Early Preview: 2011 Six Nations

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: December 7, 2010

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The international season is officially over for test nations, yet in two months the cream of Europe will assemble to contest the 12th Six Nations, and the 119th edition of the championship that has seen previous guises of the Home and Five Nations.

With no Southern tours scheduled in a World Cup year, the Six Nations will be the last major opportunity for the contenders north of the equator to finalise preparations.

There are World Cup warm-up matches scheduled prior to the 2011 tournament, but history has proven that these ‘friendlies’ provide little pointer as often they are devalued as coaches rest top players.

Kicking off on Feb. 4 and concluding on March 19, the 2011 Six Nations will then have a six-month gap between the oldest international championship and the World Cup, so in theory presents the nations with a significant disadvantage compared with the top three teams in the world – represented by the SANZAR fraternity.

The 2011 Tri Nations will be played just before the World Cup, with the final match between Australia and New Zealand in Brisbane just two weeks before the seventh global tournament’s opening ceremony.

Already the opening verbal salvos have been fired by the various Six Nations coaches, although interestingly there is no positive talk coming from the camp of the reigning Grand Slam champions.

Les Bleus capped off a year where they again showed why they are the great chameleon of world rugby.

Their first five matches saw them record a dominant Grand Slam, even if their final match against England in Paris saw them retreat into their shell against a Red Rose that has shown the highest level of evolution from any team in Europe.

Yet the second half of their season saw them concede 16 tries in five tests with heavy losses to the Springboks, Pumas and Wallabies – with the latter being the heaviest defeat suffered by the T...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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