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Eddie must keep Ford sidelined and trust Smith

and Gael Fickou. Edwards loves Fickou. He’s his mate who runs his defence. Now you’ve got a French team talking about defence, which you didn’t see before. RH: France always used to be brittle away from home.They’re not now, that’s down to him. Their mentality is different. For me, France are favourites. AN: They’re getting it right, now they need to win something. CF: Are Italy worthy of their place in the Six Nations without a system of promotion and relegation? AN: Italy haven’t won since 2015 which is 30 games on the trot, but bringing Georgia straight in is not the solution because if Italy play them next week, Italy win that game all day long.

There should be a play-off where the bottom team of the Six Nations plays the top team from tier two which has been Georgia for the last 10 years and it’s in the country of the Six Nations team. It’s too much of a closed shop. Sport needs to be competitive. RH: There might be problems geographically, if it was Georgia. And whoever might come in as a tiertwo country would have a tough period for five or six years. But I take Andy’s point that there should be a play-off. CW: I agree with that exact playoff system. If England finished bottom and lost to a team going for promotion at Twickenham we’d deserve to go down.

For many European countries, there’s no real incentive. You’ve got to give them the carrot of being able to join this tournament. Conversely, I wouldn’t want to see South Africa come in. There is so much potential for growth in Europe that we don’t need a Japan or South Africa. AN: I don’t think we can just dismiss South Africa so flippantly, because there is a commercial reality which has to be considered. We all sit freezing at Murrayfield when it’s -5°C, when we could be down in Cape Town! DC: If South Africa came in, what would you do about relegation? You would have the potential for one of the home unions not being in the Six Nations one year. The idea of a Georgia play-off might get a bit more fight into the Italians, but can you really imagine the home unions pushing it? CF: Back to this Six Nations... can each of you pick out one player who you are really looking forward to watching? GM: Everyone is just going to say Antoine Dupont, that’s why I want to jump in early and say Dupont! I love watching him play. He seems to have so much time on the ball. AN: He’s had an impact on the game more than any scrum-half I can remember. RH: I watched him play against Cardiff and he scored a fantastic individual try from the halfway line when he beat three players. He’s got the ability to score from five yards or 95 yards. DC: I’m excited to see how Marcus Smith goes. People will be thinking, ‘There’s no Owen Farrell, so there’s more pressure on him’, but he can run a game himself. I’ve not seen him look over-awed by anything. Going to Murrayfield will be huge. Finn Russell is the best 10 in the world right now, but you will see Marcus go and play his game, because of his confidence. AN: Every time there’s a hurdle, he seems to go over it, but Murrayfield is a massive hurdle. He’s not played away from home for England. He kicked the winning penalty against South Africa but that was in front of 80,000 English folk at Twickenham. GM: If it was a World Cup final tomorrow and your life depended on it, who would you pick at 10? DC (below): Marcus. GM: I’d pick Ford. RH: I’d pick Farrell in terms of consistency and his experience. CW: I hope Smith plays, sees the game out and England win. The worst scenario is if Marcus isn’t quite playing well, Eddie panics and takes him off. RH: It will be interesting 55 minutes into the ScotlandEngland game, if Scotland are winning. Marcus has to go through that experience. I wouldn’t like for him to be coming off and Ford going on. You leave him there, to play through it. AN: Finn will be looking at this game and thinking, ‘Not on my patch’ and I just love that. I hope he goes out there and says, ‘If you’re going to beat me, you’ll have to be outstanding’. CW: I’m really looking forward to seeing what Ireland can do and especially Caelan Doris in their back row. He looks special. GM: For me, Tadhg Beirne is a fantastic player. He runs around in his blue headgear with a chip on his shoulder. CF: Which Welsh player would you pick out, Rob? RH: Taine Basham. He will give that back row X-factor. The other player I’m looking forward to watching is Cameron Redpath. CF: It is so tribal and so much about historical rivalries between neighbouring countries — does that formula still work or is there a need for the event to evolve? GM: The rivalries are great. I love the tribalism and the passion. Since retiring, I’ve been to games. I’ve sat up in the third tier at the Millennium Stadium and when the anthem starts, it just hits you. It’s the same at Murrayfield and Twickenham. CF: In one-word answers, which game matters most for your country to win? GM, AN & RH: England. CF: That tells a tale. I imagine it’s a different question for England? DC: Yeah, you can’t really pinpoint one team, because the excitement is that others find another gear when they play against England. CW: I always thought France were the standard. If we could roll them, especially in Paris, I thought we must be a pretty good team. CF: Finally, predictions. Place the teams in the order they’ll finish. GM: France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Italy. I don’t see France losing a game. DC: I’m going to do the same order. CW: I’m going to change that. No, the same. But I don’t think there will be a Slam this year. RH: France, Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Italy. AN: Yeah, I’d agree with that. CW: This is going to be one of the closest Six Nations ever. With five of the teams, anything could happen.

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2022-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://mailonline.pressreader.com/article/282896619013961

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