Six Nations 2015: Early Predictions for Opening Fixtures

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: February 3, 2015

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The 2015 Six Nations gets underway on Friday, with Wales and England primed for a Millennium Stadium opener of cataclysmic proportions.

Defending champions Ireland must wait until Saturday to get their tournament up and running in Rome before Scotland take on France at the Stade de France hoping for an upset.

The Cardiff clash in particular looks set to have a massive bearing on the final standings, with both Wales and England hoping to have a big say in where this year's title ends up.

It makes for a most unpredictable fixture, but we persevere nonetheless in attempting to forecast this weekend's opening batch of matchups.

 

Wales vs. England



This year, Wales coach Warren Gatland will be looking to construct a more free-flowing and offensively adept version of the Wales side that beat South Africa and Fiji during the autumn internationals.

For English counterpart Stuart Lancaster, glitz and sheen will come as secondary to merely achieving a winning start in Cardiff this weekend, with injuries severely hampering his selection.

The Welsh were the first team to announce their starting XV for this weekend's fixtures, per Wales Online, a lineup far less restricted in terms of player absence:



The losses of Owen Farrell and less recently Manu Tuilagi are devastating for Lancaster, but it's in the forwards that Ben Morgan, Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Geoff Parling and others will be missed. 

Despite those setbacks, 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Will Greenwood insists England still have the superior pack heading into Friday's meeting:



There's a new pressure on George Ford to thrive as England's first-choice No. 10, with the loss of Farrell actually promising to pay dividends for an up-and-coming fly-half merely hunting a consistent bite of the cherry.

Ultimately, though, injuries wi...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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