THE Six Nations competition starts in just four weeks but for Wales especially, the injury list to key players keeps growing.
After confirmation that star centre Jonathan Davies, number eight Taulupe Faletau and flanker Sam Warburton would all be out of the competition, the team that won the title in 2012 and 2013 will now also miss winger George North for the early part and another flanker, Dan Lydiate, for part of or even the entire tournament due to a problem with his bicep.
On form all five would most likely start a game, that’s how valuable they are to Wales.
Since their last title, this rugby-proud nation has been only average, coming out second in 2016 but otherwise in mid-table or lower. Their worst thus far was to finish fifth last year.
Wales opens this year’s campaign at home in Cardiff on February 3 against a resurgent Scotland buoyed especially by a strong showing in last November’s Tests. The added advantage for the Scots is that they are free from any serious injury up till now.
The other team that has to deal with injuries is England, with No. 8 Nathan Hughes and winger Elliot Daly set to miss part of the competition.
Centre Ben Te’o, a revelation during the Lions tour to New Zealand last June and July, has been bothered by an ankle injury since October and is likely to miss the start.
But England coach Eddie Jones is not likely to lose any sleep here because England has good depth in the midfield. The other good news is that bustling No. 8 Billy Vunipola is ready to make a return, also from injury, and under normal circumstances would be the player to start ahead of Fijian Hughes.
England has won the last two titles and will be attempting a record third in a row but at the moment the biggest hurdle is an Ireland that also won two on a trot before the former’s success. In 2016 Ireland finished third and last year did one better.
Based on what’s been happening in the last two years, it looks like this year’s competition will be more competitive than ever following the improvements shown by Scotland, so often having to fight with Italy to avoid finishing last.
In the last four outings the best finish for the Scots was fourth twice, fifth in 2014 and last in 2015. They won the last Five Nations though in 1999 before the tournament was expanded to include Italy.
It’s difficult to anticipate for now how France will fare this year, especially with a new coach and assistants, but there will certainly be three teams battling it out to try and end England’s dominance.
Another poor competition by Italy will only up the volume of calls for the inclusion of the ever improving Georgians, despite outright resistance by the Six Nations administrators and the competition not having a promotion-relegation format.
Georgia’s form last November too justified at least some consideration for its inclusion into the Six Nations instead of having to play in Europe’s second tier tournament with the likes of Romania. Incidentally Georgia is currently ranked at 12 in the World Rugby rankings, two steps higher than Italy.
The plus side for Georgia, at least for the ego if not anything else, is that World Rugby has approved a game for them against Italy in November this year, although a positive outcome for Georgia is not expected to move the Six Nations officials to open the doors for them.
But for now there’s enough on offer in the Six Nations for fans to look forward to.