If Les Bleus click, the results could be spectacular against a much-altered Ireland with umpteen questions to answer
T
he Six Nations is kicking off on a Thursday this year to avoid a direct clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. In at least one key respect, even so, the two events are perfectly aligned: one early stumble for France or Ireland and a potentially painful descent awaits.
Despite the possibility of first‑night nerves and some Parisian drizzle it should still make for more intriguing viewing on ITV1 than the alternative of Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice on BBC One. Unless, of course, France are so far out of sight inside 40 minutes that they cannot be caught and the audience are free to switch over in good time to watch Sir Alan Sugar say: “You’re fired!”
That was pretty much Wales’s fate at this stage 12 months ago. By half-time in the 2025 tournament’s opening fixture, France were 28-0 ahead and cruising. The final score was 43-0 and, by the middle of March, Les Bleus were hoisting aloft the trophy. Only a narrow away defeat by England, in a game Fabien Galthié’s side could and should have won, prevented a French grand slam.
