Six Nations Preview

There are two direct clashes with the World Sevens Series ?? the first round of the Championship is up against the Brazil leg of the series while the often vital fourth round clashes with the USA leg.

That that will affect England and France heavily is certain with both likely next weekend to name plenty of newer faces for the first round of the competition.

To the World Champions first. The news this week that Gary Street, the head coach who took them to the title in Paris, was to step down was a major surprise given the timing. Just over a week out from the Six Nations and with England needing stability given the renewed focus on sevens, Nicola Ponsford will step into the breach at the last minute. How that will affect a well-structured England set up remains to be seen but it surely will add some uncertainty into the mix in a season where they will lose most of their sevens players for the first game,?˜with 14 travelling to Brazil, including World Cup captain Katy McLean. Add to that a couple of injuries to the likes of Emily Scarratt and Fran Matthews as well as the raft of recent retirements and you get quite a different team to the one that won the World Cup. New faces include the likes of exciting young back Abbie?˜Brown and the highly promising forward Amy Cokayne.?˜ So England will be challenged, but in a year of the unknown, their strength in depth, strong club and youth structures and availability of sevens players for some of the rounds, means I would still start them as favourites.

That they start with that tag is as much down to the uncertainty of others sides as anything.

To- the defending champions. With a huge focus on the 15s game last year ?? rightly given their hosting of the World Cup ?? Les Blues?˜are much changed this year. The FFR are putting all of their focus on qualifying for Rio this season, and it is seems unlikley that any of their contracted sevens players will be available for the Six Nations.?˜ It is an emphasis that showed immediate return in Dubai where France impressed and finished fourth, but at the same time deprives them of almost their entire World Cup backline, even before the retirement of important players such as Sandrine Agricole, so long a vital cog in this team.?˜In addition almost the entire XVs coaching and management team also retired after the World Cup. The result has been a new, untried squad that - while it retains most of the impressive pack, lead by captain?˜Ga??lle Mignot, that proved such a handful throughout 2014 - includes eight uncapped players in the 23 chosen for their opening two game.?˜

Even more remarkably nine of the squad come from clubs outside the Top 8, including four from Bayonne - the club where new forwards coach?˜Jean-Michel Gonzalez has worked for the past 10 years. An opening fixture at home to Scotland may be the prefect start for this untried team but how they will perform in the rest of the tournament is almost impossible to predict. However, there is huge potential in a squad which is clearly being built with 2017 in mind. Watch out in particular for step and change of pace of full-back?˜Caroline Boujard, and powerful running of teenage centre Carla Neisen.

are much less affected by sevens than either France or England given their absence on the World Series but they have some enormous holes to fill through retirements and the only very recent appointment of a new coaching team. There was much to be pleased about in their warm up match with Wales at the weekend ?? which they won ?? where new faces and names were given a run out.?˜ But they have had limited time together and that suggests certainly that much of their momentum from a good World Cup campaign will have been lost.?˜ You would have to say though that the fixtures have fallen in their favour this year ?? with their two toughest games against France and England both at home although the timings mean that both of those sides could have most of their players available to them.?˜ They will go in against Wales, Scotland and Italy as favourites on the road and that gives Ireland a great shout of a top two finish. With the experienced Niamh Briggs handed the captaincy and with Tania Rosser back again at scrum-half, there is enough nous in the side to cope with untried combinations.?˜

are a side who should be able to build some more consistency this season.?˜Unaffected as such by any disruptions in the tournament?˜and with a very settled coaching squad, they have a decent amount of preparation time together and will have learned much from their Ireland clash last weekend. They were the youngest squad in Paris and will have taken a lot from their World Cup experience, and with hardly any players lost to retirement, and no distractions from sevens, it suggests that Wales could be the team to watch. Remarkably the squad selected by coach?˜Rhys Edwards is even younger than his World Cup team, and he particularly highlights the potential of 17 year-old scrum-half?˜Keira Bevan and fly-half Hannah Jones. The timing of fixtures has also been good for Wales?˜as they play England and France when they will almost certainly be unable to call in their sevens players.

are a side who could cause some upsets. Not just because they are one of the most improved international teams around in recent years but because they are likely, along with Wales, to have one of the most consistent sides throughout the tournament. Their squad announcement certainly points to that with just four new faces in the 30-player squad. The Italians were hugely disappointed not to make the 2014 World Cup and their major focus will be to beat Scotland and Wales into automatic qualification. Two of the three based on performances this year and next will qualify. Young wing?˜Maria Magatti and slightly more experienced centre Maria Grazia Cioffi are the players to watch for.

go into the tournament on the back of a disappointing showing last year but on much improved preparation since. The appointment of Sheila Begbie to oversee the women??s game in Scotland showed the national union was taking the women??s game seriously once more and Scotland were also boosted by much greater training time together over the past few months. That included warm up games against a strong Nomads outfit and Italy ?? both of which were tough but will have prepared the side well. The key question will be if the games will stand them in good enough stead to see an immediate improvement.?˜ Like Italy, returning to the next World Cup is a priority but the opening game against France will be a real challenge. Players to watch include the in form Lisa Martin who at standoff will provide an important role.