PREPARE FOR THE JOY OF SIX

Scotland are flying, Les Bleus have the best player in the world, Jones has stardust, Ireland are on fire and Wales are champions. This year is going to be epic

NEXT weekend, the 2022 edition of European rugby’s treasured showpiece begins and there is huge expectation of a classic Six Nations campaign.

Sportsmail’s panel of experts — columnists Sir Clive Woodward, Danny Cipriani and Andy Nicol, along with former Wales coach and captain Rob Howley and former Ireland full-back Geordan Murphy — debate the issues and offer their predictions…

Chris Foy: Thanks for joining us. It feels like a real event this year with fans back. Let’s start with each of your respective countries. Clive and Danny, how do you think England are fixed?

Danny Cipriani: Whenever you mention England going into a tournament, you have to say that they are contenders on the basis of the players they have. If you then add the stardust like Marcus Smith, Henry Slade and Freddie Steward — the boys who had a good autumn — you begin to think that they’re starting to purr and be in a strong position. I always feel England will be contenders.

Clive Woodward: They’re big contenders, but the big thing for me is that the first game with Scotland is absolutely huge. It will be a tough Six Nations for whoever loses that, which England are well capable of.

We’re all waiting on the team Eddie is going to pick. There are huge selection dilemmas, especially in the back row. England do have world-class players, but their big Achilles’ heel is the 12 position. Once Manu Tuilagi is out, England have real problems in that area.

CF: Andy, will Scotland fancy England first up and how big a factor is Owen Farrell being out injured?

Andy Nicol: Eddie Jones has almost backed himself into a corner because he went all-in on Farrell. He made him captain and said Marcus Smith could be a great player but only with Owen at 12. That’s strange because now he is injured, it leaves a position to fill.

For Scotland, having England first up this year is good. Scotland will be all or nothing next week and they have a real chance.

We won last year at Twickenham. We had the crazy 38-38 in 2019 and we beat them quite easily in 2018.

These Scotland players have real confidence playing against England and belief is everything.

Geordan Murphy: From a neutral point of view, it’s an ideal time for Scotland to play England, who have a bit of disruption with Farrell and Courtney Lawes being injured and Joe Marler getting Covid again. It seems there is a bit of uncertainty there.

Rob Howley: England should always be there or thereabouts but it’s not a typical England side now. The Vunipola brothers have gone. Farrell isn’t there. Generally, there is a spine to an England team and going up to Murrayfield, that spine is not there.

The thing I’ve noticed over the last 18 months with Eddie’s England is their poor discipline. Last Championship, they gave away 69 penalties. When I was playing and Sir Clive was in charge, we feared going to Twickenham. It was a tough place to go. Now teams go to Twickenham thinking they can have a crack at England.

CF: Rob, what about Wales? They’re the holders, but are without a lot of key players.

RH: Wayne Pivac has talked about the 726 caps missing. When you’re without Alun Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Taulupe Faletau, Justin Tipuric, George North, Leigh Halfpenny and Josh Navidi, it’s tough.

Generally, in the Six Nations, it’s about dominating up front. Wayne will be looking at the 2023 World Cup — blooding some players. There is nothing for them to lose.

I like Dan Biggar being captain. He portrays the quality of hard work and there’s a toughness in Dan which will feed into the team.

Going to Ireland first up is not easy. Ireland are coming off an autumn when they beat the All Blacks. When you look at the depth Andy Farrell has to pick from, they probably have 400 caps of experience on the bench!

CF: It’s not just the national team with Ireland, their domestic teams are flying while the Welsh regions are struggling…

RH: It’s been that way for years, but hopefully the players can come into camp and forget about the regions. They need to focus on the international game. Having fans back in from an emotional and adrenaline perspective is huge.

AN: No group of players lift their game more than Wales do every year. The Welsh regions have not had success for years, but Wales have still won Grand Slams and Championships. They always raise their game and the Six Nations seems to mean more to Wales than it does to other countries. But I’d be very surprised if Wales were contenders this year.

GM: It will be a much tougher ask for Wales in Dublin. They will try to impose their game on Ireland, but I was looking at the Leinster team who had four or five weeks off over Christmas due to Covid. I thought it’d be interesting to see how they started back into Europe and wow, look at the way they played.

Look at their confidence levels. The Leinster team will form the majority of the Ireland side supplemented by some other outstanding

players, but all the Irish provinces are performing very well right now.

Munster are winning games and Ulster and Connacht are doing well. For a small country, they’re doing well and you wouldn’t envy Andy Farrell’s selection meetings because he has great players, strength in depth and experience. They’re on a good run on the back of the All Blacks victory, so I’m hopeful of a good Championship.

CF: Was the All Blacks win a take-off moment for Farrell’s Ireland?

GM: Joe Schmidt was absolutely adored by the Irish public and took the team to new heights. Andy took over and wanted to change the way Ireland played. He wanted to play more expansively and not be as structured. The first couple of games didn’t go great and people were sharpening the knives, but since then, there has been a huge improvement.

CW: You’d have to say that if Wales win in Ireland, it would be a massive upset. Wales have just got too many people missing to go to Ireland and win. Ireland have no weaknesses in their team.

DC: The combinations Ireland have that come from their club sides into the national team is huge for them.

Ireland can almost run their system with their eyes shut — especially after beating the All Blacks. I just don’t see anything other than an Irish win.

AN: Andy has got one hell of a selection to make, though. Ulster are on fire. Guys like James Hume, Robert Baloucoune and Michael Lowry are really putting their hand up.

All four Irish teams have qualified for the last-16 of the Champions Cup. They’re all flying. Andy Farrell is pulling players down off the ceiling whereas Wayne Pivac is pulling them up off the floor.

CF: In the past, Scotland have often been seen as clear underdogs who needed to find the emotional intensity to beat England, but now they appear to have a high-class side in all areas...

AN: Scotland had to use emotion in the past because we weren’t as good as England and we had to try and close the gap. In some areas, we weren’t as good by a distance.

This Scotland squad is probably the strongest I can remember. If you look at the back line, Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg have been around for a while. Cameron Redpath has come on the scene and even if it was just one game, he looked to the manor born.

Chris Harris is getting better and better. Duhan van der Merwe is a class act. Darcy Graham and Rufus McLean are there, too. That’s a back line that can really excite and we’ve got a pack that can win us good ball.

All the parts are there. I’ve always talked Scotland up, now I’m

This Scotland squad is probably the strongest I can remember. The back line can really excite and the pack can win good ball

under-playing them with the strongest squad we’ve ever had!

CW: I always look at the 10-12-13 and Scotland’s combination of Russell, Redpath and Harris is absolutely world-class. Scotland aren’t going to fear the England backs. I’m hoping Redpath plays with Harris, but Scotland also have Rory Hutchinson from Northampton who is an amazing player.

GM: In the past, you would go into the competition and think Scotland might finish fourth or fifth. If you look at the Scottish side now, they can turn anyone over.

CF: Yes or no — are Scotland genuine title contenders? GM: No. CW, RH & AN: Yes. GM: You didn’t say yes too quickly there, Andy!

AN: What Scotland haven’t had is consistency. Last year, we went from beating England at Twickenham to losing at home to Wales when they were in complete control of that game.

CF: What about France? Are they favourites? People have enjoyed their revival, but is it time they delivered a trophy?

AN: France have England and Ireland in Paris, so if they are the three leading contenders, France must be in the box seat.

DC: France have the best player in the world in Antoine Dupont, they’re at home for key games, and also have a serial winner in Shaun Edwards. I think he’s been in 40 finals as a player and coach and never lost one.

You can see the impact he has on every team he works with. When you speak to him in a big-game week, he’s one of the few coaches I’ve known where the information gets simpler. The way Shaun is getting to grips with this France squad is second to none.

GM: You see it in the way France are playing since he’s been involved. Their defence has gone to the next level and they seem to be far tougher mentally.

DC: Shaun won’t only be doing defence. He’ll be grabbing halfbacks for extra sessions. He’ll grab people the whole time to shape their mindset so they deliver in big moments. It’s rubbing off on them.

CW: Look at France’s 10-12-13; Romain Ntamack, Virimi Vakatawa 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 ten 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 tier-two 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 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 ten 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 ten? DC: 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 Scotland-England 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.