Six Nations Managers' verdicts

Compiled by Gerry Thornley

ANDY ROBINSON (England)

"There are question marks over everybody: England, because we are rebuilding ourselves; France, after their defeats in the autumn; Ireland, in their ability to go the next step, and whether Wales can pick up that big win, while Scotland and Italy will claim at least two scalps this year. So you can't take your eye off anybody and that is why our whole focus is on Wales (England's first opponents).

BERNARD LAPORTE (France)

"Of course I believe we have the players to win another Grand Slam even if the structure is more difficult for us this year because we have three matches away from home. England are rebuilding themselves since the World Cup, with many players retiring or injured. But this is also the same in France. We have three or four players retired, another four or five injured so we are very similar and are also reconstructing our team. It is very difficult to keep the same team and this problem will only continue."

EDDIE O'SULLIVAN (Ireland)

"Let's be honest, at the end of the day, if you were to put your house on it, you wouldn't move away from France in the 2005 Six Nations with two Grand Slams in three years, or England for that matter. Now we've been pushed into that category so maybe there's three teams in the hunt. Wales, to be fair to them, have really had a great autumn and ruffled a few feathers, so they're pushing, and we all know that Italy are always dangerous and Scotland too, especially in Edinburgh. So suddenly now anything can happen, and I think that's a strength of the tournament.

MIKE RUDDOCK (Wales)

"Talking to people on the streets, people are very excited about the team and the sort of rugby we are playing. The players are very excited about it but at the same time everybody realises that the team is not the finished article yet. It sill needs to improve, to build momentum to take us on to some big results and hopefully a successful run."

MATT WILLIAMS (Scotland)

"I think it's incredibly even; the most even championship I've seen for a long time. I don't think there'll be a Grand Slam and when you get that set of circumstances, teams sneak through. The autumn has shown that the gap between number one and number 10 is very, very minimal. I think good performances are going to occur with this (Scottish) team and we're not far away from a very big win.

JOHN KIRWAN (Italy)

"Ireland are going to be hard to beat and I think that the jostling is good fun. Bernard is very quiet, so is Andy, which is cool. Expectations have grown around Ireland, and I think you've seen huge improvements in Wales. So it could be a four-way contest and hopefully ourselves and Scotland can contribute to it as well."