THE RUN-UP

© sixnations

So, the XV have been announced for England’s first VI Nations match against Scotland and while the team sheet looks fairly strong, I don’t think we should get carried away with the ‘Jonny’s back’ headlines which dominated the rugby news yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to insult Saint Jonny, it’s just that rugby is a team effort after all and one player does not a victory make. And although I really wanted to see Richard Wigglesworth’s name somewhere in the line-up, I’m still glad to see Harry Ellis, as well as Joe Worsley and Jason Robinson there, but we’ll see what they’re capable of on Saturday.

Meanwhile, I have to say I’m more excited by the prospect of the Italy-France game this week-end. Berbizier has gathered an impressively strong Italian team and if Italy play as fiercely as they did last year and France have their usual first match wobble, there could be a so-called upset!