Matt Dawson's 6 Nations preview: England legend runs the rule over the teams - and picks his winners
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Eddie Jones has ramped up the pressure on England by demanding they make history in this Six Nations.
He has challenged them to become the first team in 135 years to capture the title outright three years in a row. To not just win matches but ‘hunt’ down their opposition.
He has told them home advantage is a state of mind and that he wants them to be as good on the road as at Twickenham.
Welcome to the next phase of England’s World Cup build-up.
Ordinarily, teams seek to avoid making waves coming into the championship, hoping that others will create a splash around them.
Not Jones.
(Image: Getty)
By stirring it up publicly he has applied pressure on his players to deliver, specifically because he wants to see who can handle it. He knows his words will light a fire in the bellies of opponents who don’t need added motivation to stick it to England. It is a calculated move.
The end game is not this tournament, though Jones is aware enough of the history and the public’s expectation to badly want the hat-trick. It is about next year’s World Cup, now fewer than 600 days away.
He knows to win in Japan he needs players who are every bit as effective away from their creature comforts as they are at Twickenham. Who, no matter the hostility of their surrounds, see only a block of grass and two sets of posts.
(Image: RFU/Getty)
(Image: Getty)
If they can achieve that in the fiercely partisan backyards of their Six Nations rivals they can do it on the neutral grounds of Japan.
England have a lot still to prove to themselves.
Despite winning all but one match last year for me there were shades of ‘second season’ syndrome about their 2017.
Jones will use that as a launch-pad to better, and my money is on England not only retaining their crown but nailing a first Grand Slam at home since 1995.
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That is not for one moment to under-estimate the opposition — in fact, I find it hard to imagine there have ever been more genuine contenders for the prize.
Scotland is the game that worries me; a team which is flying, playing at a ground where filthy conditions and a passion for slaying the auld enemy are assured.
But the principal reason is their coach Gregor Townsend.
He was so far ahead of his time as a player, a brilliant talent and rugby brain.
While other coaches coach the game in a way they used to play, he is cutting edge in his thinking. And it has showed in Scotland’s play.
That makes them a serious threat, whatever Eddie may say.
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ENGLAND
COACH Eddie Jones
CAPTAIN Dylan Hartley (hooker)
ONE TO WATCH George Ford (fly-half)
DAWSON'S VIEW You have to go back 23 years for the last time England won a Grand Slam on home soil — March 18, 1995 against Scotland, to be precise. My money is on that drought ending in this championship. Granted, Scotland away is a major challenge. But Eddie’s England are a class act and I see them winning a Slam decider against Ireland.
LAST FIVE SEASONS Second-second-second-first-first
OUTRIGHT TITLES 28 (13 Grand Slam)
PREDICTED FINISH First
FRANCE
COACH Jacques Brunel
CAPTAIN Guilhem Guirado (hooker)
ONE TO WATCH Matthieu Jalibert (fly-half)
(Image: AFP/Getty)
DAWSON'S VIEW A new head coach and a teenage No10 in Jalibert means more than ever it is impossible to read France. I like Jalibert, he’s decent. But apart from him and young back-row star Sekou Macalou there is little to reason to suggest they won’t make it seven years without a top-two finish.
LAST FIVE SEASONS 6-4-4-5-3
OUTRIGHT TITLES 17 (nine Grand Slams)
PREDICTED FINISH Fourth.
IRELAND
COACH Joe Schmidt
CAPTAIN Rory Best (hooker)
ONE TO WATCH Conor Murray (scrum-half)
DAWSON'S VIEW They beat England decisively last season to deny them the Slam, and are no less a team a year on. But this time that fixture is at Twickenham, and I expect home advantage to carry the day. In Murray and Johnny Sexton, the Irish have top-class half-backs to compliment a fierce pack and a very smart coach.
(Image: PA Wire)
LAST FIVE SEASONS 2-2-2-1-1
OUTRIGHT TITLES 28 (13 Grand Slams)
PREDICTED FINISH Second
ITALY
COACH Conor O’Shea
CAPTAIN Sergio Parisse (No8)
ONE TO WATCH Ian McKinley (fly-half)
DAWSON'S VIEW Nightmare draw, what with England first followed by Ireland away six days later. It's hard to see them winning a match, though would love to be proved wrong. Would love also to see McKinley getting his chance. Dublin-born, he lost an eye in a rugby accident six years ago, moved to Italy and has played his way up through the amateur ranks. Incredible story.
(Image: Federazione Italiana Rugby)
LAST FIVE SEASONS 4-6-5-6-6
OUTRIGHT TITLES None
PREDICTED FINISH Sixth
SCOTLAND
COACH Gregor Townsend
CAPTAIN John Barclay (flanker)
ONE TO WATCH Finn Russell (fly-half)
DAWSON'S VIEW Nobody respects the abilities of Townsend more than me, having played alongside him for Northampton and the British & Irish Lions. He will bring the best out of this team and, given the likes of Russell, Stuart Hogg, Jonny Gray and Tommy Seymour, that could potentially be very good indeed. Remember, they stuck 50 points on Australia last time out.
(Image: PA Wire)
Tough trips to Wales and Ireland, but there is now a fearlessness about their play that makes them dangerous anywhere.
LAST FIVE SEASONS 3-5-6-4-4
OUTRIGHT TITLES 14 (three Grand Slams)
PREDICTED FINISH Third
WALES
COACH Warren Gatland
CAPTAIN Alun-Wyn Jones (second row)
ONE TO WATCH Gareth Davies (scrum-half)
DAWSON'S VIEW So much rests on Saturday's home opener against Scotland. Lose that and they are a team blighted by injuries (among them the 2017 Lions' Player of the Series Jonathan Davies and that tour's captain Sam Warburton, who both miss the whole competition), headed for Twickenham and Dublin for back-to-back away games and staring at an 0-3 start.
(Image: Getty)
Win it, and the momentum kick could be significant. For my money, they missing too much class to mount a title challenge but experience has taught me never to write off a Gatland team.
LAST FIVE SEASONS 1-3-3-2-5
OUTRIGHT TITLES 26 (11 Grand Slams)
PREDICTED FINISH Fifth.
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