AFTER a clear dominance by Ireland and then England the previous three seasons, this year’s 6 Nations championship could turn out to be one of the most competitive.
With the exception of Ireland, the rest of the teams have named their squads.
Each has a few uncapped players but it looks like they will keep faith in the tried and tested. Incidentally, the premier club competitions have so far not produced any exciting newcomer expected to make any of the starting XVs.
England is the latest to announce its squad with three uncapped players in the 34-man squad that sees the return of James Haskell, Maro Itoje, Anthony Watson, Jack Clifford and Jack Nowell who all missed the Autumn Tests through injury.
Set to continue in the same roles is hooker and captain Dylan Hartley who hasn’t played club rugby since being banned for six weeks from last mid-December.
England is on a roll under Australian coach Eddie Jones, who has guided them to 13 consecutive wins since the last 6 Nations. With another win before that against Uruguay at the World Cup, England is well on the way to at least equal the world record of 18 straight wins by the All Blacks.
Their first game is at home against France of February 4, from where England hopes to repeat its Grand Slam success of last year since their previous one in 2003. The title last year was also their first since 2011.
But two teams especially – Ireland and Wales – are determined to check this march by their arch rival.
Ireland is now ranked fourth in the world and there is much optimism in what more the team under Kiwi coach Joe Schmidt can do after their historic first win against the All Blacks in Chicago last year.
One player who will miss the tournament is hooker Sean Cronin, due to injury. Cronin had been the main cover for Rory Best.
Ireland opens the campaign also on February 4 away to Scotland, where another Kiwi coach Vern Cotter will leave after the tournament.
The Scotland union has decided not to renew Cotter’s three-year contract and will instead have its own Gregor Townsend as coach beginning June.
Cotter has said he is disappointed with the union’s decision but the former Clermont coach has secured a job as head coach of Montpellier after this. It was also in France that Cotter spent about nine years playing club rugby after playing at the same level in New Zealand for 10 years.
In November, Scotland won against Argentina and went down 23-22 against the Wallabies and without a doubt Cotter has instilled renewed confidence in the team since 2014.
Last year Scotland won two of the championship five matches in a season, its first such feat since 2000.
The Welsh squad of 36 has seven uncapped players and the team announcement also confirmed an earlier speculation that lock Alun-Wyn Jones will lead the name in place of flanker Sam Warburton who will be left to focus on his game.
Long-term injuries have ruled out first-choice players Gethan Jenkins and Dan Lydiate, while Kiwi Gareth Anscombe is also out with groin surgery.
The Welsh will be coached by former player Rob Howley who is deputising for Kiwi Warren Gatland who is on British Lions duty, similar to the situation before the Lions toured Australia in 2013.
France coach Guy Noves has named a 32-man squad with four uncapped players and the surprise announcement is to recall centre Yann David, who last played for his country against the All Blacks in 2009.
The team’s last success in the 6 Nations was the Grand Slam in 2010 but it has been a wobbly campaign all the way since then.
However the Autumn internationals indicated that Noves may be able to bring back the excitement in the French game, especially in their willingness to run the ball more as in the exciting French teams from the 80s right through to the early 2000s.
Italy has been the tournament’s weakest side for so many years and since the start of the 6 Nations era in 2000 has lost all five matches each year seven times.
But while the Italians were trounced 68-10 by an under-strength All Blacks in the Autumn Tests, they bounced back to beat the Springboks 20-18 in what was their first win over the South Africans in 13 attempts.
Will that momentum be good enough for captain Sergio Parisse and his boys?