Very hyped for the Six Nations starting tomorrow. On paper it looks to be very competitive despite England and Ireland being clear favorites. England are obviously unbeaten under Jones (and looking great doing it) and Ireland are coming off a spectacular autumn and a promising summer. The schedules are pretty even too. Both have two very difficult road games, and although Ireland get England at home, England looks to have more potential for bonus points. Right now I'm predicting a reversal of 2014 when England beat Ireland but lost the championship on points differential: England will lose in Dublin but still win the title on points total.
However, Wales can still be formidable, and hosts both Ireland and England, so they are a dark horse. And Scotland has been playing much better the last couple of years even if they don't have the wins to show for. They definitely have the dynamism to challenge for second place on the table if they can eliminate the late game mistakes.
France, as always, are an enigma. The Fofana loss is huge and they still can't get consistency and proper selection of the halfbacks. However, they always have a collection of players that can beat any team in the world. Unfortunately, their international game is hampered by the priority they give their domestic league. They play more games and in a much more attritional style. To put it bluntly, the players are too fat and therefore can't meet their athletic potential. You only need to look at the Vunipola brothers to see how much performance can be improved by taking sports science seriously. If the Top 14 had the professionalism of the UEFA or North American sports leagues I believe they would consistently be among the very best teams in the world.
I like the noise out of the Italy camp. Obviously they have the recent South Africa win, but it's been mostly dreadful for them at the international and club levels. Conor O'Shea is a very promising hire and he and the great Sergio Parisse will have them very dangerous at home, particularly early. Hosting Wales first, which maybe present the best style match-up for them, will be a great tone setter. Regardless, they don't usually have the depth to hold up during the later rounds.
These are likely the most important games each round in determining the title:
Scotland-Ireland
Wales-England
Ireland-France
Wales-Ireland
Ireland-England
Topic: What are you hyped about today? (Read 44659 times)
