Six Nations will be 5-star show – Sam

BRITISH & Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton, given an OBE in the New Year Honours list, forecasts that the RBS Six Nations, kicking off on February 3, is “wide open”.

Speaking to the Midlands Sportsman’s Luncheon organised by corporate hospitality agency Eventmasters, he suggested all except Italy were in with a chance of claiming the honours.

England would be the favourites but Ireland, Wales, Scotland and France were all in the frame.

He said: “Being wide open makes it exciting. There are five teams with a genuine chance of coming out on top.”

Warburton says he is impressed by Ireland, reckons selection for Wales will be “fascinating” between the likes of the old and new, epitomised by Jamie Roberts and Owen Williams, while he reckons Eddie Jones has clearly got his England players “onside” and believing in his methods.

But one thing he stresses about the Six Nations is that it will not be defined by the first set of games.

He noted: “We have lost our first game at home in the past and still won the tournament. Nobody will really know how it is going to turn out until week three.”

However one thing is for certain – Warburton, recovering from cartilage and ligament injuries which will keep him side-lined until 1918/19, has no chance of participating.

He hopes to return in the summer, get a good pre-season under his belt, then be fighting fit for new challenges ahead.

As far as England is concerned, Warburton is the one who got away.

He was born in Wales to English parents and considers himself Welsh and British.

He had a trial with local football club Cardiff City at the age of 14 but chose to concentrate on rugby – despite Real Madrid and Wales winger Gareth Bale being a school contemporary.

Indeed football was his first love – the family are big Tottenham Hotspur fans.

“I definitely would not have been good enough at football,” he insists.

Capped 74 times for Wales, Lions captain in the victory over Australia in 2013 and the drawn 2017 series with New Zealand, he has set his sights on taking charge for a third time when the team head for South Africa in 2021.

It would be a remarkable achievement. He says he is already excited by the prospect, but, now 29, he wants to see how his body holds up in the interim.

“I would be disappointed if I didn’t make the Rugby World Cup in 2019 but I would be 32 when the next Lions series begins.

“In New Zealand just two of the squad were over 30 – Johnny Sexton and Alun Wyn Jones. It is becoming a younger man’s game

“It would be a difficult ask to get to South Africa. But to take part in three World Cups and three Lions tours would be awesome.”