SIX NATIONS COUNTDOWN
PAUL REES SAYS CHANGE WILL BE GRADUAL RATHER THAN SUDDEN AS TEAMS RENEW AFTER WORLD CUP
THE first Six Nations after a World Cup is regarded as a time for renewal, but after all the squads for the tournament were announced last week, change will be gradual rather than sudden, building up to Australia in 2027 rather than prioritising it.
The focus seems to be more on the present than the future with France and Ireland looking to wash the taste of World Cup failure away, Wales and England striving to kick on from a tournament that provided more sustenance than had been predicted, Scotland still banging on a door that teasingly refuses to open wide and Italy clutching a cause that for once does not look forlorn.
Italy are the only one of the six to go into the Six Nations with a new coach, Gonzalo Quesada replacing Kieran Crowley. Wales and England made changes a year ago, France and Ireland have retained the head coaches who have delivered a Grand Slam and Scotland’s Gregor Townsend has been in charge for the last two World Cups.
There will be at least four new captains: England’s Jamie George and Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony have replaced Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton respectively while Wales’s Dafydd Jenkins takes over from the injured Jac Morgan and France’s Gregory Alldritt will lead Les Bleus while Antoine Dupont prepares for the Olympics. Townsend is still assessing his options but Michele Lamaro will continue to lead Italy.
Dupont and Farrell are not the only players who have turned their backs on international rugby since the World Cup. Henry Arundell opted to remain in France with Racing 92 rather than return to the Premiership and the Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit last week announced that he was going to chase a dream rather than kicks.
The day after scoring a try for Gloucester at Edinburgh that showcased his acceleration and pace, and the one before Wales were announcing their Six Nations squad, Rees-Zammit was released from his club contract so he could take up a place on the NFL’s international player pathway having long hankered a desire to play American football.
When Gloucester’s director of rugby George Skivington talked to Rees-Zammit, who was coming out of contract at Kingsholm at the end of the season, about a new deal last summer, the wing told him then that he had a dream of playing American football.
Skivington did not think it would happen and put the conversation to the back of his mind. It may be that Rees-Zammit returns to rugby if he is not taken on after the 10-week course in Florida which starts next month, but the absence of the Wales wing along with Arundell and Dupont robs the Six Nations of some of its most exc
