LAST MONDAY was officially the most depressing day of the year according to someone with way too much time on their hands but at least rugby fans have the opportunity to indulge in some immersion therapy as they throw themselves into the upcoming Six Nations and look forward to a crunch or two that has nothing to do with credit.
This year's tournament is notable for several reasons. The first fixture to take place on a Friday will occur when France host Wales on February 27. The ELVs (experimental law variations) will be showcased for the first time in the championship with
every danger that some matches will disintegrate into aerial wiff waff. This is dangerous territory for a sport that entered the entertainment business the minute it turned professional.
The entire RBS Six Nations campaign will be seen through the prism of the upcoming Lions tour to South Africa, especially those six games exclusively involving the four home unions. On a more mundane level this is also the first year that Murrayfield's back pitches will be off limits to cars and picnics regardless of the weather; a bitter blow to the whole Murrayfield experience.
The centrepiece of the Northern Hemisphere invariably springs a few surprises, the greatest of which is the current demise of France and England. Only a few short years ago there was talk of a two-tier tournament and even the suggestion that the Anglo/French game should be scheduled last up every year because it would inevitably decide the outcome.
Thankfully the sporting gods are a little more fickle than that. Instead this year sees one of the most unpredictable tournaments for many years with any one of five sides (it looks a step too far for the Azzurri) able to win it if they can bring their best form to the party.
Ireland's golden generation will be desperate to slip the tag of "nearly men" and those twin colossuses Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connor are both showing ominous form of late. France are even more of an enigma than usual as Marc Lièvremont abandons his experiments to find his strongest side and Nick Mallett's Italy came close to taking a Southern Hemisphere scalp last November in the form of Australia. Meanwhile, England won't be nearly as bad as they looked when leaking a record number of points to the Springboks at Twickenham… will they?
Instead it is Wales who will start as favourites after completing their second Grand Slam in four years under the canny eye of Warren Gatland. The Kiwi coach has already warned his charges of the threat of a Murrayfield mugging in their opening match and he is right to do so because, after two years of underachieving, Frank Hadden's squad has a more rounded feel to it; fewer makeweights, more contenders.
Scotland's problem is one of momentum: just when they most need some go-forward, the men in blue find themselves playing uphill into a freshening breeze. Their opening two matches are against the only two countries in the whole of Europe where rugby could arguably be called the national sport and that is a big ask. A loss to the tournament favourites in the opening match makes it all the more difficult to rouse the troops for Paris after a six day turnaround. A loss in the opening two matches and the flood of criticism would extinguish whatever spark was inside the Scotland camp.
Hadden talks of Scotland getting a little luck for once, the bounce of the ball, the rub of the green and he has a point when it comes to the TMO (television match official) who has awarded two tries against Scotland in the last two seasons when the scorer's foot was in touch… and obviously so.
Those decisions had no bearing on the outcome but on another day they might be crucial. An improved Scotland should be far more competitive and Test matches turn on small events as England found to their cost when Paul Sackey failed to ground the ball against Wales last year. The Welsh went on to win a Grand Slam having recovered from a 19-6 deficit at Twickenham; great things emerge from small happenings.
It is 10 years since the Scots last won the championship and they did it by showcasing as exhilarating a brand of rugby that they have produced in the modern era. What more fitting tribute to the class of 1999 than for the current generation of players to light up this tournament with the same skilful and smart, 15-man, all-encompassing, intelligent rugby that brought the team such success 10 years ago.
The full article contains 787 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
