Scotland will look to their home-ground advantage when they entertain the unpredictable Italy in Edinburgh, while over in Dublin, the champions, Ireland, will want to make a big statement by rolling over England.

The French are the 2024 runners-up and will target a strong start to their campaign to keep the pressure on the world’s second-ranked Ireland. However, they will be up against a wounded beast in Wales, who will be desperate to break their unprecedented 12-Test losing streak, which dates back to October 2023 at the Rugby World Cup in France.

Les Bleus are the definite favourites to win the opening game, but it will also depend on which French team turns up for the clash against the desperate Dragons. France will rely heavily on their talismanic captain, Antoine Dupont, but the Welsh coach, Warren Gatland, warned that they will be playing with fire if they focus on one individual.

“He’s not the biggest person in the world when you’re standing next to him, but he’s incredibly quick, and he’s powerful,” said Gatland. “He’s got great vision and skills. We’ve spoken about him a little bit, but the whole focus can’t be on him. 

“You know he’s excellent in terms of staying on his feet and getting the ball away in contact. You don’t see him get tackled a huge amount of times unless he’s potentially in those wider channels, so yeah, he's got an excellent kicking game, kicks off both feet.”

This Test at Stade de France on Friday night kicks off at 22:15.

Scots the favourites

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, Scotland will be targeting a winning start when they face Italy on Saturday as they aim to set the record straight. The Scots will be favourites to walk away with the victory, but the Azzurri will want to make a statement in the Six Nations before touring South Africa later in the year to tackle the Springboks.

The Thistles finished fourth in 2024, and they would have been disappointed with that. If they had not lost to Italy, they would have finished in third ahead of England.

The Scottish coach, Gregor Townsend, said they are upbeat and confident but reminded everyone that they were beaten 31-29 by Italy last year.

“They’re a really quality side, and they’ve shown that now for two or three years,” said the former Scotland flyhalf and captain.

“They’ve been difficult opponents for us and other teams in the Six Nations – I think they’ll come into this tournament full of confidence. They had a really good performance against New Zealand, but in last year’s Six Nations, they upped their game, were competitive in four out of five games, won two, drew one, and one of those victories was against us.”

This game at the iconic Murrayfield on Saturday will kick off at 16:15.

‘Replacing the Springboks as the top-ranked rugby team’

The best is no doubt being saved for last, with the defending champions, Ireland, at home to England in Dublin. There has never been any love lost between these two teams, and the Irish will want to continue their momentum. A good Six Nations campaign will see them replacing the Springboks as the top-ranked rugby team in the world.

England had a difficult 2024, and a win against the Irish will certainly give them the confidence they need to build towards a record-extending 30th Six Nations title.

Ireland’s interim coach, Simon Easterby, who was in charge of Emerging Ireland in Bloemfontein last year, opted to field the inexperienced Sam Prendergast at flyhalf, and while this raised eyebrows, he backed his decision.

“Those two are going to play a lot of rugby, and they are going to compete with each other, along with a few others, like Ciarán Frawley, also in the squad. They are going to play a lot of rugby and compete for a long time, I think.

“This decision has gone Sam’s way. We felt like he did really well in November; he got a taste for international rugby. He went away and played really well for Leinster in a good period for them, and he was a big part of their successes across the December window and into the new year.

“We feel like he’s the right man this weekend to lead the team. He’s got a lot of experience around him, and even the way Jack has trained and played coming into the Six Nations means that Sam knows he’s got to keep raising his game and keep getting better.”

This highly anticipated game at the Aviva Stadium will kick off at 18:45.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek mvh