"The Six Nations should be protected on free-to-air TV"

The Wales great who has represented the Lions and Scarlets with distinction

- KEN OWENS

THE SIX Nations post-World Cup is always interesting. Because certain sides begin a new four- to eight-year cycle. You look at Wales and Ireland, they have had big retirements. England have a few too.

Ireland and France come in after the disappointment of the World Cup – they were favourites for that, and you could say they underachieved. Now they must dust themselves off, bounce back and see where they’re at.

England have tweaked their coaching team but everywhere else it’s largely the same. Italy have a new head coach in Gonzalo Quesada, so it’s a start from scratch for them. They have some good players and their two URC teams are going quite well.

With Scotland, you’d say they’re the most settled group of the lot. They had a tough group in the World Cup and I wouldn’t say they did better or worse than expected – someone had to miss out on the knockouts and it was them.