries van Schalkwyk (Zebre); Backs – Edoardo Gori (Benetton Treviso); Guglielmo Palazzani (Zebre); Carlo Canna (Zebre); Edoardo Padovani (Zebre); Giulio Bisegni (Zebre); Michele Campagnaro (Exeter Chiefs); Tommaso Castello (Calvisano); Gonzalo Garcia (Zebre); Kelly Haimona (Zebre); Andrea Pratichetti (Benetton Treviso); Mattia Bellini (Petrarca); David Odiete (Mogliano); Leonardo Sarto (Zebre); Luke McLean (Benetton Treviso)
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WEEK ONE (All times AEST)
Sunday 7th February
France v Italy 1.25am, Stade de France
Scotland v England 3.50am, Murrayfield
Monday 8th February
Ireland v Wales 2am, Aviva Stadium
WEEK TWO
Sunday 14th February
France v Ireland 1.25am, Stade de France
Wales v Scotland 3.50am, Principality Stadium
Monday 16th February
Italy v England 1am, Stadio Olimpico
WEEK THREE
Saturday 27th February
Wales v France 7.05am, Principality Stadium
Sunday 28th February
Italy v Scotland 1.25am, Stadio Olimpico
England v Ireland 3.50am, Twickenham
WEEK FOUR
Sunday 13th March
Ireland v Italy 12.30am, Aviva Stadium
England v Wales 3am, Twickenham
Sunday 14th March
Scotland v France 2am, Murrayfield
WEEK FIVE
Sunday 20th March
Wales v Italy 1:30am, Principality Stadium
Ireland v Scotland 4am, Aviva Stadium
France v England 7am, Stade de France