The Six Nations kicks off today in Cardiff when Ireland play Wales. Over the next seven weeks, there'll be drama, controversy and hopefully some enthralling rugby.
We spoke to Ulster great and Ladbrokes ambassador Stephen Ferris for his predictions for the first round of fixtures.
Ireland v Wales: Ireland -7 favourites
Playing in Cardiff can never be walk in the park, it's not going to be a walk in the park. Certainly not. And you talk about the two teams, but I think you've got to talk about two head coaches, you know, they've worked together before. Andy Farrell and Warren Gatland Gatz is back, you know, that's been the headline across every welsh newspaper for the last three or four months. It's good to see him back because I think Welsh rugby was in a bit of a hole there for a while.
But then you look at the Ospreys how good they have been in recent months, especially in the, the Heineken Champions Cup. They had an unbelievable win against Leicester at Welford Road against their big guns, like Leicester won the Gallagher Premiership last year and they're a really good front five. Alun Wyn Jones still turning it out and yeah, I think they're going to cause Ireland a few issues, but I just feel that Ireland play a brand of rugby that's hard to contain. Can they contain it for long periods? Yes, they can. But can they contain it for every microsecond? I don't think they can.
3 February 2023; Wales head coach Warren Gatland during the Wales rugby captain's run at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Look at the games last year that Wales played. Five games, one big loss to Ireland and for the other ones were within a score.
It's the first game. There's gonna be drama. There's going to be contentious refereeing decisions.
There might be a yellow or red card, you know, look what happened when Ireland played against Wales two years ago with Peter O'Mahony getting red carded and we're in control that match and all of a sudden, you know, it's out of our control.
Of course I'm going to go for an Irish win and keep this momentum going. Ireland tend to allow them to cover the six point handicap. Six point win for Ireland.
Prediction: Ireland to win, Wales to cover the handicap
England v Scotland: England -10 favourites
You can't just write Scotland off. We always hear Scotland are transition. But they're transitioning, they're getting better. They're working hard and the captaincy has been taken off Stuart Hogg recently. They have a half decent pack and their set piece works well. I think they will give England trouble.
24 January 2023; Ben Healy with head coach Gregor Townsend, left, during Scotland rugby squad training at Oriam in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Mark Scates/Sportsfile
England have got their own issues. Steve Borthwick is the new head guy. Eddie Jones has been let go. Thank God we don't have to talk about his post match interviews anymore. Well, we might be talking about them quite a bit when we get the Rugby World Cup, but we'll get to that at some stage.
This is going to be a tight game again, a one score game. I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully Scotland can cause them an upset.
Prediction: Scotland plus 10 at 10-11 would be my bed for the England Scotland game.
Italy v France: France -21 favourites
I don't think it's going to be very much France dominating from start to finish. The reigning champions have to go away from home the first game, It's never easy to travel over there. They have had a few scalps in recent years. Look back at last year's Six Nations. Italy went away to Wales, they managed to grind out a big win in the Principality.
Can they bring that momentum forward into this year's Championship? I think they can, but I don't think they're going to beat France.
But I don't think this is going to be a 25-30 point walk over.
27 February 2022; Italy players Federico Ruzza, Toa Halafihi and Stephen Varney sing the national anthem before the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Italy at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
People don't understand that in the first game, the longer you can hang into the more seeds of doubt that so to the opposition and if you get off to a half-decent start, it doesn't necessarily mean for Italy that they'll get a result. But if they can get a half decent performance, then that's something that they can bring through into the latter stages of the competition.
The French are going to be brilliant to watch again this year. They're going to be deadly, but not by more than 21 points.
Prediction: Italy +21
