England have edge to win 6 Nations
England have edge to win 6 Nations
17 January 2008, 3:48 pm
By PA Sport
England will walk away with this season's RBS 6 Nations Championship and claim their first title since 2003.
Right, now that's got the Celts interested, let's assess the evidence.
What evidence, I hear the cry?
Realistically, there is only one area worth close inspection - European
competitions.
Forget the World Cup, that was a proverbial age ago. What matters is the here and now - namely the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup.
Heading into this weekend's final round of pool fixtures, English clubs remain on course to achieve a remarkable feat - eight home quarter-finalists.
In the Heineken Cup, London Irish, Gloucester and Saracens are poised to claim three of those prized home ties by topping their respective qualifying pools.
Reigning European champions Wasps, meanwhile, will join them if they can emulate fellow English heavyweights Leicester last season and beat Munster at their Thomond Park fortress on Saturday.
Of the seven English clubs involved in this season's Heineken Cup, only
Leicester and Harlequins have fallen early, with Bristol still holding an outside chance of progressing from Pool Three.
As far as the Challenge Cup is concerned, it is a case for the monopolies commission.
Bath, Worcester and Sale Sharks have already won their groups and secured home draws, while Newcastle will join them if they post a routine victory over Spanish minnows Cetransa El Salvador on Sunday.
Leeds Carnegie should also progress, albeit probably as a best runner-up, giving England 100 per cent quarter-final representation.
Out of 25 games so far played by English clubs during this season's Challenge Cup tournament, only two defeats have been recorded - Newcastle away to Connacht and Leeds in Calvisano - when both matches were decided by one score.
Whichever way you look at it, such consistent success has to be good news for England head coach Brian Ashton as he plots the Six Nations campaign.
So many of his 32-man Six Nations squad - Danny Cipriani, Toby Flood, Charlie Hodgson, David Strettle, Mathew Tait, James Haskell, Tom Croft and Matt Stevens, to name just eight - are in top form.
And Ashton must exude a genuine air of excitement as he prepares for Monday's first pre-Six Nations training day at Twickenham.
First things first though, and the rip-roaring European weekend that awaits when so many fascinating questions will be answered.
Can Wasps storm Thomond Park? Will Welsh challengers the Ospreys fly or fall in Bourgoin? Can Glasgow continue Scotland's European renaissance by sinking Saracens?
And so it goes on, gripping games played in white-hot atmospheres that often eclipse the Six Nations for sheer drama, excitement and spine-tingling tension.
But at the moment there are only two real winners - English rugby and Brian Ashton.
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Bath captain Steve Borthwick used words like ``excited'' and ``new challenge'' to describe the clinching of a four-year contract with Saracens.
Bath supporters though, are entitled to wonder what on earth is happening.
The west country club, transformed under the direction of their Australian coach Steve Meehan this season, are currently major contenders for two trophies - the Guinness Premiership title and European Challenge Cup.
But just 12 days after Bath topple Premiership leaders Gloucester, those fans discover the skipper is off.
Borthwick is not the first, or probably the last, England international to leave Bath.
It is a path already trodden during rugby's professional era by the likes of Mike Tindall, Mark Regan and Iain Balshaw.
The concern for Bath followers now is that Borthwick's fellow Test stars Olly Barkley and Matt Stevens don't follow suit.
There has to be far more to Borthwick's departure than anyone, least of all the player, is prepared to reveal. I, for one, do not believe it is about money.
For the moment, one word springs to mind - baffling.
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New Wales coach Warren Gatland has probably done more in a week than his predecessor Gareth Jenkins achieved in 18 months.
Gatland's Wales have yet to play a game, of course, but the appointment of Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley to his coaching staff, naming Ryan Jones as captain and talking Lions flanker Martyn Williams out of international retirement represents a pretty impressive start.
Now all Gatland has got to do is mastermind victory over England at Twickenham on February 2, and he can retire early.
