n Ford's Focus with Daniel Ford

The Six Nations is back baby! The annual tournament returns this month and with it come many questions about all of the teams involved. So, for this month’s article it seems only right for me to delve into some of the stories surrounding this year’s edition.

Let’s start with the team who traditionally are at the bottom and then work our way up. The Italians tend to prop up the table but they shocked the rugby world with a victory over Wales last year. The goal for them this year is to build on this, although personally I would say that a bigger measure of their performance is whether they are able to stay in touch with the other sides. If with 15 minutes to go in all of their games the Italians are within 10 points of their opponents this will indicate marked progress. When watching this Italy side look out for Jake Polledri who is returning after an injury which has seen him out for almost two years.

As Heather Small would say we are now ‘moving on up’ to Scotland and Wales, who I am grouping together. Both had underwhelming campaigns last year and will be looking to improve. Wales, who have recently re-appointed Warren Gatland as coach, seem to be a team in transition whereas Scotland should be a well-oiled machine having been coached by Gregor Townsend since 2017. Look out for Louis Rees-Zammit for the Welsh side who is unbelievably quick, for Scotland look out for fly half Finn Russell who is very creative and has an eye for the extravagant.

Next on to another fascinating couple of teams, the English and the Irish. These in a way are similar to the comparison between Scotland and Wales. England are under a new coach with Steve Borthwick having taken over, whereas Ireland have been coached by Andy Farrell for three years. The main question for these two sides is whether they can challenge the French, currently, you would have to say that Ireland are better placed to do so. For England having made the decision to sack Eddie Jones they need to make vast improvements on last year, fans will hope to see a team with more creativity and with a stronger scrum than we saw in 2022. For Ireland look out for winger Mack Hansen who impressed last year and for England look out for Jack Willis who has overcome a serious injury to return.

Finally, let’s talk about the best team in the world right now. France went unbeaten in 2022 and are undoubtedly the side to beat. With them the questions are simply whether they can be as good as last year, past French sides have been mentally weak and have often had the crowd on their backs, it will be interesting to see how this side respond when the face adversity in this tournament. For them look out for the mercurial talent that is scrum half Antoine Dupont who is probably the best player in the world.

This Six Nations utterly fascinates me and I can’t wait for the action to commence, so sit back relax and enjoy!

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