Room for improvement

FRANCE

Winners and deservedly so. A vast improvement from last year and coach Marc Lievremont can justifiably stick two fingers to all those who slagged him off for using the last two campaigns to experiment and take stock of all the playing options open to him.

This year has seen a settled side - only interrupted by injuries - for the first time since he took over and we can pretty much assume that the core of this team will be first choice for the World Cup in 18 months time.

The pack is a very solid one and you'd be hard pushed to find a weak link on current form. If they click in their group game against World Cup hosts New Zealand then the shocks of 2007 and 1999 could well be repeated as they certainly have enough potency in their backs to do the All Blacks some damage.

One worrying aspect was their game against England. Yes they won but it was not exactly the ripest of cherries to put on their grandslam cake. They will have to ensure such performances are a one-off if they are to win the World Cup. Admittedly, the English have had a spell over them for the past four years so maybe this was a case of getting all of that out of the system and regaining the feeling of beating Les Rosbifs no matter how it was done. We'll find out next year at Twickenham.

IRELAND

Last year I praised Brian O'Driscoll to the hilt saying that like a boxer in the twilight of his career, the punch is the last to go. We hope for Ireland's sake that O'Driscoll's own right cross is on a short term hiatus.

Largely anonymous in this campaign although he wasn't the only Irishman to have a quiet tournament. Has this group of Irish players gone over the hill? We'll soon find out.

Declan Kidney has some tough choices to make over the next 18 months. Does he allow players who have served Ireland well in the past one last hurrah in New Zealand or does he take the knife to his team and remove the parts that are no longer efficient and inject some new blood in order for Ireland to have a good World Cup? Whatever he decides, they need to wipe away the disgrace of 2007.

ENGLAND

With the amount of resources at their disposal the question has to be asked. As Gordon Ramsay often asks in his Kitchen Nightmares show, what the &%$£ are they doing with them?

England should at worst be in contention for the Six Nations title on the final weekend of the campaign yet they got the position their displays deserved. In fact, they are fortuitous that they didn't return to the mid-80s and finish lower.

Martin Johnson has come in for a lot of stick but he can't be entirely held to blame. After all Rob Andrew, if you appoint a man with very little coaching experience (if any) to the top job in English rugby, you get what you deserve.

Strange tactics, selections and a persistence in appointing a mediocre lock as your captain is a recipe for disaster. Yes the France game was a dramatic improvement (Lewis Moody showing what could be done when said captain is not leading the team) but it only papers over the cracks that something needs to be done.

Andrew and Johnson say they are making progress. If they get so far as to meet them in the World Cup, New Zealand and South Africa are more than likely to tell them what real progress is.

WALES

To put it bluntly, all fur coat and no knickers in this year's tournament. Flashes of brilliance were blighted by long periods of mediocrity, stupidity and one shameful passage of cheating from Lee Byrne who can fall down as if shot when brushing past Phil Godman yet stand firm when taking a hit from the man-mountain that is Mathieu Bastereud.

Have Wales fallen into believing their own hype? If so then they had better snap out of it. Winning the grandslam two years ago was a fine achievement but that did not make them as great as the team of Edwards, Bennett, Gravell, JJ, JPR, John et al. They were consistently brilliant - this current crop are not. They can be but they had better stop deluding themselves that they are the finished article.

Warren Gatland has 18 months to sort this out otherwise don't be too surprised to see Wales take an early plane home come World Cup time.

SCOTLAND

Much better than last year although still the same old league position.

However, at least we've been in contention for most of the matches we have played which at least is something to work with.

The mistakes made in the last 10 minutes in Cardiff will sure as hell not be made again - if they are, those who make them had better announce their departures.

Italy was a black mark. Expecting the points to come in a game where you are heavily favoured to win tends to backfire on you and on this occasion it did.

Yet last week in Dublin showed what can be achieved when you front up to the opposition for the full 80 minutes. This time next year will show if Andy Robinson is taking Scotland on the right path.

ITALY

Bottom again but showed in parts that they can cause problems to the rest.

French disaster aside, they fronted up well to the home nations. Got a deserved win over Scotland and maybe with a little more conviction, they should have beaten England.

Their pack is as usual their main strength but their backs must stand up and be counted. Your scrum forcing penalties from the opposition will only get you so far. Like Scotland, they need to realise that a try-scoring threat is needed in order to make progress.

OFFICIALS

Didn't cover themselves with glory at all. Missing forward passes that lead to tries, failure to set a scrum, allowing themselves to be conned by gamesmanship and bizarre interpretations of what constitutes a penalty or a yellow card offence made this a poor tournament for the refs. Also, a citing commissioner who has poor regard for protecting a player's career and quality of life needs to be doing something else with his time during the Six Nations.

My team of the Six Nations

15. Clement Poitreneud (France)
14. Tommy Bowe (Ireland)
13. James Hook (Wales)
12. Yannick Jauzion (France)
11. Keith Earls (Ireland)
10. Dan Parks (Scotland)
9. Morgan Parra (France)

1. Thomas Domingo (France)
2. Ross Ford (Scotland)
3. Nicalas Mas (France)
4. Lionel Nallet (France)
5. Al Kellock (Scotland)
6. Johnnie Beattie (Scotland)
7. John Barclay (Scotland
8. Imanol Harinordoquy (France - captain)

Replacements

16. Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
17. William Servat (France)
18. Paul O'Connell (Ireland)
19. Kelly Brown (Scotland)
20. Tomas O'Leary (Ireland)
21. Stephen Jones (Wales)
22. Ben Foden (England)