SIX NATIONS GUIDE
England ready to rumble against a rejuvenated France with Jones admitting his players have been scarred for life by their World Cup final nightmare
Strengths – Back row was stacked anyway but the return to fitness of Taulupe Faletau offers huge depth. – Injury issues at outside centre where Jonathan Davies will be missed.
Coach – Wayne Pivac
Key player – Alun Wyn Jones
Last season - 1st
One to watch: Tomos Williams. Savvy scrum-half hlf who impressed in bit-part roles at the World Cup. Prediction -
ENGLAND
- Continuity. Same head coach, same spine of the team from the World Cup.
Weaknesses - No Billy Vunipola. In his absence they will have to find another way over the gain line.
(right) (above)
– Eddie Jones
- Owen Farrell
- 2nd
George Furbank – Smooth-running, smooth-moustached full-back who has blossomed with Northampton’s free-running style this season. Prediction -
FRANCE
Strengths – Talent coming through from national junior teams who have Weaknessesf– won the last two world championships. That talent is still young and inexperienced at this level with the line-up to face England averaging 10 caps per man.
– Fabien Galthie
– Antoine Dupont
- 4th
Romain Ntamack - Classy Toulouse stand-off – the son of wing Emile Ntamack - who has the talent to activate a dangerous backline. Prediction -
IRELAND
– Ireland have the best club side in Europe this season – Leinster – to build their side around. Weaknesses – Lack cover for brittle captain Johnny Sexton at stand-off with Joey Carbery injured.
– Andy Farrell
– James Ryan
- 3rd
Caelan Doris - Leinster No 8, still only 21 and earmarked for great things from a young age.
Prediction -
SCOTLAND
– breakdown operators Hamish Watson and James Ritchie are effective ruck hoovers and they should have another decent flanker, Magnus Bradbury, back for round two.
– Absence of playmaker Finn Russell. Thrown out of the squad for late-night drinking session and missing training.
Coach – Gregor Townsend
Key player - Stuart Hogg
Last season - 5th
One to watch: Adam Hastings - An inventive player, if he can find the right balance between playing and pragmatism.
Prediction -
ITALY
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– Improved competitiveness of their domestic sides, Treviso and Zebre, in the Pro14.
Weaknesses – Lack of belief at Six Nations level given their woeful recent record of four wooden spoons in a row.
– Franco Smith
– Jake Polledri
- 6th.
Niccolo Cannone - A powerful, athletic ball carrier, Cannone will lean on the experience of veteran Alessandro Zanni alongside him in the Azzurri engine room.
Prediction -
(above) (right)
EDDIE JONES sends his England team into battle tomorrow admitting they have been scarred for life by World Cup final defeat.
Jones made no secret of the lasting damage losing rugby’s biggest game will have done his players as he named all but three of his final XV to start the Six Nations here.
But he did so with a promise to the 12 survivors that life does go on and that with the right attitude they will rise again.
“We will have that scar for the rest of our lives,” said Jones.
“It never goes away. You carry it with you. It’s how you deal with it. If you buy good moisturiser you can lessen it. If you don’t the scar stays.”
By which he meant if England get stuck in a downwards spiral, forever ruing getting it so badly wrong against South Africa, they will never scale new heights.
Alternatively, if they move forward – “and I have been up the chemist this morning and bought the best moisturiser I can find” – they can come again.
That was the vision Jones sold to his players when they re-assembled a week ago and it is one he reiterated in the French capital yesterday.
“You don’t want to
DATE
19 Feb 2000 7 April 2001 2 March 2002 15 Feb 2003 6 Sept 2003 27 March 2004 14 Feb 2005 12 March 2006 11 March 2007 23 Feb 2008 15 March 2009 20 March 2010 26 Feb 2011 11 March 2012 23 Feb 2013 1 Feb 2014 21 March 2015 19 March 2016 4 Feb 2017 10 March 2018 10 Feb 2019
SCORE 9-15 48-19 20-15 25-17 45-14 24-21 17-18 31-6 26-18 13-24 34-10 12-10 17-9 22-24 23-13 26-24 55-35 21-31 19-16 22-16 44 – 8
VENUE
Stade de France Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham Stade de France Twickenham be motivated by wins and losses,” he said after ending Elliot Daly’s reign at full-back by shifting him to the wing and handing a debut to the uncapped George Furbank.
“You want to be motivated by being the best you can be.
“That is the most sustainable form of motivation and that is why going forward we want to play rugby that stops the nation.
“We want to play with such a ferocious spirit the opposition don’t know where to go.
“That can be done with and without the ball. But that is where we want to go as a team.”
Stade de France on the other hand is not, for all but the best prepared. Jones, who blames himself for the final loss, hopes he has this time struck the right note.
George Ford retains the No.10 jersey, despite his boss saying not starting captain Owen Farrell there in the final was a selection mistake.
Farrell and Tuilagi combine in midfield with Furbank forming a potent back three with
WINNER
France
France France France
France
France
France
Daly and Jonny May. But it is up front that the real interest lies. How will England bounce back from their scrum hell against the Springboks?
Will starting Joe Marler ahead of Mako Vunipola make the difference, even though it leaves England Vunipola-less for the first time in a year.
For all the technical and tactical consideration it is in the mind where this rivalry is so often settled. Give France an inch and they take a mile, crush their spirit early and they can lose interest.
“It’s up to us to use it the right way,” Farrell said of England’s obvious World Cup final motivation.
“It’s not about the World Cup now. It’s about where this team is going; not putting that disappointment right but getting excited at what is in front of us.
“Of course we were hard on ourselves, you look at yourself first, you don’t blame others.
“And it will be more difficult for some than others to not look back at, or to say, ‘What if?’ But it is done. This is a completely new era.”