6 Nations 2007

[Jojo]

Opening games on Saturday 3rd Feb, with BBC televising

France v Italy (Kick off 1.30pm)

followed by:

England v Scotland (Kick off 4pm)

Sunday 4th Feb has on BBC is:

Wales v Ireland (Kick off 3pm)

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Lets all play nicely and ignore Jerry Gussets comments - we all know he doesn't know what hes talking about

[Katy]

Im so excited, I love the 6 nations.

Come On Ireland !

Who do you think will win, will there be a grand slam winner this year? I have my flag and shirt, an hat all ready.

[Jojo]

Well, I'm interested to see how Phil Vickery goes with captaincy and how Brian Ashtons teams shapes up post-Robinson, but I think England are going to be in for a difficult time of it this year.

Wales are on the up, France and Ireland are generally always on top form, Italy have been coming up in their play and Wales too. I think this year is going to be a lot closer than in a while and think that the scores are no way going to reflect any game play.

I think it could be Irelands year this year though to be honest.

[Katy]

thats what every ones impression is but you never know with a competition like this. It will be weird seeing it take play at Croke Park though, i think the fans will find it weird there actually being a roof on the ground.

France i think will be tough competition and as you say it will be interesting to see how ashton differs to Robinson. Theres also a lot of Injuries to the England team (most of them being Phillipe Saint Andres men at sale) that couild make a difference. Im looking forward to see if Ireland can keep up that performance against the Aussies.

[Jojo]

Its surprising how you don't notice the roof though - having been to Millenium a number of times for Internationals, you don't notice the roof at all - it feels almost the same to be honest - the only time you really notice it is if there are either high winds or rain, so there are the obvious benefits.

I think England are going to be on the back burner for a bit to be honest - what with injuries, new coach etc - although they could come out and surprise us! I just hope the scenes of them being booed off the pitch aren't going to be repeated again. That was extremely sad to see English Rugby get to that point.

I think it will be between Ireland and France, but hope it will be Ireland out of the two this year (if England don't of course lol)

Will have a look for the line ups - see whos up in a min.

[Katy]

I have an Ireland shirt that there is no green left in it as all the colour has been washed out by the rain, as i was standing in the open end of Landsdowne Road, it was a great day but i was so wet and cold at the end of it.

It is sad when teams get booed of but you would hope that it would make them play better for the fans. Manchester City FC are getting booed off most weeks and it is sad but they dont help themselves like the England Rugby team last year.

Its a whole new competition though and hopefully we will have fresh faces and fresh legs, although im dreading the day we have Chabal and stringer on the same pitch.

[Jojo]

England

Alex Brown Andy Farrell Dan Ward-Smith Danny Grewcock George Chuter Harry Ellis Iain Balshaw Jamie Noon Jason Robinson Joe Worsley Jonny Wilkinson Josh Lewsey Julian White Lee Mears Lewis Moody Louis Deacon Mark Cueto Martin Corry Mathew Tait Mike Catt Mike Tindall Paul Sackey Perry Freshwater Peter Richards Phil Vickery (c)Shane Geraghty Shaun Perry Steve Thompson Tim Payne Toby Flood Tom Palmer Tom Rees

France

Anthony Floch Aurelien Rougerie Bennjamin Boyet Benoit August Cedric Heymans Christophe Dominici Clement Poitrenaud Damien Traille David Marty David Skrela Dimitri Szarzewski Dimitri Yachvili Elvis Vermeulen Fabien Pelous (c)Florian FritzGregory Lamboley Imanol Harinordoquy Jean-Baptiste Elissalde Jean-Baptiste Poux Jerome Thion Julien Bonnaire Laurent Emmanuelli Lionel Nallet Nicolas Mas Olivier Milloud Pascal Pape Pierre Mignoni Pieter De Villiers Raphael Ibanez Remy Martin Romain Cabannes Sebastien Bruno Sebastien Chabal Serge Betsen Sylvain Marconnet Thierry Dusautoir Thomas Castaignede Vincent Clerc Yannick Jauzion Yannick Nyanga

Ireland

Andrew Trimble Barry Murphy Brian O'Driscoll (c)Bryan Young David Wallace Denis Hickie Denis Leamy Donncha O'Callaghan Eoin Reddan Frankie Sheahan Geordan Murphy Girvan Dempsey Gordon D'Arcy Isaac Boss Jamie Heaslip Jerry Flannery John Hayes John Kelly Keith Gleeson Luke Fitzgerald Malcolm O'Kelly Marcus Horan Mick O'Driscoll Neil Best Paddy Wallace Paul O'Connell Peter Stringer Robert Kearney Ronan O'Gara Rory Best Shane Horgan Simon Best Simon Easterby Tommy Bowe Trevor Hogan

Scotland

Alastair Kellock Allan Jacobsen Allister Hogg Andrew Henderson Ben MacDougall Bruce Douglas Calum MacRae Chris Paterson Craig Smith Dan Parks David Callam Dougie Hall Gavin Kerr Graeme Morrison Hugo Southwell Jim Hamilton John Beattie Jon Petrie Kelly Brown Marcus Di Rollo Mike Blair Nathan Hines Phil Godman Rob Dewey Robbie Russell Rory Lamont Ross Ford Scott Gray Scott Lawson Scott Murray Sean Lamont Simon Taylor Simon Webster

Wales

Adam Jones Alix Popham Alun Wyn Jones Brent Cockbain Ceri Sweeney Chris Horsman Duncan Jones Dwayne Peel Gareth Cooper Gareth Thomas Gavin Evans Gavin Henson Gavin Thomas Gethin Jenkins Hal Luscombe Ian Evans Ian Gough James Hook Jonathan Thomas Kevin Morgan Lee Byrne Mark Jones Martyn Williams Matthew Rees Michael Owen Michael Phillips Rhys Thomas Ryan Jones Shane Williams Sonny Parker Stephen Jones (c)Tom Shanklin

Italy

Alessandro Zanni Andrea Lo Cicero Andrea Masi Andrea Scanavacca Carlo Festuccia Carlo-Antonio Del Fava Carlos Nieto David Bortolussi Ezio Galon Fabio Ongaro Gert Peens Gonzalo Canale Josh Sole Kaine Robertson Leonardo Ghiraldini Marco Bortolami (c)Marko Stanojevic Martin Castrogiovanni Matias Aguero Maurizio Zaffiri Mauro Bergamasco Mirco Bergamasco Pablo Canavosio Paul Griffen Ramiro Pez Robert Barbieri Salvatore Perugini Santiago Dellape Sergio Parisse Valerio Bernabo Walter Pozzebon Warren Spragg

[Jojo]

Bit of a long list there - may have to do some format playing lol.

t is sad when teams get booed of but you would hope that it would make them play better for the fans. Manchester City FC are getting booed off most weeks and it is sad but they dont help themselves like the England Rugby team last year.

Yeah - I think or at least I hope that England don't put out a repeat performance and start playing. With the World Cup coming up aswell, the teams I think are really going to go for it - show what they can do in readiness, if that makes sense.

[Katy]

definatly they dont want a repeat performance and the 6 nations is the ideal Warm up to the world cup.

I just read that shane horgan is out for the first two games. Thats a blow as he has just come back. Its great to see Jerry back in the picture after his nasty collerbone injury. Its great seeing players return it goves a real bost. Also like the look of Ulsters Isaac Boss, he had a great game in for Stringer that time so it would be good to see if he gets a game.

I see Jason Robinsons been called back to the England set up. I think thats a mistake as there is proabably a more quicker player. I hope he does well as i really like him and his style of play but hes not as quick now, and hes still trying to pull of (another) injury.

[Jojo]

And why on earth have they called back Jonny Wilkinson back into the line up!