Six Nations 2024 Preview: Ireland to go back-to-back even without Sexton

The Six Nations gets underway this weekend and sees the sport’s northern hemisphere sides battle it out over the next seven weeks. 

Despite World Cup campaigns that ended in heartbreak, both France and Ireland go into the tournament as strong favourites. They were both unceremoniously dumped out of the autumn’s World Cup at the quarter final stage by evential finalists South Africa and New Zealand. 

They face off in Marseille on Friday night and the winner will move into pole position to win the championship and complete the grand slam. 

This tournament, more than ever, will be about the players who are absent as much as those on the pitch. Antoine Dupont, Owen Farrell, Johnny Sexton and Louis Rees-Zammit - arguably the four best known players - will be missing for a variety of reasons. 

It has also started with the backdrop of a behind-the-scenes Netflix documentary that was filmed during the 2023 tournament being released. 

Let’s take a look at the teams

France - 2.26

The French are the tournament favourites and they kick off their campaign with a mouth-watering tie against the reigning champions, Ireland, on Friday night in Marseille. 

Star scrum-half Antoine Dupont has chosen to sit out and instead he will prepare to represent his country at the Paris Olympics as part of the Sevens team. France still have world-class players across the pitch and will be led by their titanic number 8, Gregory Aldritt. 

They do only play two of their five matches at home, but crucially it is Friday night’s clash with Ireland that is going to be at home. The last two times the sides have met the home side has run out victorious and then gone on to complete the grand slam.

Ireland @ 2.84

The Irish are hot on France’s heels at 2.84, they are currently ranked second in the world behind only South Africa. 

They will miss the leadership and experience of fly-half Johnny Sexton who retired after the World Cup. Jack Crowley steps in at No.10 to try and fill the void left by Sexton, who holds the record for most points in the tournament. The 24-year-old’s tournament experience is limited to just three minutes off the bench in Rome last year. 

Like France, they are still stacked to the brim with truly world class talent and experience. Only four changes have been made from the XV that took the field in their World Cup quarter final loss to New Zealand in October, showing a side that coach Andy Farrell is happy with.

If they win on Friday night, they will be confident about becoming the first team to win back-to-back Grand Slams in the six team era.

England @ 8.0

England will be led by Saracens hooker Jamie George after Owen Farrell decided to take a break from international rugby. They will also have to do without Marcus Smith for their opening game against Italy due to injury. 

England’s World Cup campaign was an interesting one, due to the luck of the draw and playing well in a few games they found themselves in a semi-final against South Africa. They then put in the performance of a lifetime and the eventual winners needed a late, late Handre Pollard penalty to win by one point. 

Coach Steve Borthwick, has named a young, dynamic squad which - if given the chance - will play high pace, attacking rugby. However, Borthwick’s England have been anything but dynamic and fast-paced; they have often been slow and predictable. 

It will be interesting to see how they play.

Scotland @ 13.0

Scotland’s World Cup campaign was over before it really began. The tournament draw landed them in a group of death alongside South Africa and Ireland and despite their best efforts they didn’t progress. 

Unlike Ireland, England, Wales and France, the Scots are not missing any of their star players. Finn Russell has been re-energised by his move to Bath and the fly-half is one of the sport’s most dazzling players. 

For me Scotland are the dark horses of this competition and the team most likely to challenge France or Ireland for the title. They play France at home in the second week before welcoming the English north of the border for a fixture they have won for the last three years. If they can beat France, they will have a great chance at upsetting the odds.

Wales @ 32.0

A few weeks ago, Welsh Rugby was rocked by the news that star winger Louis Rees-Zammit, will miss the tournament as he pursues a career in the NFL through the international player pathway. 

They have a relatively inexperienced squad after the retirement of veteran lock Alun Wyn-Jones who played 158 times for his country. They face a tough schedule, starting against Scotland on Saturday, followed by a trip to Twickenham. 

They will need George North and Gareth Davies to step up and bring experience in the backs and hopefully electric winger Rio Dyer can fill the space left by Rees-Zammit. 

Italy @ 260

Italy have been consistently improving over the past few years, the catalyst being a landmark win over Wales in Cardiff back in 2022. Still it is hard to see them winning more than one game. 

They simply do not have the player pool to enable them to compete over and over again. They are ranked 11th in the world, only Japan of the regular Test playing nations are lower. 

Recommended Bet

Back Ireland @ 2.84