IRELAND COACH Declan Kidney is predicting a ferociously contested RBS Six Nations that is unlikely to produce a Grand Slam winner. Ireland have been installed as fourth favourites to win the championship, behind World Cup finalists France, Wales and England.

“I’m not a regular reader of the odds but I imagine they’re tight because it’s as tight a championship as there’s ever been,” said Kidney.

“It comes just after a World Cup year and look what happened to Wales after 2007 – they failed to reach the knockout stages in France but went on to win the 2008 Grand Slam.

“Whoever comes out of the traps running will have a good tournament. It will be very hard to win all five matches and if a team does that then all credit to them.

“The championship could be decided by points difference. Each match is like a cup final in its own right.”

Irish rugby is buoyant after Leinster, Munster and Ulster all reached the quarter-finals of European competition for the first time and Kidney hopes to tap into the provinces’ success. “If we can win the first match then we’ll build a bit of momentum with the lads having done so well with their provinces,” said Kidney.

“While the success in the Heineken Cup doesn’t score you any points in the Six Nations, it allows you to go to work in good form.”

Former Manchester United soccer player Gary Neville will deliver a motivational speech to England’s rugby squad tonight containing one clear message: Don’t waste your opportunity like we did.

Neville won 85 caps for his country and played in two World Cups – but he retired with a sense of frustration that England had under-achieved during his era.

The former Manchester United full-back has admitted there were times when he reflected on his international career as “a massive waste of time”.

Interim head coach Stuart Lancaster is attempting to launch a new era for English rugby, with the ultimate goal being victory on home soil in the 2015 World Cup.

Lancaster turned to Neville and England rugby league captain Jamie Peacock to help restore a sense of pride and honour in the squad following last year’s failed World Cup campaign New Zealand.

“Gary Neville never turned down playing for his country. He played 85 times, he is England’s most-capped full-back,” Lancaster said. “Speaking to him, he was frustrated because he never felt he achieved with England what he wanted to achieve.

“He wants to help the players understand (what is possible) when you get it right, when you are playing for your country and the nation is behind you.

“When it was Euro ’96, three lions on the shirt, how powerful was that? We all felt it.

“ He wants to help our team get that feeling. When I asked if he would do it, he said it would be an honour.

“That is what I have been trying to say to the players. I am trying to remind the players of the pride and the honour and the standing of being an international rugby union player in this country. It is massive.”

Neville will be joined by Peacock and their message reinforced by Simon Brown, a former British Army corporal who was shot in the face while serving in Basra in 2006.