Today marks the beginning of the highly anticipated 2024 Six Nations Championship, with a clash between Ireland and France in the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille. Plenty of familiar faces will be missing throughout the respective competing teams, but here are six players who Stephen Ferris has highlighted who will make a significant impression in this year's Six Nations.
Stephen Ferris' six players to watch this year
France: Thomas Ramos
15 October 2023; Thomas Ramos of France kicks a penalty during the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between France and South Africa at the Stade de France in Paris, France. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
"My player to look out for for France has to be Thomas Ramos, he will probably be playing 10, because Ntamack is still out injured. but last year in the Six Nations, Thomas Ramos had 84 points in the competition. Johnny Sexton was second in the competition with 35 points and that just shows you how big of a match winner Thomas Ramos is. I watched him play in Belfast for Toulouse, he was playing out half, silky skills, he had so much time on the ball, can ping the corners and can run the ball back. His position is extremely good. He's a quality rugby player and in my opinion, Thomas Ramos is world class."
Ireland: Joe McCarthy
29 January 2024; Joe McCarthy during an Ireland Rugby squad training session at The Campus in Quinta da Lago, Portugal. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
"There's only one talking point at the minute, and that has to be the big man, who looks like he's going to play in the second row in the first game against France on Friday night, and that's Joe McCarthy. He made his debut at the end of 2022 and played, of course, in the Rugby World Cup against Romania when he just set himself in front of the world, where he just manhandled boys physically and up front. He has a real doggedness about him and an unbelievable work rate. He's a monster with a ball in hand and without it and knocks people back in defence. He has got huge potential, sometimes he can get a little too overeager and give away a penalty for the wrong side, but he can be cool, calm and collected while also having that ferocious capacity to go out and run over people and smash them in defence. I think Joe McCarthy is going to have a sensational Six Nations."
England: Freddie Steward
19 August 2023; Freddie Steward of England during the Bank of Ireland Nations Series match between Ireland and England at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
"Unfortunately for me, I do have to pick one player from England, who is Freddie Steward. He's a quality operator, a really good full-back. He's somebody who was instrumental in nearly getting England to a Rugby World Cup final, It was against South Africa in the semi-final, he had 10 carries in the game. He was the bomb and fusure, if there was any high ball that South Africa put up he just collected it and ran it back. I want to see him score more tries. I want to see him with ball in hand. Are the England tactics going to let him be more free-flowing, getting into the wider channels or will he just be sitting in the back field, cleaning up everything that's kicked down the row, we'll wait and see. He scored 8 tries in his England career so far, 30 caps I believe also, and he's a young man at only 23 years of age. He really does have the world at his feet. He's extremely good going forward, we all know how good he is at sweeping up around the back, so if England are going to have a good championship, Freddie Steward will have to step up to the plate once again."
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn
21 April 2023; Blair Kinghorn of Edinburgh during the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Edinburgh at the Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
"We all have hopes and expectations that Scotland are going to come good in the Six Nations, and when I say come good, for five games on the bounce. We see them in and out, in and out, flip flopping from good to bad, and Finn Russell obviously has a huge part of the play in that, but the person and player that I'm selecting to have a huge Six Nations for Scotland is Blair Kinghorn. He has made the swap to Toulouse, He's playing with Thomas Ramos, Antoine Dupont, Jelonch, all these quality operators and some, and Ntamack who is coming back from injury. He is training with him every single day. His game has come on leaps and bounds since he's made the swap over to Toulouse. He was trialed out half for Edinburgh for a season, and that didn't really work out. It sort of affected his confidence a little bit, but now that he's in the full back position, he really does have the full bag of tricks. He has the top end speed as well. So give him half a gap and he will absolutely take it. He links up well with Duhan van der Merwe on the wing for Scotland also. He's a better player when he's confident, he's confident playing for Toulouse and he's scoring tried for fun. If Scotland are going to have a successful tournament this year, I think Blair Kinghorn will add to that tremendously."
(note: this tip was made before Kinghorn was ruled out of the first two games of the competition)
Wales: Mason Grady
SF: "It's going to be a huge Six Nations for Wales, obviously there is still a lot of doubt over what their regions are doing, but we'll wait to see how that all unfolds. One person that folds people with the ball in hand and in defense is Mason Grady, 21 years of age, who is so physically impressive wing or centre. He's played a lot on the wing for Cardiff this season with Louis Rees-Zammitt, although he's over trying to catch an American football, we'll wait and see how that goes as well. Mason Grady can step into the wing, but I certainly think his preferred position is either 12 or 13. He is so good, so silky, and he's enjoying his rugby. I read an interview recently that said when he's enjoying his rugby, that's when he plays at his best. I know it's easy to say that for all rugby players, but he certainly plays with a smile on his face. He's explosive in the tackle, with 11 appearances in the URC in the 2023/2024 season. He scored five tries, that's a pretty good strike rate. So look out for Mason Grady for Wales in this year's Six Nations Championship."
Italy: Lorenzo Cannone
25 February 2023; Mack Hansen of Ireland dives over to score his side's fourth try despite the tackle by Lorenzo Cannone of Italy during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Italy and Ireland at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
SF: "The Italians are always up against it. They are 500 to 1 to win the Six Nations competition. Is it worth a pound or two? No, I don't think it is. There's a player in there that played very well last year for Italy and that's Lorenzo Cannone. He was magnificent against Ireland over in Rome, he was sensational. The lines that he's able to cut especially off short or shortened line-outs. He took Ireland by storm and unfortunately, they just ran out of gas as they always seem to do in the last half an hour of that game. He works hard, he has a really good work ethic and is always picking himself up off the deck. He leads by example, he comes across as if he's a bit of a quiet guy that doesn't really do much speaking, but he leads by example with his actions on the pitch. He was awesome against Ireland and has been awesome all season for Benetton who sit second in the URC Championship. They have won five games on the spin, Lorenzo Cannone has started all five of those games, so watch out for him. The number eight, he's not huge like a Dombrandt or Duane Vermeulen, but he is an athletic back row player and he will be sure to set the Six Nations alight."
Stephen Ferris' Six Nations Predictions
This year's Six Nations Championship kicks off with the huge game that is France versus Ireland in the Stade Véledrome, of course the new stadium. How is it all going to go? Well, France are the favourites at 6-5, Ireland at 5-4, nothing really seperates them. We know that France have a few players missing; Meafou, what a huge loss that is in the second row. Jelonch is also out injured- we know that there is no Ntamack, we know that there are going to be guys that pick up bruises along the way but Ireland have shown in recent years that they are the real deal. They are the real deal and they can beat anybody on any given day. They will be drilled and ready to go under Andy Farrell, so for me, I'm going to go for a little bit of an upset here, for Ireland to just sneak a win against France in Marseilles.
