{"id":407184,"date":"2026-02-04T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/407184\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T10:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:28:12","slug":"im-fascinated-to-see-if-six-nations-running-joke-repeats-itself-andy-goode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/407184\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m fascinated to see if Six Nations ‘running joke’ repeats itself: Andy Goode"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It still feels like a two-tier Six Nations<\/a> this year but Ireland<\/a> might struggle and the pressure is on Scotland<\/a> to finish above them.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s become a running joke that every single year could be their time and they flatter to deceive, never having finished higher than third in the Six Nations era, but it does feel different with Glasgow<\/a> having won 13 of 15 games this season.<\/p>\n

There could be as many as nine or 10 of that Warriors team in the Scottish starting XV and they\u2019ve seen off the likes of Toulouse, Clermont, Saracens, Munster, the Bulls, the Sharks<\/a> and more in the past few months.<\/p>\n

Such has been their form in the URC and Champions Cup, and with Jonny Gray<\/a>, Tom Jordan<\/a>, Rory Hutchinson<\/a>, Blair Kinghorn<\/a> and Finn Russell<\/a> sprinkling extra stardust as well, it could spell big trouble for Gregor Townsend<\/a> if they finish in the bottom half of the table for an 11th time in 13 seasons.<\/p>\n

\"GregorScotland\u2019s head coach Gregor Townsend on the field ahead of the Autumn Nations Series<\/a> international rugby union match between Scotland and Argentina<\/a> at Murrayfield in Edinburgh<\/a> on November 16, 2025. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN \/ AFP) (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

That record clearly isn\u2019t anywhere near good enough and he has done some good work in his nearly nine years in charge but sport is a results-based business and it\u2019ll definitely be time for a change if this campaign is another disappointing one.<\/p>\n

This is a Scotland side that should at least be contenders for the title, and they have England<\/a> and France<\/a> at home this year so they really should be going into their Super Saturday trip to Dublin still in with a shout of lifting the trophy.<\/p>\n

If Scotland do manage a top-half finish for just the third time since 2013, I think it\u2019ll be Ireland who drop down into the bottom half, despite not having finished as low as that themselves since 2013.<\/p>\n

The pressure isn\u2019t on Andy Farrell in the same way at all but they have to travel to the Stade de France and Allianz Stadium and, with a few key players missing, they don\u2019t have the same depth as the likes of France and England at the moment.<\/p>\n

Add to that the fact they still haven\u2019t fully settled on who\u2019s the man to lead them forward at number 10 and probably need to give some of their younger players a bit more exposure than they have in recent years, and I think it could be a bit of a fall from grace for them.<\/p>\n

\"SamAndy Farrell, head coach of Ireland, talking with Sam Prendergast<\/a> #10 of Ireland during team warm-up before the Ireland V Australia, autumn series, rugby union match at Aviva Stadium on November 15, 2025, in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Tim Clayton\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any doubt in anyone\u2019s minds that Wales<\/a> and Italy<\/a> are the occupants of the bottom tier of the Six Nations at the moment and it\u2019ll come down to their clash at Principality Stadium in the final round to decide the wooden spoon.<\/p>\n

There have been a few green shoots for the Welsh under Steve Tandy and with Matt Sherratt leading the attack, but they\u2019re starting from a low base and a couple of wins over Japan<\/a> are all they have to show for their efforts since the 2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Similarly, there\u2019s no doubt Italy have improved of late but the 2024 tournament, in which they managed two wins and a draw, is still a massive outlier and they\u2019ve lost 54 of their last 60 outings in the competition.<\/p>\n

Gonzalo Quesada has done a good job and they have some very talented players but until they\u2019re getting wins consistently, it\u2019s hard to make the case for them finishing outside the bottom two.<\/p>\n

That leaves France and England battling it out for the title and I fully expect it to come down to their meeting in Paris on Super Saturday, with home advantage meaning the French would likely go into that one as favourites.<\/p>\n

\"\"France\u2019s number eight and captain Greg Alldritt acknowledges the crowd at the end of the Six Nations international rugby union match between France and Ireland at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, south-eastern France, on February 2, 2024. (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU \/ AFP) (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Any team that can leave Damian Penaud<\/a>, Gael Fickou<\/a> and Greg Alldritt out of their squad entirely, clearly has quite the array of other talent to call upon and I can certainly see Fabien Galthie\u2019s thinking when it comes to the first two.<\/p>\n

Penaud may be their all-time record try scorer but he hasn\u2019t been in anywhere near his best form, while Louis Bielle-Biarrey<\/a> and Theo Attissogbe<\/a> have been pulling up trees and Ga\u00ebl Dr\u00e9an is looking like a world-beater at Toulon<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

Alldritt is the big omission for me as he captained them in November, and the other options they have at No.8 probably don\u2019t quite carry the load in the same way as him or have the same level of experience.<\/p>\n

Les Bleus may be slightly more unpredictable this year but the level of talent and depth they have, with Antoine Dupont<\/a> and Matthieu Jalibert<\/a> pulling the strings and Romain Ntamack<\/a> returning soon, means they\u2019ll be there or thereabouts.<\/p>\n

England have a tricky trip to Murrayfield and the sizeable task of seeing off Ireland at home before thinking about that mouth-watering match-up in Paris, but the expectation from inside and outside the camp is that they win the title this year.<\/p>\n

That probably hasn\u2019t been the case for Steve Borthwick<\/a> in previous campaigns, as they sought to build performances and string wins together, and it does bring a different sort of pressure but it\u2019s one they seem to be relishing thus far.<\/p>\n

\"TommyTommy Freeman<\/a> scored a try in each of England\u2019s matches in last year\u2019s Six nations \u2013 including a win over eventual champions France (Photo Mike Hewitt\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The likes of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso<\/a> and Tommy Freeman have quickly become superstars, the likes of Guy Pepper<\/a>, Joe Heyes<\/a> and Alex Coles<\/a> have all slotted in seamlessly and provided solidity, and it\u2019s the bench that could prove a real point of difference again.<\/p>\n

Henry Pollock was nowhere in international rugby terms a year ago but offers explosiveness and game-breaking ability in the final quarter, Tom Curry<\/a> would start for any other team in the tournament and Marcus Smith<\/a> will love a tired defence to run at.<\/p>\n

It feels very odd to have it all kicking off on a Thursday night and almost like it\u2019s catching some people by surprise, but it can\u2019t be helped with the Winter Olympics and I think it\u2019s more significant and a definite positive that there is now only one fallow week.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be tight at the top but England just have the edge for me and will get their hands on the trophy for the first time in six years, and make it a Grand Slam for the first time in a decade. But I would say that though wouldn\u2019t I?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It still feels like a two-tier Six Nations this year but Ireland might struggle and the pressure is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-407184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}