We are excited about the upcoming Six Nations and some of the new/old faces on show. We will pick one player from each nation who we expect will feature as a star on the field and will be firm fan favourites off-field.
First call will be for England and our new boy is Joe Launchbury
Joe a London Wasp burst onto the international scene in the Autumn internationals and we are convinced that the 6’6″ athlete will be as dynamic again in all the Six Nations games. He will also be a firm favourite with the girls as he has it all, height, physic, and good looks plus a nice quiet demeanour off the field. Look out for his soft hands with the ball as he passes out of contact, plus big hits and leaping in the line-out.
France who are favourites to take the crown this term and we have selected Wesley Fofana
Wesley the ASM Clermont Auvergne Centre will be in his second Six Nations, another pin up boy with the girls he is a hard hitter in defence but with twinkling feet. at 5’10” he is one of the smaller of our picks. He will also probably have the beast who is Mathieu Bastareaud from Toulon inside him and what a combination they will make. Look out for Wesley beating players for fun and then speeding in to score, or offloading out of or before the tackle for someone else to dot down.
Ireland and we will select another new boy Simon Zebo
Simon will be in his first Six Nations having been selected on Ireland’s tour to New Zealand in June 2012. He can play wing or fullback and he is another guy the girls will like with his good looks and at 6’2″ he is not small. We expect him to bring his Munster form to the Irish team and use his electric pace to score tries for fun whilst smashing players in defence.
Italy and another Waspie is our pick in Andrea Masi
Andrea does not get into our good lookers list, but he does bring an abrasive edge to the Italian team. He is not one of our newboys, but we needed to select someone other that the ever present and dynamic leader Sergio Parisse. Masi is a 6’1″ utility back who is most likely to feature in the centres this term. He has 72 caps to his credit and started in 1999 season.
Scotland and we have gone for an old boy making a welcome return as Johnnie Beattie
Will take the field in the national colours for the first time since 2011. The 6’4″ Beattie who has been having a barnstorming season for Montpellier will be keen to make an impression. He is perhaps the least favourite of our picks with the girls. But we expect dynamic play from the base of the scrum, hard work in the line-out and some big carries around the park as well as big hits in defence. He will be key to Scotland being able to compete with England in the game on Saturday afternoon at Twickenham.
Wales and our last pick is a new boy getting his first cap in this Six Nations; Andrew Coombs
Andrew who plays for Newport Gwent Dragons is normally a backrower but he will start his international carreer in the engine room that is the second row. He will not set the girls hearts a flutter as he is a solid looking guy, not a pretty face. He will however bring a good pair of hands, 6’4″ and athletisism for the line-out and a crunching tackle in defence.
So those are our picks from the players and we will keep you updated in our reports on the games as we watch them perform. Regarding our picks for the results we are going for England to beat Scotland, France to smash Italy, and Wales to narrowly beat Ireland.
Teams
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny (Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Blues), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Blues), George North (Scarlets); Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Bayonne); Gethin Jenkins (Toulon), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Andrew Coombs (Dragons), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Sam Warburton (Blues, capt), Toby Faletau (Dragons).
Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Paul James (Bath), Craig Mitchell (Exeter), Olly Kohn (Harlequins), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Blues), James Hook (Perpignan), Scott Williams (Scarlets).
Ireland: R Kearney; C Gilroy, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, S Zebo; J Sexton, C Murray; C Healy, R Best, M Ross; M McCarthy, D Ryan; P O’Mahony, S O’Brien, J Heaslip (capt).
Replacements: S Cronin, D Kilcoyne, D Fitzpatrick, C Henry, D O’Callaghan, E Reddan, R O’Gara, K Earls.
England: 15. Alex Goode (Saracens), 14. Chris Ashton (Saracens), 13. Brad Barritt (Saracens), 12. Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester), 11. Mike Brown (Harlequins), 10. Owen Farrell (Saracens), 9. Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers).
1. Joe Marler (Harlequins), 2. Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers), 3. Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), 4. Joe Launchbury (Wasps), 5. Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers), 6. Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), 7. Chris Robshaw (C) (Harlequins), 8. Ben Morgan (Gloucester)
Replacements: 16. Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), 17. David Wilson (Bath), 18. Mako Vunipola (Saracens), 19. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), 20. James Haskell (Wasps), 21. Danny Care (Harlequins), 22. Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), 23. David Strettle (Saracens)
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), 14 Sean Maitland (Glasgow Warriors), 13 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), 12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh),
11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh), 10 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), 9 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh)
1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors), 2 Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors), 3 Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors), 4 Richie Gray (Sale Sharks), 5 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester), 6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), 7 Kelly Brown (C) (Saracens), 8 Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier)
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford (Edinburgh), 17 Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors),
18 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh), 19 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), 20 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby), 21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors), 22 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)
23 Max Evans (Castres)