Team as follows;

Scotland team:

15-Rory Lamont, 14-Lee Jones, 13-Nick De Luca, 12-Sean Lamont, 11-Max Evans, 10-Dan Parks, 9-Chris Cusiter; 8-David Denton, 7-Ross Rennie, 6-Alasdair Strokosch, 5-Jim Hamilton, 4-Richie Gray, 3-Euan Murray, 2-Ross Ford (captain) 1-Allan Jacobsen.

Replacements: 16-Scott Lawson, 17-Geoff Cross, 18-Alastair Kellock, 19-John Barclay, 20-Mike Blair, 21-Greig Laidlaw, 22-Graeme Morrison.

England are the bookies tip for the title? I can’t really understand why? Nor can I understand how Ireland have got in there as second favourites? Seems very odd indeed. Bear in mind that these odds are for the outright winner, but England are still second favourites for the Grand Slam! Bizarre. They haven’t won a grand slam since 2003, which was the last time they won the championship, yet they start this year as top dogs.

Undoubtedly they could win it, they have had a good Autumn and Wales have been savaged by injury, making the opening night trip to Cardiff a little easier. They could still slip up there though, likewise with Ireland in Italy, it was close enough last year and a couple of more injuries could before Saturday could see them in real trouble.  Wales have serious injury trouble to get over and the omission of Martyn Williams could prove a little premature, Scotland are unlikely to trouble the top of the table either.

Having said all this I still think there is nothing between the top three teams, so my tip for the 2011 Six Nations is for Italy to get a win at 11/8 . The impact of the Italian sides playing in the Magners is bound to bear fruit and I just love an underdog

Imanol Harinordoquy
Mathieu Bastareaud
Morgan Parra
Thierry Dusautoir
Tommy Bowe
Shane Williams

Come on lads, show some imagination will you. Undoubtedly Harinordoquy and Parra deserve their places but the rest seem to hint that this list was made before the tournament. Shane Williams, as ever the hero of Wales, but has he had a better tournament than Poitrenaud? Tommy Bowe is in fine form but surely Earls or O’Leary are ahead of him thus far. As for Dusatoir and Bastareaud, just seems lazy when you compare them to Italy’s two try newcomer Canavosio.

Dyou not think?

An all too familiar sight

Just to get things straight, I’m a Hooker. I should say I was a Hooker really but the feeling never leaves you. So officially I’m a believer but I’m just bored of scrums. 

Scotland Vs England on the weekend was admittedly a total horse tranquiliser of a game. I dozed off for about ten minutes of the second  half and wished I’d slept through the lot, well at least the scrums.

• The idea of any sort of Hooking contest is long gone.
• They eat up valuable game time.
• You can win the Heineken Cup and Grand Slam with a rubbish one.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think we should head down the league route with a flaccid leaning formality. In principle, scrums work. In fact last weekend showed as much, four tries were scored direct from scrums, at their best they tie in the forwards and allow for the flashy strike moves, bonza!

All to often though, they are the dullest of affairs. Six men barely managing to control the force of ten others all under the control of one other who in the main, baffles.

Arguably the scrum of the weekend was Ireland taking one against Wales having been camped on their own line for several minutes. Inspiring stuff undoubtedly. The scrum ended up in a heap, Heaslip picks up, Mr Joubert waves play on.  So if the side with the upper hand in the scrum has the ball and uses it the Ref waves play on. Seems perfectly acceptable but it isn’t like that all the time, hardly ever, never in fact.

I vote for radical change. A new kind of restart. I’m open to suggestions on what this could be. Rugby was a sport born out of another sport, so it couldn’t hurt to look around for a few suggestions, how about:

The Bastareaud Williams match up would be classic

One to launch strike moves from

We've already got the headguards

Any other suggestions more than welcome

I was so tempted I had a go myself

You've got to be in it to win it

Wales: Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), James Hook (Ospreys), Jamie Roberts (Blues), Shane Williams (Ospreys); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Richard Rees (Blues); Paul James, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones (Ospreys), Bradley Davies, Deiniol Jones (Blues), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Martyn Williams (Blues), Ryan Jones (Ospreys, capt) Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Rhys Gill (Saracens), Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), Sam Warburton (Blues), Mike Phillips (Ospreys), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys) , Tom Shanklin (Blues).

France: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Benjamin Fall (Bayonne), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Brive); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne); Thomas Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro), Pascal Pape (Stade Francais), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse, capt), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse), Julien Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), Alexandre Lapandry (Clermont Auvergne), Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Julien Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne).

Well, well or oui, oui. This has got game of the tournament written all over it. Gatland has thankfully managed to keep his gob shut all week and with the emotive victory over Scotland behind them Wales may be in with a chance. They will have to raise their game considerably though, entertaining as it was, they should have lost a fortnight ago. Alongside of this they need the French to be somewhere way beneath the level that they played at last time out. Which, thankfully for the Welsh, they may well be.

Tip: Double Result: France-Wales 8/1 @bet365

Italy Vs Scotland 13:30, 27/02/2010

Italy (Squad): Matias Aguero (Saracens) Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais) Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais) Riccardo Bocchino (Femi CZ Rovigo-) Marco Bortolami (Gloucester RFC)Gonzalo Canale (Clermont-Auvergne)Pablo Canavosio (MPS Viadana)Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers) Lorenzo Cittadini (Benetton Treviso)Carlo Antonio Del Fava (MPS Viadana) Paul Derbyshire (Petrarca Padova)Gonzalo Garcia (Benetton Treviso) Quintin Geldenhuys (MPS Viadana)Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso) – captain Craig Gower (Bayonne) Andrea Masi (Racing Metro Paris)Luke McLean (Benetton Treviso) Fabio Ongaro (Saracens) Salvatore Perugini (Bayonne) Kaine Paul Robertson (MPS Viadana) Alberto Sgarbi (Benetton Treviso) Josh Sole (MPS Viadana) Tito Tebaldi (Plusvalore Gran Parma) Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Treviso)

Scotland: H Southwell (Stade Francais); S Danielli (Ulster), M Evans (Glasgow), G Morrison (Glasgow), S Lamont (Scarlets); D Parks (Glasgow), C Cusiter (Glasgow, capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Kellock (Glasgow), K Brown (Glasgow), J Barclay (Glasgow), J Beattie (Glasgow).
Replacements: S Lawson (Gloucester), A Dickinson (Gloucester), N Hines (Leinster), A Strokosch (Gloucester), M Blair (Edinburgh), P Godman (Edinburgh), N De Luca (Edinburgh).

The Scot’s must see this as their chance to shine and deservedly so. I can see nothing more than a healthy victory for them.

Tip: Handicap Scotland -11.5 19/10 @bet365

England Vs Ireland 16:00 27/02/2010

England: D Armitage (London Irish); Mark Cueto (Sale), Mathew Tait (Sale), Riki Flutey (Brive), Ugo Monye (Harlequins); Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Danny Care (Harlequins); Tim Payne (Wasps), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Dan Cole (Leicester), Simon Shaw (Wasps), Steve Borthwick (Saracens, captain), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Lewis Moody (Leicester), Nick Easter (Harlequins).
Replacements: Lee Mears (Bath), David Wilson (Bath), Louis Deacon (Leicester), Joe Worsley (Wasps), Paul Hodgson (London Irish), Toby Flood (Leicester), Ben Foden (Northampton).

Ireland: G Murphy (Leicester), T Bowe (Ospreys), B O’Driscoll (Leinster) capt, G D’Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster), T O’Leary (Munster), C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), P O’Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).Replacements: S Cronin (Connacht), T Buckley (Munster), L Cullen (Leinster), S Jennings (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O’Gara (Munster), A Trimble (Ulster)

The waiting is almost over. England come in after back to back victories Ireland with a disappointingly heavy defeat, it really could go either way. I’m not a subscriber to the view that England have a particularly poor selection of players just that they are playing poorly together, playing poorly but winning also. 

Twickenham is an interesting choice for Sextons 6Nations debut, particularly lining up alongside the much maligned O’Leary. Deccie the Leg is so ever so keen on his panel you might think he would excercise this theory at 9. I’m certainly not going to question his judgement on this or Murphy’s inclusion juts hope that come 6pm saturday I leave Twickenham with a smile on my face, I’ve seen them play here 6 times and have yet to see an Irish victory, I’m not sure I could take another loss.

Tip: Ireland by 1-5 points 5/1 @bet365

The following suggests they were on the hunt for more than just breakfast:

Get your motor running...

Sorry I couldn’t resist. What was he thinking?

No. 8: Westgate St. The official breakfast of the WRU, not that you would expect many of the squad in there come Saturday morning. Still it couldn’t be closer to the stadium and a full Welsh for a fiver makes it a decent candidate.

Hayes Island Snack Bar: Something a bit different. Smack bang in the middle of Cardiff City Centre. This little wooden cabin bills itself as ‘Cardiff’s Parisian style, al fresco dining expereience’ while I don’t know about that, I do know that it does a cracking sausage sandwich and is a great place to watch the world go by. Its also not a pub, might seem like a mixed blessing but think about it, we all know there is a long day ahead, an hour off might not be the worse thing in the world.

AJ’s Coffee House: City Rd. Out of the main city centre and a personal favourite  this is a great place to ease yourself into the day. A plethora of breakfast options, bagels, waffles the lot. Clean, friendly, freshly prepared, free newspapers. Textbook.

If you have any other suggestions or have a dodgy sausage at any of these then comment here and I will amend accordingly

Structurally their attack goes out the window. Once they’ve offloaded and broken you, it becomes a scramble defence and that’s when it comes down to work-rate and desire.

‘You have to expect the unexpected and then react to it. That’s what we did last year against France a few times.

‘You can’t panic when they do open you up, because it will happen. You have to keep a cool head and make sure you don’t concede seven points.

Spot on. One of the highlights of last weekend for me was Evans’ try saving tackle, actually unbelievable, he must have been the only person in that stadium sure he had stopped a try, probably not even certain himself. It was only his desire that stopped it and that’s exactly what Ireland must show come Saturday.

It was fantastic to win the Grand Slam last year. So much so that if we do lose on Saturday, its not such a big deal. We won one last year. In fact I’m happy with we’ve won one. Although we have been the most consistent performers in the tournament for a while  now, I can’t be the only one to have thought they might be the nearly golden generation. Throughout last year they have got results which would have been near misses but for three things; composure, edge, Kidney.

So what I am saying is if they do lose on Saturday it will be to the better team. No-one can argue with that.

Oh, and Gatland! What is he playing at? He’s now engaging in mind games with an inanimate object? I’ve a lot of time for the Welsh but I wouldn’t mind Scotland winning that one. I’m intrigued to see who’s fault it might be

Wales:Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), James Hook (Ospreys), Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), Shane Williams (Ospreys); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Gareth Cooper (Cardiff Blues); Paul James (Ospreys), Gareth Williams (Cardiff Blues), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Andy Powell (Cardiff Blues), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), Ryan Jones (Ospreys, captain).
Replacements: Huw Bennett (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Bradley Davies (Cardiff Blues), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues), Richie Rees (Cardiff Blues), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), Tom Shanklin (Cardiff Blues).

Scotland:  C Paterson (Edinburgh); T Evans (Glasgow), S Lamont (Scarlets), G Morrison (Glasgow), R Lamont (Toulon); D Parks (Glasgow), C Cusiter (Glasgow, capt); A Dickinson (Gloucester), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Kellock (Glasgow), K Brown (Glasgow), J Barclay (Glasgow), J Beattie (Glasgow). 
Replacements: S Lawson (Gloucester), A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Gray (Glasgow), A MacDonald (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh), P Godman (Edinburgh), M Evans (Glasgow).

Not much to report with either selection. For all his whinging Warren Gatland thankfully managed to keep faith with Alun Wyn-Jones. Fortunately for the Scott’s he has also bizarrely kept Cooper at 9. 

Max Evans misses out for Scotland, a little bit inexplicably. If they can find the confidence to support line breakers they may well be in with a decent chance of winning. I can’t wait to see who Warren will blame this week if they do.

Tip: Scotland by 1-5 points 15/2 @bet365

France Vs Ireland, 16:30 13/02/2010

France: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Brive); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont); Thomas Domingo (Clermont), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro), Pascal Pape (Stade Francais), Thierry Dusautoir (capt, Toulouse), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz).
Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Julien Pierre (Clermont), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont), Frederic Michalak (Toulouse), David Marty (Perpignan), Julien Malzieu (Clermont).

Ireland:  R Kearney (Leinster), T Bowe (Ospreys), B O’Driscoll (capt), G D’Arcy (both Leinster), K Earls, R O’Gara, T O’Leary (all Munster); C Healy (Leinster), J Flannery, J Hayes (both Munster), L Cullen (Leinster), P O’Connell (Munster), AN Other, D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). 
Replacements (from): R Best, T Court (both Ulster), D Ryan (Munster), S O’Brien, K McLaughlin, E Reddan, J Sexton (all Leinster), P Wallace, A Trimble (both Ulster).

Well, here is a game. There have been sensible comments aplenty out of the Irish camp, need to stay with them in the opening twenty, can’t let them build up a lead before half time. The problem is simple. These things are a lot easier to say than do.

France in patches against Scotland looked to have the makings of a great side. They should provide a great game, game of the tournament if it wasn’t so early on. I’m as fearful as I am excited about the duel between O’Driscoll and Bastareaud, I have visions of BOD gingerly walking off the field clutching an arm or shoulder. Hopefully for the sake of the rest of the Championship, its just a bad dream.

Tip: Double Result: France-Ireland 7/1 @bet365

Italy Vs England, 14:30 14/02/09

England: Delon Armitage (London Irish); Mark Cueto (Sale), Mathew Tait (Sale), Riki Flutey (Brive), Ugo Monye (Harlequins); Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon), Danny Care (Harlequins); Tim Payne (Wasps), Dylan Hartley (Northampton), Dan Cole (Leicester), Simon Shaw (Wasps), Steve Borthwick (Saracens, captain), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Lewis Moody (Leicester), Nick Easter (Harlequins).

Italy Squad: Backs: Luke McLean, Andrea Masi, Kaine Robertson, Alberto Sgarbi, Gonzalo Canale, Gonzalo Garcia, Mirco Bergamasco; Riccardo Bocchino, Craig Gower, Pablo Canavosio, Tito Tebaldi;

Forwards: Matias Aguero, Salvatore Perugini, Martin Castrogiovanni, Lorenzo Cittadini; Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain), Fabio Ongaro; Marco Bortolami, Quintin Geldenhuys; Valerie Bernabo, Paul Derbyshire, Josh Sole, Mauro Bergamasco, Alessandro Zanni.

On the back of both their performances last week, the Italians could be well on their way to a nasty hiding. I sincerely hope I’m wrong but out of all the three tips this is the one I’m most confident of coming in:

Tip: Handicap England -21.5 @bet365

Incidentally, the treble comes in at a healthy 189/1