Hello again six nation – How do we need your timely return. it’s been a stormy time for rugby unionA cauldron of existential crises and grim news bubbled up.
To anticipate the dire mess the game finds itself in on the eve of the Championship: England’s rugby union football Later forced to apologize amid uproar Implementing tackle height law changes on community sports without consulting the player or coach; In France, the federation is looking for a new president after Bernard Laporte found guilty of corruption,
Italian prop Ivan Neymar has been banned for six months Glasgow Warriors wing Rufus McLean has had his contract terminated after racially abusing international front row colleague Cherif Traore plead guilty to domestic violence, And then there’s Wales, followed by turmoil charge of toxic culture sexism and homophobia, and with a newly-installed chief executive intense fear of the future,
All the while the ghosts of brain injuries and financial worries make a menacing rat-a-tat-tat sound at the window. If any PR crisis management experts are finding life with the British royal family on the straight, perhaps this creaking institution may present more of a challenge.
Yet a tournament buried under the mud is ready for adventure. The next seven weeks promise so much. For all the ills that exist, it remains a championship capable of evoking unique emotions, a blanket to aid in the end of an unsatisfying winter. Right or wrong, come Saturday afternoon and the first battle on the terraces of Principality Stadium takes place, much of rugby union will be put aside to revel in this grand old spring shindig rivalry.
For two of our six contestants, it’s an unexpected chance to start fresh. Wales and England are adjusting to new commanding officers, old faces back in familiar places and dealing with quick turnarounds.
Times are tight for both Warren Gatland and Steve Borthwick but the New Wales and England head coaches have executed their tasks with characteristic efficiency, composure and clarity.
A lift from autumn’s lows under defeats Wayne Pivac and Eddie Jones is a virtual certainty, but will a new coach spur a surge in France and Ireland’s ruling class?
Such lofty expectations are surely premature, but an early mean idiosyncrasy is far from certain to suggest that the Northern Hemisphere could provide all four semi-finalists at the World Cup in October.
Warren Gatland is preparing his Wales team for a tough opening Six Nations against Ireland (David Davies/PA)
(PA Wire)
As always, a balance must be struck between not showing hands too early and the need to build winning momentum. It may have been managed most eerily by the hosts, coming off an unbeaten year but resuming with a strange, perhaps unwarranted, sense of pessimism. A World Cup apotheosis is the ultimate goal – but if Fabian Galthey’s men tighten their grip on this tournament they will be hard to stop.
Italy made huge progress of their own in 2022, with wins against Wales and Australia giving evidence of an emerging generation that could take Kieran Crawley’s side to new heights. A settled Scotland could be contenders if they can finally find that elusive fixture.
The consensus view is that championship competition paves the way for a Grand Slam, but should Ireland be overtaken by Wales on the opening weekend, Andy Farrell’s side will fancy their chances; France and England must travel to Dublin. But who would rule out England reborn under Borthwick engineering an immediate Gatland upset or spoiling a St Patrick’s weekend party?
Perhaps, then, it’s the right time for a Netflix lens, with the makers of hit documentary “Drive to Survive” tasked with working their marketing magic on a Six Nations series set to air next year. Hopes are high in the organization’s upper echelons that this could lead to the viewership boom that the CVC had hoped for when investing in the sport, although the initial tussles over access do not bode well.
A criticism of the work of producers in Formula 1 has been the perceived need to build up storylines to make up for a lack of compelling drama; There should be no such problem here.