Ulster are reportedly looking at replacing Brian McLaughlin at the end of the season © Getty Images

The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly reports that Ulster are set to give Brian McLaughlin the boot at the end of the season.

"In a move certain to send shockwaves through Irish rugby, Ulster are set to ditch Brian McLaughlin and bring in a new coach for next season.

McLaughlin is widely considered to have made tremendous progress with the province since taking over in 2009, bringing Ulster to the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup for the first time in 12 years last season, as well as the Magners League play-offs, before securing another European quarter-final this month.

On the back of these achievements, and the euphoria that followed Ulster's 41-7 thumping of Leicester, it was expected McLaughlin would be offered another extension, but it is understood that he has been told by Ulster bosses that his contract won't be renewed."

Rob Kitson, of the Guardian, assesses France's chances in the Six Nations.

"France, to plunder from Winston Churchill, are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. They lost to Italy and Tonga last year yet reached the World Cup final and rocked the hosts New Zealand before succumbing by a point. They are like a shower with a faulty temperature gauge: heat is a matter of wait and find out.

Like England, France are under new management with Philippe Saint-André replacing Marc Lièvremont as head coach. Unlike their great rivals, they are not rebuilding ahead of the 2015 World Cup. The Six Nations squad is pretty much the one that went to New Zealand."

Wales Online's Simon Thomas provides his take on how Wales can stop Paul O'Connell.

"It's 10 years virtually to the day since Paul O’Connell won his first cap against Wales – not that he remembers much about it!

In theory, your Test debut should be an unforgettable occasion, but it was exactly the opposite for the big Munster second-row.

O’Connell was concussed less than 10 minutes into the 2002 Six Nations clash at Lansdowne Road, when he sustained a heavy knock to the head in a collision with opposing lock Craig Quinnell.

But, not only did he stay on, he actually scored a try as he helped Ireland secure a 54-10 victory that proved the final straw for Wales coach Graham Henry.

Now, a decade on, he will be looking to lead his country to another Dublin triumph over the Welsh – and, this time, one that he will be able to remember."

The Guardian's Donald McRae talks to England coach Stuart Lancaster about his coaching philosophy.

"As we move into our second hour together, after a first that has shown Stuart Lancaster to be impressively engaging and thoughtful, we finally reach a question that makes England's interim rugby coach hesitate. Until now he has been fluid and passionate. Lancaster has spoken persuasively of the need to transform the culture around the damaged England squad and of his determination to "reconnect" his players with the grassroots of the game.

He has also underlined his belief that the foundations of England's team need to be relaid, and that a new generation of young players should be trusted. And he has offered a simple reply to the obvious point that such changes require time: "Of course they do."

Yet Lancaster knows he will probably have no more than three games in this year's Six Nations to win himself the permanent job he craves with England. His first match in charge is on Saturday, at Murrayfield, as England travel to Scotland for a fixture marked by a rivalry as ancient as it is fierce. So the next basic query makes him pause and, briefly, agonise over the right answer."

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary looks at the state of Delon Armitage's career after his brush with the law.

"Delon Armitage’s England career looks to be over after the London Irish full-back was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning for alleged assault in a Torquay nightclub.

He was released on bail after being interviewed by Devon and Cornwall police who responded to an incident in which a local man received a split lip following an altercation.

Armitage, a troubled soul during a 12-month period that has seen him serve bans for four different offences, was summarily suspended from the England Saxons squad.

The news cast a shadow over what was intended to be the upbeat announcement of Harlequins’ flanker, Chris Robshaw, as England captain for at least the opening two matches of the RBS Six Nations championship. The ethical clean-up of English rugby has encountered another blockage."

The Daily Mail's Rob Wildman looks at Chris Robshaw's school days.

"From a teenage prop to the first England captain under interim coach Stuart Lancaster. That’s the story of Chris Robshaw’s rise through the ranks.

When Robshaw enrolled at Millfield School - the famous Somerset sporting institution - his strength and mobility stood out.

‘We did not have anyone else for prop,’ was Jonathan Brimacombe’s assessment of his new pupil aged 14.

‘He had a very good build for it, but as he was he was very mobile, he had as much an influence in the front row as he would have had if he had played in the back row. Chris did eventually gravitate to back row but prop is where he started.’"

Ex-All Blacks boss Graham Henry has launched a scathing attack on England © Getty Images

Former New Zealand coach Graham Henry has shone a harsh light on the English game's failings and the worst is failure to win quick ball - The Guardian's Rob Kitson reports.

"When Martin Johnson's tenure as England manager ended, some of us suggested the Rugby Football Union should do its utmost to hire Graham Henry on a consultancy basis to help clear the post-World Cup air. For various reasons it never happened but the master coach's scathing eve-of-Six Nations verdict on the English game at least gives us a glimmer of what might have been.

"His diagnosis is as frank as it is clear. Sometimes it requires an outsider to deliver home truths effectively and Sir Graham, to give him his new title, has not held back. His description of England as "the world champions of wasting talent" who play "a game based on fear" can hardly be filed under the heading of gentle words of advice. Now Henry has stepped aside as New Zealand coach, having hoisted the Webb Ellis Cup last year, he is free to say what he really thinks.

"And who can accuse him of being seriously wrong on any count? He bemoans the wasted legacy of England's 2003 World Cup triumph when they proved able to play a variety of different styles depending on what the occasion demanded. He pinpoints the slow death England continue to suffer through their inability to secure much, if any, quick ball thanks to their recurring failure to inject enough dynamism at the tackle area."

Rocky Elsom will be unveiled as the captain of the Waratahs tomorrow, capping off a spectacular return to the NSW franchise where he started his Super Rugby career and first captained the side in 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald's Josh Rakic reports.

"New coach Michael Foley and his assistants have spent the past month in discussions with senior players to find the perfect replacement for retired skipper Phil Waugh. And after narrowing down what it was the players expected and wanted from a captain, Elsom emerged as the clear choice.

"With Waugh having captained the side for the past five years, most Waratahs players only knew him as the captain, leading Foley to call on his eight-man leadership group and senior players to help elect a new skipper.

"Dan Vickerman had been touted as a possible option given his experience and composure but Elsom's history as Wallabies captain and his existing relationships with much of the team helped him get the nod."

The Irish Independent ponders the battle to be named the coach of the British & Irish Lions.

"[Warren] Gatland and [Declan] Kidney have both won Grand Slams with their sides, but the fact that Wales trumped Ireland at the World Cup gives him the upper hand as the Six Nations looms.

"[Andy] Robinson's failure to emerge from the pool stages, his side's perennial struggles in the Six Nations and his renowned combustibility means he deserves his ranking as outsider of the three, despite the fact he held coaching roles on the last two tours.

"Kidney has no Lions experience, but, after a glittering provincial career and a World Cup success at underage level, his ability to delegate since assuming the international reins would be viewed as a positive, despite his gauche media appearance."

Writing in the Irish Times, former Ulster boss Matt Williams charts the province's rise through the Europea ranks.

"In January 2008 when I arrived in Belfast to take over as director of rugby in Ulster, they were last in the Magners League. I told the officials that to get back to the top line of European Rugby they had a three to four-year project on their hands. Some did not like to hear that. They wanted the fruit without any labour. They wanted growth without planting seeds. They wanted to drink the wine, but they did not want the process of the vineyard.

"Life is not like that. Rugby is not like that. Success is the reward for good processes. The law of the vineyard will prevail. At the end of 2008 Ulster cut hard. Players were cut for the good of the team. There was pain. Tommy Bowe left and that hurt everyone.

"After the pain of the cut there was growth. Young players grabbed their chance. Ian Humphries, Ian Whitten, Darren Cave, Paul Marshall, and in recent years Paddy McAllister, Dan Touhy and Nevin Spence. Seeds were planted. A very good academy structure under Gary Longwell was put in place. New gym faculties were built. A long- term world class training facility was planned.

"The environment was enriched. Neil Doak, Johnny Bell and David Humphries were brought on as staff and top line players were imported. It still took time for the seeds to grow. Defensive and attacking systems were introduced, evaluated and redesigned."

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary reports from what he saw as a refreshing England Saxons victory over the Ireland Wolfhounds.

"At last, here was some substance to accompany the froth. So far, fine words have done no more than given a much-needed varnish to England’s soiled PR image. Lancaster doesn’t delude himself that the uplift in England’s reputation is anything but a scratching-out of foundations. Results will not only define his regime but determine how long it lasts.

"This, then, was an encouraging kick-start, a thoroughly well-deserved 23-17 victory over an Ireland second-string that contained nine capped players. Even though Ireland outscored England three tries to two, the Saxons’ winning margin ought to have been more than it was.

"Of course, Lancaster is no longer the hands-on coach for the Saxons. But he was in the stands, along with his lieutenants, Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell. Previous England head coaches have not always attended in person. Lancaster had also had input prior to the squad gathering."

The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Mairs breaks down the potential financial package available to England in this year's Six Nations.

"Each England player in the 22-man squad will receive a match fee of £9,224 per Six Nations match. The win bonus per match for each player in the 22-man squad will be £3,075.

"The RFU will also pay a team bonus of £500,000 if England win the Grand Slam. Thus, each player who features in the 22-man squad of all the games in a Grand Slam victory would receive a total of £84,222. The RFU will pay a bonus for £250,000 for the simple defence of the title, worth £72,858 for each player

"The England players at the World Cup in New Zealand were paid a tournament fee of £1.25 million — just under £42,000 per player. That figure would have risen by £100,000 if England had won the World Cup."

Can Scotland learn from All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams? © Getty Images

All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams could teach Andy Robinson's runners a thing or two about the timing of passes to maintain momentum - so writes The Observer's Eddie Butler.

"Now there is much about Sonny Bill Williams, the New Zealand All Blacks' impact player off the bench, that is most un-Scottish. The flamboyance is more Pacific than Firth of Forth but there is no need to be frightened by geography. What SBW does is simple: he makes a half-break and looks to make a pass immediately. He is often accused of being all tricks but he is a selfless showman. His trademark flip out of the back of his hand is a gift to others. He is thinking of making the pass even before he goes into contact.

"Morrison and Lamont are looking to go clean through contact, which means that when they emerge on the other side, and even if the tackler has been left on the floor, the momentum of the ball-carrier is fading. Scotland's attacks lose energy as they progress, while the All Blacks, through the early pass, pick up speed. This rapid escalation in attacking potential is exaggerated by the difference in velocity between the passer in contact and the recipient in space. Defenders like to move in a line at a uniform speed; stopping and starting bothers them.

"The second bit is the whereabouts of the support runners. The All Blacks behind SBW know not only what he is trying to achieve but also where to go for it to happen. They are running in anticipation of the pass – the second event – to a point beyond the first, the run into contact. Supporting All Blacks frequently overrun the ball but it is because they are thinking of the pass that often cannot be made. Better to go past empty-handed than to be absent when it comes."

Writing in the Wales on Sunday, Barry John backs Wales' Leigh Halfpenny to shine in this year's Six Nations.

"No Shane Williams to light up the tournament with the mercurial skills which have won so many matches for Wales down the years.

"Can the gigantic boots of our wonderful wing wizard be filled by anyone... and if so, by whom?

"The answer is that there is only one Shane Williams and, as such, comparisons with our record try-scorer are somewhat unfair.

"But in his absence, someone else is going to have to step forward and provide the spark in the Wales backline which was Shane’s domain for so many years.

"And the one player I believe is capable of providing the X-Factor which Shane so readily supplied is Leigh Halfpenny.

"I’m a huge fan of Halfpenny, who seems to have everything in his locker, and how he performs will play a big part in how successful, or otherwise, a tournament Wales have."

As the IRFU attempt to restructure the game in Ireland, the Irish Times' Gerry Thornley assesses the arguments for and against the proposed move.

"IRUPA were not involved in any consultations, and their CEO Omar Hassenein was away on leave when the IRFU made their announcement on December 21st.

“We feel we’ve worked through that issue,” said a conciliatory Hassenein this week, “and now have a good level of dialogue in which we can express player concerns. Our main priority is to safeguard our membership . . . We respect the governing body’s interest in ensuring that a strong national succession plan is in place. . . Now we’re confident that through further discussions between the game’s stakeholders a solution will be found which promotes success at all levels of Irish rugby . . .”

"Provincial supporters associations have outlined their opposition. David Cahill, the PRO of the Official Leinster Supporters Association (which has 13,500 members) said, “we made a submission to the IRFU which was gratefully received”. Cahill calculates that at least 90 to 95 per cent of their members are opposed to the IRFU’s position judging by their active social media.

"The diktat that the provinces may not re-sign foreign players could also be challenged legally by say, Nacewa and Howlett, who are in their fourth and fifth seasons here, and have five Irish-born children between them, according to Philip Lee of Philip Lee Solicitors, a law firm which specialises in European law."

In Bradley Barritt and Owen Farrell, England at last have a centre pair who can bring the best out of each other according to the Sunday Times' Stephen Jones. (Via paywall)

"One television critic described Hale and Pace as the only comedy double act with two straight men. If the classic centre partnership is to have a hard-running, hard-tackling inside-centre alongside a smaller, faster and more talented man, you could say England’s most recent centre partnership, that of Shontayne Hape and Mike Tindall, also contained two straight men.

"The pairing was startlingly, even crudely, ineffective at the World Cup and was never remotely complementary. England have now been waiting almost eight years to find a regular and effective combination in the midfield.

"In Scotland on Saturday the latest pairing to be given a crack is almost certainly Owen Farrell, the willowy 20-year-old from Saracens via Wigan, and Bradley Barritt, a chunky South Africa-born bruiser without a willowy bone in his body, apparently, and whose biceps seem as big as most people’s thighs.

"At least in appearance and body attitudes, here we have two different beasts entirely, with differing styles. We have what is, at least potentially, a complementary partnership. Hold your breath."

Writing in the Sunday Times, Sir Clive Woodward believes England boss Stuart Lancaster has been handed the chance of a lifetime in this year's Six Nations. (Via paywall)

"As Stuart makes his final preparations, the similarities of how we both started struck me. He is a lucky man, in the same way I was lucky to become coach in 1997. Lucky, as in what an amazing opportunity. I was asked last week if Lancaster has a poisoned chalice. What? This is the chance of a lifetime.

"Like Lancaster, I simply did not have the global pedigree in my CV to take England into their new world: coaching London Irish, coaching England Under-21s and then acting as assistant coach to Andy Robinson at Bath was not a world-shattering career and just like Lancaster, I felt I was seen as a stop-gap at an unsettled time for English rugby. Like Stuart I had a lot to prove, in an incredibly short time. I needed to prove myself capable as a head coach as quickly as possible, to be given any chance of survival Lancaster is an internal appointment from deep within the RFU, one of their own. He has announced that he wants to be considered for the full-time position as head coach and that is exactly how he must approach the tournament and this brilliant opportunity. History is full of examples of people who grasped the unexpected with both hands.

"Selection? Go for broke, Stuart. When he announces his team this week, he must make us all wide-eyed. No conservative selections. In my first team in 1997 , we unveiled five new caps — Will Greenwood, Matt Perry, David Rees, Andy Long and Will Green and we had a new captain in someone called Lawrence Dallaglio. We drew at home with Australia, and were up and running."

The Sunday Telegraph's Paul Ackford backs France to claim this year's Six Nations crown.

"And what of France, always there or thereabouts? In recent times France have been the most consistent of performers, which is rather bizarre given their reputation for inconsistency; more so as new coach Philippe Saint-André has identified their flippy-floppy nature as the one pressing issue he seeks to fix.

"The stats say otherwise, however. France have won five of the last 10 championships, including three Grand Slams, a fine record compared to Wales (twice), England (twice), Ireland (once) and Italy and Scotland (nowhere near) over the same period.

"Recent aberrations against Italy in last season’s Six Nations and Tonga at the World Cup are an indication of the expectations shouldered by what is invariably an accomplished and successful rugby side. Only New Zealand (and England without the justification) carry a similar burden into contests.

"The ingredients are there for France to prosper again. Their scrummage is never less than competitive, Julien Bonnaire brings a line-out expertise as sophisticated as any in Europe; Morgan Parra, Dimitri Yachvili, Francois Trinh-Duc and Lionel Beauxis are, by some distance, the most accomplished quartet of half-backs in the tournament and the rest of the backs know how to finish."

In his column in the Sunday Telegraph, England's Ben Foden reveals that humility and hunger are the watchwords for the team's bright new dawn.

"It has been eye-opening under Stuart Lancaster’s new regime. Obviously the World Cup didn’t go to plan and with such a change in management and players, we are all a bit on edge about what to expect when we first met up.

"But Stuart has been very clever in the way he has put his ambitions across in the media and then when he met with us he has been very honest in his breakdown of where we fell short at the World Cup and the areas he wants us to target and build on.

"He has made a massive emphasis on culture and wants people to be hungry to play for England, including those who are not going to be involved in the game and are sent back to their clubs.

"He wants them to be just as driven, wanting to improve back at their clubs and come back into camp the following week pushing to get into the side.

"There is nothing worse than players who come into training feeling like they are just there to hold bags and haven’t got a chance to get into the team.

"But we have noticed from the training straight away that if you asked any player to name the starting XV for Scotland, no-one would have a clue."

Sam Warburton will lead Wales' Six Nations campaign © Getty Images

Wales captain Sam Warburton talks to Oliver Brown about his previously split loyalties and his desire to forge a career in property some day Daily Telegraph.

"Listening to his gentle Cardiff lilt, you would mark Sam Warburton down as a man of unadulterated Welshness.

"Surely, the figure who carries the scarlet jersey as captain of Wales should be as emblematic of national conscience as Dylan Thomas or Tom Jones. And yet, he is half-English. So when the refrain of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadhau starts cascading from the Twickenham terraces in four weeks time, for the Six Nations collision with England, he will not feel a surge of Anglophobia.

“I don’t have the hatred that a lot of Welsh people have towards the English,” Warburton says, delicately. He is speaking in the lounge of his parents’ house in Rhiwbina, the affluent northern Cardiff suburb where he was raised and where father Jez, a fireman born in London, has just opened the door on this drizzly winter’s morning. “Half my family are English anyway. My uncle, my dad’s brother, came to see me play in the England game at the Millennium Stadium last year, and he wasn’t sure who to support.

"He points across the room. “I remember sitting in that chair and watching England win the World Cup final. My rugby hero was Jonny Wilkinson.”

The Daily Mail's Luke Benedict talks to those who know new interim England head coach Stuart Lancaster.

John Rutherford (Former Scotland fly-half)

"Stuart was a really conscientious guy. He was always interested in the technicalities of the game and tactics. The only reason he never played for Scotland's senior side was because in that generation there were a lot of very talented back-row players. When he got the job I had a giggle - it's quite something when an ex-Scotland player gets the England job!"

Phil Davies (Former Wales second row who was director of rugby at Leeds)

"Leeds he filled a player's role, a captain's role, a manager's role. He was capable of all types of guises. He was not the biggest player, but he was intelligent and had a big heart. We had similar values, both liked to play attacking, attractive rugby and both shared a similar belief in the importance of a work ethic."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Tony Ward picks through Ireland's selection issues ahead of their clash with Wales next weekend and says it is time to unleash Munster winger Simon Zebo.

"If ever a player has grabbed his opportunity and captured the imagination of the nation it is Zebo.

"What immediately impressed me in the Pro12 was his ability to break the gain-line almost every time he touches the ball. His hat-trick against Northampton confirmed the finishing ability insiders knew he had.

"He has that go-forward momentum and off-camera work ethic you cannot buy. It's early days, I know, but the 21-year-old Cork Con flyer looks the real deal.

"He has temperament allied to attitude and, if he maintains his current rate of progress, then promotion to the senior squad ought be a no-brainer. Kidney has gone with gut instinct in the past and I urge him to do so again should Zebo shine with the Wolfhounds."

The Western Mail's Simon Thomas says there will be no escaping the expectation for Wales, following their World Cup campaign.

"To Warren Gatland’s mind, the fact his players were the other side of the globe in New Zealand helped them in their memorable autumn campaign.

"According to Gatland, being 12,000 miles away meant the Welsh stars weren’t caught up in the hype and cup fervour that was gripping the nation back home, best demonstrated by the fact 60,000 turned up to watch the semi-final against France on a Millennium Stadium big screen on that remarkable Saturday morning in October.

"Back home, it’s a different story as Wales prepare to set sail into the Six Nations, where there is no escaping the spotlight and public expectation."

England Saxons fly-half Billy Twelvetrees tells the Guardian's Rob Kitson why he is leaving Leicester Tigers for Gloucester.

"I just felt I wasn't getting the opportunity to play 12 as much as I'd like to. I spoke to [Gloucester's] Bryan Redpath and liked his philosophy.

"I also felt I'd get more opportunity to play 12 for Gloucester. It's nothing against the way Leicester do things, it's just my personal preference. Twelve is the position in which I feel most comfortable and where I've always had my best games, from mini-rugby upwards."

Shaun Edwards is presiding over Wales' pre-Six Nations camp in Poland © Getty Images

Shaun Edwards, in his column for the Guardian, reports back from Wales' pre-Six Nations training camp in Poland.

"Welcome to Gdansk, the port on Poland's Baltic coast and home of Solidarity, Lech Walesa and life with the windows wide open, even at -11C. I wouldn't mind coming back in the summer, when the mercury sometimes nudges the 30C mark in July and August.

Yesterday it snowed, which meant we couldn't get out and play, but that might be a good thing. Some of these guys have had a lot of rugby already this season and the injury list is beginning to suggest that the game's gods may not be smiling our way.

As the Irish might say, we need the rub of the green. But I'll come to that.

For the moment, Wales will be going to Dublin for the opening of the Six Nations without Gethin Jenkins, a world-class player, and Rhys Priestland, whose arrival in Welsh ranks created the midfield space which helped us to play the way we did at the World Cup. Both have knee problems and when you add the doubts about Dan Lydiate – somebody stood on his already damaged ankle – it becomes easy to get hung up on the perceived injustice of it all."

The Star's Mike Greenaway provides his take on the imminent appointment of Heyneke Meyer as Springboks coach.

"The irony of the expected appointment of Heyneke Meyer as Springbok coach on Friday afternoon is that it is an indirect admission of guilt by the South African Rugby Union (Saru) that they chose the wrong man in 2008 to succeed Jake White.

Meyer was the hot favourite back then because of the dynasty he had built at the Bulls, only for the unheralded Peter de Villiers to pop up from obscurity to trump Meyer – with the help of an administration that admitted the decision was about “more than rugby”.

Four years later, the tables have been turned. De Villiers reapplied for his old job, but it is understood that that he was never in the picture after a sometimes bizarre reign that saw the Boks hit rare heights of success in one season only to hit rock bottom the next, with the whole shabang crashing down to earth after a humiliating quarter-final exit at last year’s Rugby World Cup."

The Irish Independent's David Kelly talks to a bullish Sean O'Brien ahead of the Six Nations.

"You get the feeling that if you really prodded Sean O'Brien, he just might explode.

The memory of that match is still so raw, searing deep into his consciousness, filling him with so much regret that only recompense can amend his state of mind.

And so you gently probe once more. And still he struggles. "I don't want to talk about it," he says sternly.

For him, Tullow's disconsolate derby defeat to Carlow a fortnight ago has been cast aside, especially that final scrum five which Carlow somehow won against the head in the expiring minutes.

O'Brien was amongst the 1,000 or more in a breathless Oak Park watching helplessly as his side lost a game that possessed more fervour than many a Pro12 fixture."

David Ferguson, of the Scotsman, believes Dan Parks will get the nod for Scotland in their Six Nations opener.

"Election has always been cast up as a potential weak spot of Andy Robinson from his days with England where he had a surfeit of talent to try to meld into one successful team, and struggled, through a run of nine wins in 22 Tests.

From the point when the garrulous Brian Moore famously commented that Robinson was a good coach but a poor selector, it was also always going to be an easy tag to hang around his neck as coaches are labelled in the same way players are invariably pigeon-holed. While there were again question marks raised through the World Cup as Robinson switched players about, selection in team sport is never an exact science, so it remains a point of contention.

However, what is clear is that Robinson, along with assistants Gregor Townsend, Graham Steadman and Massimo Cuttitta have a difficult few days to come up with the perfect XV, and indeed 22, to face England in arguably the biggest game in their recent coaching lives."

The Independent's Chris Hewett looks at the father/son aspect to the new-look England squad.

"Favouritism is not a word widely associated with England's new-look squad ahead of the Six Nations Championship – they are likely to start four of their five games as underdogs, beginning with the tough Calcutta Cup match in Scotland tomorrow week – so it seems only right and proper that Owen Farrell, a hot tip for a debut in midfield at Murrayfield, should have to fight for his place in the side rather than be ushered into it by his father. "We'll discuss what's right for the team, what fits with our philosophy, and pick accordingly," said Andy Farrell, the red-rose assistant coach, yesterday.

In truth, Farrell Jnr needs no help from anyone in making a solid case for inclusion, having performed so impressively for Saracens over the last year. When Farrell Snr sits down with the caretaker head coach Stuart Lancaster and the forwards specialist Graham Rowntree to finalise selection, they will not spend a great deal of time talking through the midfield options, problematic though that area has been for the national team just recently. More thought will be given to the engine room, where the naturalised South African lock Mouritz Botha is challenging hard for a place, and the back-row combination, where there is a growing chance that the uncapped Northampton flanker Calum Clark will be involved alongside Tom Croft of Leicester and the Harlequins captain Chris Robshaw."

Wales Online's Andy Howell talks to a bullish Sam Warburton about Wales' injury concerns ahead of the Six Nations.

"Sam Warburton has urged his Wales team to cast off injury concerns and make it a hat-trick of consecutive victories over Ireland in their Six Nations opener.

First-choice locks Luke Charteris (wrist) and Alun Wyn Jones (toe) have been joined on the sidelines by loosehead prop star Gethin Jenkins (knee).

Outside-half Rhys Priestland (knee) and blindside flanker Dan Lydiate (ankle) are also almost certainly out too, while centre Jamie Roberts (knee) is “touch and go” for the Dublin showdown on February 5.

But Warburton is adamant Wales can overcome these setbacks and repeat their Six Nations and World Cup wins over Ireland in 2011."

Victor Matfield could come out of retirement, but only if Heyneke Meyer is indeed unveiled as the new Springbok coach on Friday. The Star's Vata Ngobeni reports.

"If Matfield is to return under Meyer it would probably be for a season or two just for Meyer to get to grips with the structure at national level and it would also solve the big dilemma of who the next Springbok captain will be.

“Everyone knows what I think about Heyneke, but we must wait until Friday (tomorrow) before we talk about it. Let’s wait and see what happens, we will talk. Everything has consequences. Playing? I don’t know but we will see. It depends if he wants me. I really don’t know, it is difficult to say ...,” Matfield said.

"The 34-year-old is certain to feature in Meyer’s Springbok management structure if he is not asked to play, probably as technical advisor or line-out consultant.

"However, the fact that Matfield has already signed a lucrative television contract with SuperSport as one of their pundits will make Matfield’s dream of being the outright Springbok captain almost impossible."

The Irish Independent's David Kelly talks to Ireland winger Andrew Trimble.

"Unfairly, and a bit like [his province] Ulster, it has rarely seemed like Trimble fully belonged. All this despite making his Ireland debut against Australia a mere eight games into his senior career; despite his 41 caps and his 27 years; despite tries in France, New Zealand and against South Africa and despite a role in the centre.

"When Ireland's established fliers have been fit, from Horgan and Hickie through to Earls and Fitzgerald, Trimble has remained in the wings, not on them. He has made a World Cup when Tommy Bowe didn't, deputised for Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll several times when others couldn't.

"But when Ireland's Grand Slam moment arrived, Trimble watched frustratedly from the sidelines. Once more, it seems, he will start for Ireland, against Wales in the Six Nations opener, but only because of another's absence, as O'Driscoll's injury forces one of the back three (presumably Earls) inside.

"I want to start, that will never change," he says. "I'm aware of how competitive it is. I can't control how other guys are playing or how the team is selected. All I can do is play well. It's a fairly simple approach for me. I'm confident in how I'm playing, I'm really pleased, but I don't want to second-guess anyone and get my hopes up."

England caretaker Lancaster refuses to be drawn into a 'war of words' ahead of the opening Six Nations encounter after Scotland coach criticises red rose behaviour at World Cup. The Independent's Chris Hewett listens in.

"If Scotland dominated their Calcutta Cup games the way they dominated the pre-Six Nations mind games at the official tournament launch in London yesterday, the nationalist leader Alex Salmond would find his independence referendum a whole lot easier to win. With the annual championship a mere 10 days distant, age-old assumptions of English rugby supremacy seemed a thing of the past. If the Scots have ever been more confident ahead of a meeting with their nearest and dearest, no one could remember the year.

"Andy Robinson, a man of Somerset who brings to Scotland the same inexhaustible desire that drove him during his time as England's head coach, was as hard on himself as he was on those who will oppose him at Murrayfield in the opening round of this season's competition.

"It's time we stopped talking about our potential and started delivering some results," said the former Bath flanker, wearing one of his narrow-eyed, super-serious expressions. "Over the last couple of years we've talked ourselves up before tournaments, only to find ourselves scrapping to avoid the wooden spoon. That's unacceptable. We're here to win, and I'm accountable in that regard. I don't want us to be unlucky losers. I want to be part of a successful team, and if it turns out that I can't make a success of this team ..."

"He did not need to expand on that final thought, for the implication was clear."

Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara believes a Six Nations Grand Slam is within his side's graps - the veteran talks to the Irish Times Gerry Thornley.

"Now nearer the end of his glittering, multi-decorated and hugely-prolific career than the beginning, Ronan O’Gara is not of a mind to set his or Ireland’s targets too low. He looks around his own squad, looks at their counterparts, and deduces that even with treks to London and Paris, a Grand Slam is achievable.

“I think it is. There’s a fair bit of uncertainty in teams and you don’t know what teams will show up and how they’ll show up. Deccie (Kidney) has been stressing to us that ‘the only that will hold you back will be your attitude and your ambition going into this competition’. So I think that’s a good way of putting it. I think if you come really tuned in and everyone wanting to win it then you have a good chance. But if you kind of just show up and you’re happy to play for Ireland, then you could be in trouble.”

England head coach Stuart Lancaster made it clear that he had left his 36-man squad in no doubt when he addressed them on their first night at their training base in Leeds that he would drop them if they ever stepped out of line. The Daily Telegraph reports.

"Lancaster hammered home to the players the lessons to be learnt from the World Cup, stressing the need for respect and proper conduct. This was the moment that Lancaster revealed the iron fist in the velvet glove. You can well imagine that Mike Tindall would have been sent home from New Zealand on Lancaster’s watch.

"...On Monday Lancaster had individual meetings with the players, a marathon session that lasted nine hours. Some of those conversations were described as “frank”. Lancaster also made the squad read the Codes of Conduct booklet issued every year to members of the Elite Player Squad. There are no specific rules on curfew or alcohol limits but explicit guidance as to what is expected.

“It was a long message and there wasn’t much in the way of debate about it all,” said Lancaster, who has confirmed that he will apply for the permanent position of head coach. “They were told that this is the way it’s going to be. It needed to be done, nothing was to be brushed under the carpet and that’s now it with the World Cup, over.”

If could all have been so different for Stuart Lancaster had he followed his Scotland career... © Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph's Alasdair Reid unearths the story of when Stuart Lancaster was pulling on the blue jersey of Scotland.

"They were young, they were Scottish, they had dreams. And for some members of the Scotland Under-19 team which lined up against Italy in Ayr in April 1989, those dreams came true.

Doddie Weir, Stuart Reid and Graham Shiel became stalwarts of the full Scotland side over the next 10 years. But life took a rather different course for one of their team-mates.
Not that anyone could have predicted what the future might hold for young Stuart Lancaster of Wakefield.

He was a stranger to most of the Scotland Under-19 side, never having played for the country of his mother's birth at any other level. But if he also had an ambition to get to Murrayfield then at least he now knows that it is about to be fulfilled.”"

Chris Rattue, in his column for the New Zealand Herald, provides his take on the backlash Bryan Lawrence has experienced after the World Cup quarter-final he presided over.

"How comforting to know that other countries do bitter and twisted as well as we do. The bile-spitting South Africans who employed their internet skills against referee Bryce Lawrence have even outdone our lot who claimed, incorrectly, that Wayne Barnes alone stuffed up the All Blacks' 2007 World Cup campaign.

Not that it pays to judge a Bok by this sort of coverage - I'm sure that a lot of South African supporters understand their World Cup ground to a halt in Wellington because dinosaur forwards were hitched to one-dimensional backs. They had opportunities aplenty to win that quarter-final against Australia, just as the All Blacks did against France in Cardiff four years earlier”

The Irish Independent's David Kelly talks to the inform Ronan O'Gara about his Six Nations aspirations.

"It would be trite to suggest that Ronan O'Gara is raging against the dying of the light. He isn't.

For one thing, he will soon ring up his employers and start gently haranguing them for a contract extension beyond 2013.

Secondly, he is no longer raging. Still seething quietly about Ireland's defeat to Wales in the World Cup, perhaps, but certainly not raging.

"Contrary to what certain people think, that I'm difficult if I'm left out of the starting team, that's not true," smiles the man who, technically, still holds the Irish jersey after starting that game in Wellington.

"I would like to think that if my team-mates came in here I'd be seen as the ultimate team man in terms of how I conduct myself. That is so important, that you have their respect, irrespective of what the public think.”

Wales Online shows the Wales players entering the cryotherapy chambers in Poland.

"Wales' rugby players have once again been braving temperatures of -40°C as they prepare for Six Nations battle in under a fortnight.

Captain Sam Warburton led his players into the cryotherapy chambers as the Welsh squad began a seven-day Polish training camp they hope will get them into the sort of shape that saw them dazzle at last year's Rugby World Cup.”

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary talks to a bullish Delon Armitage following the London Irish man's demotion to the England Saxons.

"Delon Armitage has hit back at comments made about him by Andy Robinson, saying he was angered to have been labelled “arrogant” by the Scotland head coach.

Robinson cited the England No15 for a dangerous tackle on Chris Paterson in the World Cup, adding that he would not have done so if the tackle had been made by England captain Lewis Moody.

Armitage, who was banned for one week as a result, said he felt “victimised” and branded by reputation, and he expressed annoyance that he had been singled out by Robinson on grounds of his personality.

“Of course it did [anger me],” Armitage said. “If ever I were a manager, I wouldn’t be throwing out comments like that. I wouldn’t be impressed with myself. It’s not what you expect.”

Ben Foden may have to choose between country and the birth of his child © Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph's Ian Chadband talks to England fullback Ben Foden about the ultimate dilemma he faces.

"England are about to play a Six Nations Grand Slam decider against Ireland in March just as his fiancée, pop star Una Healy, due to give birth to their baby daughter only four days later, suddenly goes into labour.

What to do? Stand by his country or his woman? Foden’s face crumples into a pained smile.
“Yes, my missus being Irish, she might be pushing that little extra for an early delivery,” he jokes. Err, at least, it sounds like a joke.

“Obviously, it would be terrible timing but there’s only a certain amount of times I’ll play for England and it’d be a hard call. It depends on how my emotions were, because if head and heart weren’t on the game, there would be no point in playing.”"

The Irish Independent talks to Ireland centre Gordon D'Arcy about who may fill the sizeable boots left by Brian O'Driscoll in the forthcoming Six Nations.

"Gordon D'Arcy considers the statistic. Brian O'Driscoll has missed just five Six Nations matches in his career and never more than one a season since he made his debut against England in the competition in the spring of 2000.

The D'Arcy/O'Driscoll midfield axis has been paired together a world record 47 times at international level, two clear of England's Jeremy Guscott and Will Carling, with their record standing at 31 wins and 16 defeats across the most successful era in the history of Irish rugby.

The origins of this more enduring of partnerships can be traced back to December 2003 when O'Driscoll picked up an injury against Sale.

For the return fixture a week later, Gary Ella shifted D'Arcy to outside centre from the wing as cover at the suggestion of Willie Anderson and that's where he started the Six Nations opener against France the following spring.”

Wales Online's Delme Parfitt answers questions on the Welsh sides' Heineken Cup performance.

"With another Heineken Cup pool campaign over, Delme Parfitt answers the key questions about the performances of the Blues, Ospreys and Scarlets in Europe’s elite competition, and assesses what it might mean for Wales’ Six Nations campaign

Q: Should we be happy with having one of our regions in the quarter-finals?

DP: Well, if we’d been offered that scenario at the start of the campaign we may well have accepted it given the blank we drew last time out, but there’s something of a flat feel about it all because few will give the Blues much hope of progress away to Leinster in the last eight.

The Ospreys’ failure, not to mention the manner of it, also leaves a very bitter taste.

It says it all that the Scarlets, in beating Castres on French soil and securing an Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final berth, probably came out of the final weekend with the most credit.”

Brian Moore, in his column for the Daily Telegraph, provides his take on the England captaincy debate.

"Tom Wood’s absence through injury has made Stuart Lancaster’s decision about the England captaincy more difficult and his problems demonstrate a wider, unwelcome, issue with which he will also battle.

Lancaster is faced with decades of English tradition which lionises and vilifies any player awarded the captaincy in equally undeserved measure. This cult of the captain has sometimes created a fiefdom and an assumption that the captaincy is almost a personal possession. So, unless he eschews this illogical and occasionally harmful tradition, his choice for the game against Scotland on Feb 4 is going to attract an inordinate amount of comment.

The thing is that before you consider any player’s captaincy credentials, whether he has the makings of a leader and so on, you have to examine his playing credentials. If the latter are found wanting, the former should not come into consideration.”

Chris Hewett, of the Independent, looks at one of the most remarkable rises in stock this season.

"England's candidates for Six Nations duty gathered yesterday at the new red-rose base on the outskirts of Leeds, most of them bruised after another weekend of European activity. Some were suffering emotionally too, as the extent of the Premiership's embarrassment began to register. Of the 16 knockout places available in the Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cups, only four have been filled by clubs from the world's biggest, richest union – and three of those will play in the back-room competition, rather than the shop-window tournament.

The Harlequins players, including national captain-elect Chris Robshaw, were licking more wounds than most after blowing their Heineken Cup chances in the west of Ireland, but the Londoners were at least lifted by developments at England Saxons level. Matt Hopper, the 26-year-old centre who has spent most of his rugby life scuffing around the club scene in Devon and Cornwall, was promoted to the second-string squad and has a decent chance of playing the biggest game of his career against a powerful Irish Wolfhounds side in his home city of Exeter on Saturday evening.”

Connacht proved to be Harlequins' undoing on Friday evening © Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary looks at the mission ahead for Stuart Lancaster after a difficult weekend for the English clubs in Europe.

"The England players will undergo medical testing when they gather at their Weetwood Hall base in Leeds on Monday. If Stuart Lancaster thought that would be a routine assignment when he scheduled it in the diary, then it no longer is.

Not only has he a rotten run of injuries to catalogue, he also has, after a torrid 10 days of Heineken Cup rugby, the deteriorating health of English rugby to consider.

He can be thankful that he has been spared any more calamity on the injury front. There were no serious mishaps on this closing weekend of European group action.

If only the well-being of the English sides was in such reasonable shape. Two of the Premiership’s leading lights, Northampton and Leicester, shipped 92 points in two matches against two Irish provinces, Ulster and Munster."

The Scotsman's David Ferguson praises Edinburgh for their journey into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals and looks at the financial implications.

"Edinburgh have set up a revenge mission with Toulouse after securing a home quarter-final in the Heineken Cup, but will also trigger a cash windfall that could open the door to professional rugby finally taking off in Scotland.

As part of an historic shift in European rugby, Edinburgh are one of five teams from the Celtic league, now the RaboDirect PRO12, into the last eight for the first time in the tournament’s 17-year history. It is only the second occasion that England provide just one qualifier, Saracens, while France have only Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne.

The Scots defeated London Irish 34-11 at Murrayfield yesterday to top Pool 2 and clinch a home quarter-final with the same French side they faced on the previous occasion they reached the quarter-finals, in 2004. Then, they had to return to France and lost 36-10.”

The New Zealand Herald claims that Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor will take their bow for the Melbourne Rebels sooner rather than later.

"Wallaby recruits James O'Connor and Kurtley Beale are set to don the Rebels colours for the first time next week in Melbourne's opening Super Rugby trial match.

O'Connor has only been training with his new outfit a week and Beale is still on the mend from a hamstring injury, but coach Damien Hill said he wanted to see the stars in action against the Chiefs in Geelong on Friday February 3.

"Against the Chiefs, it will probably be a case of giving the whole squad some game time,'' Hill said.”

Saints captain Dylan Hartley, talking to the Daily Telegraph's Brendan Gallagher, has fired a cheeky parting shot at team-mate Chris Ashton following his move to Saracens

"Dylan Hartley, the Northampton captain, has questioned Chris Ashton’s decision to leave Northampton for Saracens, although the England hooker says there will be no lingering animosity when the pair meet at the national side’s Six Nations training camp on Monday.

Ashton watched Saints’ thumping defeat after being left out of the side in midweek, a decision which prompted him to storm out of a training session.

“It is his decision,” Hartley said. “The reason I signed again for Saints is that I don’t think there is any other place I would want to be as a young Englishman. I’m very happy here, but all the best to him. I will still be his mate.”

Does Gavin Henson warrant a place in Wales' Six Nations squad? © Getty Images

Writing in the Wales on Sunday, Barry John reflects on Wales' squad for the Six Nations.

"Whatever Warren Gatland and his coaches see in the new dawn on Gavin’s career only they will know. I’m amongst the many who simply cannot see it.

"A group, I note, which includes the Blues hierarchy, henson having been dropped from the 23 for today’s huge Heineken Cup clash with Racing Metro.

"Frankly, like them I’m baffled Henson, deemed not good enough for his region, is in the mix for his country in the Six Nations.

"To put this in perspective, I should point out I’m on record as stating Gavin henson is probably the most talented rugby player Wales have produced for many a year.

"There was a time when he did everything... kicked the goals, created the tries, scored them, made the tackles, had this uncanny knack of knowing just where to pop up on the pitch at a key moment to win games.

"Those attributes made Henson such a huge asset to the Welsh game, but we are talking about the Gavin of four or five years ago."

Scotland coach Andy Robinson has launched a sizeable verbal grenade ahead of his side's Six Nations opender against England by labelling their rivals as "arrogant". The Mail on Sunday's Ian Stafford reports.

"Robinson may bill himself as a ‘proud Englishman’, but nothing would please Scotland’s coach more than to make Stuart Lancaster’s task of rebuilding English morale that bit trickier by claiming revenge at Murrayfield on February 4 for the narrow victory in Auckland that ended Scottish World Cup dreams.

"While Calcutta Cup battles are never for the faint-hearted, Robinson, who helped guide England to become world champions in 2003 before losing his job as head coach three years later, stoked the passions with his analysis of where it all went wrong for Johnson’s side.
‘It’s important for any team to show humility, especially when you are winning,’ he said.

‘I thought a number of the England players undermined this in the arrogance they showed. They know who they are and it was not across the board, but, unfortunately, the whole squad got tarnished."

Edinburgh’s players don’t make life easy for themselves but have the ability to beat anyone, Allan Jacobsen tells the Scotland on Sunday's Iain Morrison.

"History suggests that you need a big, muscular front five and, instead, Edinburgh boasts a mobile but lightweight pack. Common sense says that experience is all, but Edinburgh won that first match with a 19-year-old stand-off. Everyone knows that you don’t give a team like Racing Metro a 24-point lead but Edinburgh made short work of reeling them in at Murrayfield. Reason insists that a good league showing is important for building confidence but Edinburgh have won four out of 13 in the RaboDirect Pro12.

"Edinburgh have won their four Heineken matches by an average of three points, with the winning kicks in two of them coming as the referee checked his watch. No one can accuse the capital club of doing things the easy way and, if there is a suspicion that this side are concentrating on Europe to the detriment of the league, they would only be copying what the Irish provinces have done to good effect for the last decade.

"Jacobsen insists that he is as confused as the next man by the club’s lowly league position but, in explaining their Heineken form, he points to the contribution from the club’s youngsters, who have come in and shaken the place up with a winning mentality and a hunger for success. “There is a buzz about the club and it’s brilliant,” he beams. “We’ve lost a lot of experienced players over the last few years. We’ve brought some good ones in but you could argue that a lot of players weren’t replaced like for like. A lot of young guys have come through and stepped up to the mark. I think that’s brilliant. I think the young guys have really proved themselves this year, there is a lot of hunger at the club."

Players unhappy with the new Irish Rugby Football Union limits could well have the law on their side, writes lawyer Niall Collins in the Irish Independent.

"The IRFU's policy change appears designed to provide young Irish players with more opportunities and to ensure that the national team has at least two suitably experienced players in each position. However, the changes raise real, but not novel, questions of EU free movement law and employment and equality law.

"Direct and indirect discrimination -- based on the nationality of workers of EU member states, as regards their employment, remuneration and other conditions of work -- are prohibited under Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

"A directly discriminatory restriction is one which relies on nationality as the basis for disadvantageous treatment. This can only be justified under specific derogations based on considerations of public policy, public security and public health.

"An indirectly discriminatory restriction is one which has the effect of discriminating on the grounds of nationality, as opposed to having the object of so doing. Such measures can only be justified under derogation or where there are objective considerations independent of nationality, which are proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued by the rule and are reasonable and necessary. This is evident from EU cases such as Walrave & Koch, Donà v Mantero and Bosman. The issue of discrimination on the grounds of nationality was front and centre in the debate surrounding the legality of FIFA's so-called 6+5 rule, which received a negative assessment from the EU Commission and which was subsequently abandoned, and UEFA's home-grown player rule, which was given the green light by the Commission.

"More recent EU decisions in Kolpak and Simutenkov effectively extend the scope of Article 45 to non-EU nationals, through the existence of international association agreements between the EU and non-EU countries."

There is little love lost between the two teams who provide the most alluring fixture in the 2012 Six Nations' first weekend according to The Observer's Eddie Butler.

"Perhaps the most alluring fixture of the opening weekend is Ireland v Wales in Dublin on the Sunday. The two countries are often bracketed together in some Celtic cousinhood, allies against the interests of countries blessed with more money and greater playing numbers.

"This may well be the case in the corridors of rugby politics, although it has been said that the only people who trust a Welsh-Irish alliance less than the rest of the rugby-playing world are the Welsh and the Irish themselves. On the field there is little love lost between them. By tradition it is a healthy rivalry; of late it has been cranky.

"...For evidence of sourness, how about the head to head between Gavin Henson and Brian O'Driscoll in the grand slam showdown of 2005, a duel that went the Welsh player's way on the day? Or the reception for Henson the following season when he came off the bench, a battle of wills comprehensively won by the Dublin crowd?

The Sunday Telegraph's Paul Ackford ponders the failure of England's leading clubs to make an impact on this season's Heineken Cup.

"There’s something else that Mark McCafferty [Premiership Rugby chief executive] feels strongly about. He, along with a number of senior figures among the French and English clubs, believes the current qualifying arrangements for Europe’s premier competition are flawed, and that the prospects of the French and English representatives are being unfairly skewed by a cosy Celtic-Italian coalition.

"Put simply, English and French Rugby Union teams have to bust a gut to qualify from their respective domestic leagues while any old middling outfit can get through from the RaboDirect Pro 12, a new name for an old sinecure, the Celtic alliance plus Italy. McCafferty and friends are so peeved about the perceived inequality that they are making, strong representations to European Rugby Cup Ltd, the organisation that runs both European tournaments.

“Our view is that Heineken Cup qualification should be based on league form,” McCafferty explains. “There are three of those – the Aviva Premiership, the Top 14 Orange in France and the Pro 12 – and you should take the qualifying teams from the best sides in those leagues. Then it’s a completely meritocratic system.

"This season the 24 teams in the six Heineken Cup pools are made up of 11 from the Pro 12, six from France and seven from the Premiership. It should be eight across the board."

Ronan O'Gara admits Munster have been far from their best in qualifying for the Heineken Cup last eight © Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary talks to Munster fly-half Ronan O'Gara ahead of their Heineken Cup clash with Northampton Saints.

“True, it is incredible that we’ve got to where we have this season because we’ve been on the ropes in nearly every match,” is O’Gara’s blunt assessment.

“It’s testimony to the character and belief that has been ingrained down the years. We’re a team in transition but there’s a good bit of experience there too and that’s been crucial to us surviving. It’s been hugely enjoyable perhaps because it’s been against the run of play, against the grain.”

Wales Online's panel of rugby writers pick their Wales starting XV to face Ireland in their opening Six Nations fixture.

"Great Entertainer Shane’s decision to bow out of international rugby shouldn’t be underestimated because he wasn’t just a finisher but a brilliant attacking catalyst.

"Nobody can fill his boots in the same way so Wales have to improvise. The problem Gatland has is it would be a monumental gamble to throw in rookies Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert or Harry Robinson against an Irish team on its own patch and thirsting for revenge after being knocked out of the World Cup 22-10 by Wales in a Wellington-staged quarter-final."

Charlie Hodgson is ready to finally step out of the long shadow of Jonny Wilkinson and take charge of England's backline, according to Robert Kitson in The Guardian.

"Top-level rugby can be harsh and unforgiving, even on a good day. It is harder still for slightly built creative types prone to introspection.

"Imagine driving hundreds of miles to England training knowing the coaches doubt your defence, that you have no chance of starting and that your club will struggle without you.

"Then imagine being steamrollered by a rampant All Black team and brutally informed your Test career is over. Charlie Hodgson can talk you ruefully through it all, and more."

The Daily Mail's Chris Foy meets abrasive Northampton flanker Calum Clark following the youngster's call up to England's Six Nations squad.

"He also acquired a reputation for volatility and that trait was exposed in 2008 when he was sent off for punching in the junior World Cup final against New Zealand. While he recovered sufficiently to lead the national Under 20 side a year later, the incident left its mark.

"It was a big lesson," said Clark. "I came in for a bit of flak which is how it should be. It wasn't my finest hour but I learned from it and it won't be a feature of my game again. I play on the edge still. I get a few yellow cards but they are more technical now. I've proved that I can keep a lid on it. There was doubt, but I've proved I can."

The Star's Nick Tolerton talks to All Blacks hopeful Robbie Fruean about his international ambitions and pre-season preparations with the Crusaders.

"Robbie Fruean's All Black hopes were dashed the past two years, but the Crusaders centre is doing extra yards to make it third time lucky.

"The 23-year-old says winning a black jersey is his big goal this year - and he knows the way to earn it is a steady record with the Crusaders.

"A taste of international rugby when he played for the Henry and Hansen-coached Barbarians against the Wallabies at Twickenham in November has made him hungrier."

Tom Wood will miss England's opening Six Nations games © Getty Images

Injured England flanker Tom Wood speaks of his disappointment at missing out on their Six Nations openers in The Daily Telegraph.

"The 25-year-old could not disguise his dejection: one moment he had been touted as a shoo-in for the England captaincy, the next he learned he would be spending four weeks in an orthopaedic boot. “Mentally, I’m still trying to catch up with the reality of it,” he said.

"Speaking at Twickenham, surveying the stage where he hopes to return for England’s first home match of the Six Nations, against Wales on Feb 25, Wood was struggling to absorb the shock of missing both the opener against Scotland at Murrayfield on Feb 4 and the trip to Rome a week later.

“I’m really disappointed,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “I had set my heart on being fit for Scotland, being available for selection. I had kind of assumed that would be the case. But it turns out that’s going to put me at risk.”

Hugh Farrelly rakes through Ireland's Six Nations squad selection and finds cause for concern in The Irish Independent.

"In 1986, Declan Kidney was coaching the PBC Cork Junior team and caused a major surprise when he picked a prop ('Eggy' O'Leary) on the wing - 'Pres' went onto win the Cup.

"In 1996, Kidney was coaching Dolphin in the AIL and got rid of the core of senior forwards, switched the regular, kicking out-half to full-back and transformed a mauling, 10-man rugby outfit into a quick-rucking team that won promotion to Division 1 for the first time.

"In 2008, Kidney selected Tomas O'Leary and Denis Hurley ahead of experienced regulars Peter Stringer and Shaun Payne for Munster's quarter-final against Gloucester in Kingsholm -- Munster went onto to claim their second title in Cardiff, with O'Leary and Hurley starting all the knockout games."

Wales coach Shaun Edwards argues that winning a Six Nations Grand Slam is more difficult than reaching the Rugby World Cup Final in The Guardian.

"Champions of Europe or champions of the world; which is harder? No difficulty with that one, but when you ask whether it's more difficult to get to a World Cup final or to win a grand slam in the Six Nations, then I'd argue it's less obvious. In fact, if the World Cup seedings help you into one of the less demanding groups at the global gathering – and this I have to admit is on the evidence of being at just the one World Cup – I'm pretty certain the slam takes the prize.

"Why? Well, 2011 in New Zealand suggested that it is possible to get to the World Cup final after just two or three difficult games whereas, depending on how the fixtures fall, the slam can be a shocker because no game is a walkover and three of the five could be away from home, rather than on (supposedly) neutral territory."

Peter de Villiers may make a sensational comeback to the Springboks © Getty Images

Supersport claims that Peter de Villiers could be asked to take control of the Springboks for their summer Tests against England.

"The South African Rugby Union (Saru) could spring a massive surprise next week and retain incumbent Springbok coach Peter de Villiers as a caretaker coach for the upcoming three-test series against England.

This is one of the options being mulled as the deadline to appoint the new Bok coach fast approaches, with all three of the contenders on the shortlist currently under contract at other Rugby Unions.

According to top sources close to the process, this is more than just a possibility at the moment. Saru have previously indicated that they are aiming for January 27 as the date to ratify the appointment of the coach, after receiving the recommendation a day earlier. But if the right candidate cannot be secured by this date, this proposed option has been put forward as an alternative, to ensure the Springboks get the right coach for the future."

The Guardian's Paul Rees reflects on a bad week for the Leicester Tigers.

"Richard Cockerill said this week that the salary cap in England was a prime reason why Premiership clubs were struggling to compete in the Heineken Cup. With the final round of group matches starting this Friday, only Saracens and Harlequins are likely English contenders for the quarter-finals.

"I do not think you have the financial clout to compete at the top end, especially if you have injuries," said Cockerill. "You do not have the money to have the depth of squad. That is not a criticism of anybody: that is the fact of it. In England, by and large, you have to be successful in Europe. If you do well in Europe, it is a bonus."

The £4.2m cap did not explain the manner of Leicester's defeat to Ulster at Ravenhill last Friday. The Tigers were short of a few of their internationals, but to lose 41-7 on a night that, in terms of the weather, was kind for Belfast in January, no rain or howling wind, suggested something that went beyond how many caps you had sitting on the bench."

The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Mairs talks to David Strettle about his first impressions of new England coach Stuart Lancaster.

"Saracens wing David Strettle has given a ringing endorsement of Stuart Lancaster’s attempts to bring “belief and excitement” back to the England squad.

Strettle added the interim head coach should be a leading contender to get the job on a permanent basis if the team are successful in the Six Nations.

The Rugby Football Union has appointed headhunters Odgers to lead the recruitment search for a permanent successor to Martin Johnson and hopes to make an appointment before the end of the Six Nations, placing pressure on Lancaster to deliver results quickly if he is to make a strong case for getting the job himself.

However, Strettle, whose fine form for Saracens in recent weeks has thrust him into contention for the left wing position for the Six Nations opener against Scotland at Murrayfield on Feb 4, believes Lancaster has already taken a big step towards securing the job for the longer term."

Stuff.co.nz looks at Todd Blackadder's decision to rest some of his key All Blacks from training in an attempt to keep them fresh for the latter stages of the Super Rugby season.

"Allowing his All Blacks to bunk trainings is one way Todd Blackadder will appease national coach Steve Hansen this year.

With three tests to be played against Ireland in June, just ahead of the Super Rugby playoffs in late July, Crusaders coach Blackadder has agreed to release his All Blacks from trainings on the Mondays and Tuesdays in the fortnight before the first test in Auckland on June 9.

The other two tests will be played in Christchurch and Hamilton on the following Saturdays.

Blackadder met All Blacks manager Darren Shand before Christmas and agreed to let his internationals skip four practices in two weeks so Hansen can prepare his test side for the Ireland matches.

The Crusaders are scheduled to meet the Highlanders in Christchurch on June 1 and have a bye the previous week."

The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly talk to a disgruntled Brian McLaughlin after the unveiling of Ireland's squad for the 2012 Six Nations.

"Declan Kidney has come under fire for his conservative Six Nations squad announcement yesterday after the Ireland coach stuck exclusively to the players who last year failed to reach the World Cup semi-finals for the first time.

Kidney’s 24-man party did not include the in-form trio of Luke Fitzgerald, Chris Henry and Dan Tuohy, who were all selected in the secondary Wolfhounds squad to face England ‘A’ this month, while other impressive performers this season such as Peter O’Mahony, Paul Marshall and Craig Gilroy failed to make either squad. Brian McLaughlin, whose Ulster side are chasing a Heineken Cup quarter-final berth in Clermont this weekend, said he was disappointed by the selections, which he did not feel were a reflection of current form.

“It is disappointing,” said McLaughlin. “Declan has decided he is going to stick with his World Cup squad and give them an opportunity in the Six Nations."

Dylan Hartley wants the RFU to take the game to the north of England © Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Mairs and Brendan Gallagher talk to Dylan Hartley and Jim Mallinder about the RFU's proposal to take the game to the North of England.

"Dylan Hartley would love the opportunity to play a Six Nations or autumn international in the north of England if the Rugby Football Union moves a Test away from Twickenham.

The Daily Telegraph revealed on Thursday that the RFU is considering a plan to switch an England 2013 Six Nations fixture to a venue in the North as part of a radical plan to regenerate the sport in the region ahead of hosting the 2015 World Cup.

Hartley played in the most recent England match staged in the North when a second string side defeated Argentina at Old Trafford in June 2009. He would be happy to do so again.

“Why not? It was pretty good at Old Trafford two years ago when we played the Pumas,” Hartley said. “Twickenham is the home of English rugby but, if you want to play for England, it doesn’t make a huge difference where you play. The only thing that really counts is that the home crowd is behind you.”’

A bullish Sean Lamont, talking to The Scotsman's David Ferguson, wants Scotland to finally deliver in the Six Nations.

"Sean Lamont has garnered a reputation for speaking his mind and while he has taken what, for such a garrulous character, would pass as a vow of silence on Scotland’s Six Nations hopes this year his natural enthusiasm remains at a peak.

He turned 31 on Sunday and is soon to start house-hunting in the west of Scotland after agreeing to reunite the Lamont partnership with Rory at Glasgow this summer. There is the small matter of a trip to Castres and meeting with Scotland team-mate Max Evans in the final round of Heineken Cup pool action on Saturday before he then turns his focus towards the RBS Six Nations Championship. With seven tournaments behind him, however, and Scotland fancied as a dark horse in many of them, he is uncharacteristically tight-lipped when asked for a forecast on chances this spring."

England lock Courtney Lawes, talking to The Daily Telegraph's Oliver Brown, says it's time for England to do their talking on the pitch after their infamous World Cup campaign.

"Courtney Lawes, just like all present in that Queenstown bar one fateful September evening, would rather forget about the farrago that was 'Dwarfgate’..

He takes the view that the entire episode at the Altitude nightclub, featuring Mike Tindall’s blonde 'friend’ and a generous quotient of dwarves, forms an obsession peculiar to journalists. The Six Nations is coming, time to move on. Trouble is, though, that the fall-out from the night — so richly expressive of the stupidity of sports stars on tour — resonates to this day.

It was even raised, in oblique fashion, at the Golden Globes. Peter Dinklage, who won the award for best supporting TV actor during Sunday night’s ceremony, urged the worldwide audience to look up the name of Martin Henderson on Google."

Wales Online's Delme Parfitt looks at Gavin Henson's chances of making the Wales squad.

"Whatever uncertainty surrounds Warren Gatland’s Six Nations squad announcement later today, one thing is definite – Gavin Henson will be one of the main headlines to emerge from it.

If he’s included it’s a story. If not, it’s a story. T’was ever thus.

And, as per normal, Henson will polarise opinion from Chepstow to Anglesey.

There are those who insist that the lack of guile in Wales’ current back line dictates the player’s reputation should hold sway.

Sure, they will argue, he’s had just three games back for the Blues – two at full-back – but if he improves with every game then the skill and game-awareness we all know he possesses are too valuable to ignore."

The Guardian's Rob Kitson assesses Stuart Lancaster's future as England coach following the press briefing on Tuesday.

"Stuart Lancaster has effectively been given only three games to stake his claim as England's permanent head coach. The Rugby Football Union says it expects to have identified its first-choice candidate by the end of the Six Nations, a timescale which would appear to reduce Lancaster's chances unless the caretaker's new-look squad makes a good start against Scotland, Italy and Wales.

Twickenham officials admit they have been impressed by Lancaster's words and deeds since he was installed as interim coach last month but it seems Nick Mallett and Wayne Smith are still their preferred options to take England through to the 2015 World Cup. Had the union ruled out any appointment before mid-April it would have indicated a serious desire to retain Lancaster in the job for the long haul."

Andy Powell makes Wales Online's Six Nations squad © Getty Images

Wales Online's Gareth Griffiths provides his take on who should make Warren Gatland's squad for the Six Nations.

"With Warren Gatland set to name his Six Nations squad on Wednesday, WalesOnline's Gareth Griffiths looks at the options and names his squad to take on Europe's finest.

Back three and the Shane Williams dilemma

How do you replace the sensational Shane Williams? It is the almost impossible question Wales have had to try and find an answer to over the last couple of months.

The key to this conundrum is Leigh Halfpenny and whether Wales ask him to operate on the wing or in his preferred full-back position.

If Halfpenny features at 15, Gatland would turn to a raw wide-man like Blues youngster Alex Cuthbert or the more established Aled Brew.

I’m not sure Cuthbert is ready for an international start but he would still get the call alongside his Dragons rival in my squad.

If Halfpenny is asked to partner George North on the wing, Lee Byrne and Gavin Henson are the full-back options.

Clermont’s Byrne comes into the equation despite concerns about his age, but he has been in fine form in France.

The big boot of Henson also provides an option in a position where he has played two of his three regional matches for the Blues so far this season.’"

The Guardian's Paul Rees writes that Gavin Henson is set for a re-call to the Wales set-up ahead of the Six Nations.

"Gavin Henson is in line for another Wales recall after missing out on the World Cup because of a hand injury sustained in a warm-up match against England in Cardiff.

Henson, who is 30 next month, made his debut for Cardiff Blues last month and appeared in his favourite position at inside-centre for the first time against London Irish last Saturday.

He was covering for Jamie Roberts, the Wales and Lions centre who has not played since injuring a knee against Newport Gwent Dragons on 23 December. Roberts will not feature in the Blues' final Heineken Cup group match against Racing Métro on Sunday and is a doubt for the Six Nations opener against Ireland."

The Irish Independent previews Ireland naming their squad for the Six Nations by talking to a bullish Jamie Heaslip.

"Tomorrow's Six Nations squad announcement officially marks the start of another four-year cycle and the countdown to Ireland's 2015 World Cup campaign.

By that stage, Jamie Heaslip will be 32 and will be facing into what will almost certainly be his last World Cup, something the Naas man might find hard to fathom seeing as it's only a few months after his first taste of the tournament.

The squad named tomorrow is likely to include everyone from the possibles to the probables and even the probably nots, but Heaslip acknowledges that, come the opening match against Wales on February 5, there are likely to be some new faces around the Ireland camp, at the expense of some old ones."

The Guardian's Rob Kitson reflects on yet another good weekend for the Celtic league in the Heineken Cup.

"Munster, Leinster and Ulster, Ireland's three leading sides, have played 15 Heineken Cup pool games between them this season and lost just once in total. All three sit top of their groups. England, in contrast, look likely to end up with just one qualifier – Saracens – from a starting list of seven. Which nation would you back to fare better in the forthcoming Six Nations championship?

Rugby union, clearly, is not quite that simple. It should also be pointed out that France, World Cup finalists and perhaps the strongest Six Nations team on paper, could be represented in the quarter-finals by just two clubs, Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne. The remaining quartet of Castres, Racing Métro, Montpellier and Biarritz have won just five of their 20 games to date. A sense of underachievement is not just confined to English club rugby."

Steve James, of the Daily Telegraph, looks at the remarkable rise of Ben Morgan.

"Last week I interviewed Ben Morgan. He’s the No 8 playing for the Scarlets in Llanelli, who might well make his England debut very soon.

He’s in the Six Nations squad anyway. And he has got an interesting tale to tell. He’s a Gloucestershire boy who went to Wales, firstly at Merthyr Tydfil, to make his mark in professional sport.

It’s a similar path that I trod many moons ago. But at least Gloucestershire County Cricket Club offered me a contract, if only in a face-saving move to respond to Glamorgan’s offer.

When Morgan left Gloucestershire in 2008, unable to make it regularly into the Cinderford team who were then in National League Three South, nobody seemed too bothered."

Former England and Lions stalwart cut an impressive frame in South Africa in 1997 © Getty Images

The Daily Mail's Rob Wildman talks to Toby Booth who pleas for common sense to prevail in the eligibility row surrounding the centre.

"London Irish head coach Toby Booth hopes ‘common sense’ will be used in the row over the international eligibility of centre Steven Shingler, who was only a substitute in Irish’s 22-15 defeat by Cardiff Blues. Shingler has been picked in Scotland’s Six Nations squad but Wales blocked his path after he played for their Under 20s team. Swansea-born Shingler, whose mother came from Dumfries, must hope an appeal overturns the decision that he is ‘tied’ to Wales. Booth said: ‘Steve wants to play at the best level he can. One country has shown an interest, the other hasn’t.’"

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary claims Gethin Jenkins is courting interest from Toulon.

"Cardiff prop Gethin Jenkins looks likely to be the latest Wales player to consider a big-money move to France after entering into talks with Top 14 club Toulon.

Jenkins, who was one of the star performers during the Lions tour of South Africa in 2009 and is Wales’s most capped forward with 83 appearances, is understood to have met Toulon manager Bernard Laporte in the Cote d’Azur last week.

Laporte also met Sale and England prop Andrew Sheridan last week and Toulon are keen to sign both players, despite them being loosehead props, with London Irish pair Delon Armitage and Nick Kennedy also set to join the big-spending French side next season."

Hugh Farrelly, of the Irish Independent, reflects on Leinster's hard fought win over Glasgow.

"Not quite the Sunday roast many expected, but the champions duly claimed their berth in the Heineken Cup knockout stages, with the prospect of a Lansdowne Road quarter-final if they take care of Montpellier next weekend.

They had to scrap for it all the way, though.

Firhill is an austere outpost on the European rugby circuit, the home of Partick Thistle FC, nestling amid a cordon of concrete tower blocks, and the no-frills surroundings were ideally suited to a contest which bristled with intensity but was always more grunt than guile"

Peter Bills, writing for the New Zealand Herald, talks to former All Blacks captain Sir Wilson Whineray about his astonishing life.

"He still remembers, as a 5-year-old dressed in his Sunday best, being taken to Queen St to watch the troops marching down to the harbour, on their way to war in 1940.

Flags were waved, and the crowds cheered. And they went again, to watch the boys when they were coming home.

"Of course" says Sir Wilson Whineray, "what you didn't realise as a 5-year-old was, the lines going down were longer than the lines coming back.""

Former England and Lions stalwart cut an impressive frame in South Africa in 1997 © Getty Images

The Sunday Telegraph's Paul Ackford wonders whether the English game has lost a key element?

"Twenty-odd years ago England used to send their biggest players out on to the pitch first. As the changing room door opened, especially in the bear pit that was the Parc des Princes, Dooley, Richards, Teague and Skinner followed Carling into the tunnel.

"It was team policy, a deliberate attempt to intimidate the opposition by sending the roughest, toughest, ugliest brutes out at the head of the queue.

"Ian McGeechan was of the same opinion later in the decade when he appointed Martin Johnson to lead the 1997 Lions to South Africa. McGeechan wanted Springbok skipper Gary Teichmann to look up into the face of the taller Johnson at the coin toss before each of the three Tests. It was that elemental.

"On Wednesday Stuart Lancaster revealed the forwards who will do battle on England’s behalf in the forthcoming Six Nations and on the tour to South Africa in the summer. With the greatest respect to that bunch, when compared to the likes of Dooley, Johnson, Cotton, Teague, Blakeway, Colclough, Chilcott, Grewcock, Dallaglio and the rest, there isn’t an enforcer among them, which begs the question: where have all the hard men gone?"

Veteran Kiwi hooker Andrew Hore talks to the Otago Daily Times about the latest stage of his career.

"World champion All Black hooker Andrew Hore has always been a good southern man at heart - trouble is he has been plying his trade elsewhere.

"Now he can look his mates in the eye again.

"The Hurricanes cut loose the experienced rake at the end of last season after 10 years service. Hore is a little resentful he was not able to leave on his own terms. But he has signed a one-year deal with the Highlanders and is much closer to the Maniototo where he owns a farm.

"It has all worked out pretty well," said Hore. "I have made a lot of good friends up there ... but there are no real regrets coming back here. Being a Highlander is something special and all my mates are ... supporters. I guess it sunk in when I realised I could just get in the car and drive to work rather than say goodbye to everyone, fill the suitcase up and head to Wellington.

"It is a new challenge with a new team and obviously we've got a new stadium. And I suppose I'll be able to go to my local pub and talk about how the Highlanders are going to go instead of getting grief about being a Hurricane."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley chats to Leinster's Rob Kearney.

"Not for the first time under either Michael Cheika or Joe Schmidt, Leinster are doing their bit for Ireland’s forthcoming Six Nations campaign. Along with the continuing good form of so many Irish front-liners such as Jonny Sexton and the rejuvenation of Luke Fitzgerald, there’s the rebirth of Rob Kearney into something more, even, than the player who became the standout starting Lions’ full-back three summers ago.

"Where many a coach, unfettered by outside national concerns or even ham-fisted diktats, would have been entitled to continue playing Isa Nacewa at fullback, Schmidt has started Kearney there in all seven of his starts since the World Cup, and Kearney is flourishing.

"With his Gaelic football-honed skills, few were better equipped to cope with the Springboks’ aerial bombardment than Kearney. However, with the increased emphasis on keeping the ball in hand, Kearney has almost reinvented himself since his return from a nine-month injury-enforced sabbatical. His greater awareness in counter-attacking is seeing him link more with team-mates, although as he points out, this is a unit skill as much as it is down to the fullback, and he is also linking better with his sharp intrusions into the line."

The Irish Times' John Sullivan reports from Thomond Park as Munster become the first side to qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

"A fifth consecutive victory guaranteed Munster a place in the Heineken Cup playoffs but the absence of a bonus point against Castres at Thomond Park, coupled with the nature of the performance, will smart. A home quarter-final now rests on a result in Northampton next weekend, where the Saints will seek revenge after having their pockets picked here in November.

"The English club will be chasing a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup.

"A lack or precision, principally in the opposing 22, saw the home side spurn several excellent try scoring chances. A frustration was that they made a host of line breaks but just couldn’t convert them. Their dominance in the scrum provided a rich seam of penalties and they also nicked several lineouts but couldn’t properly translate the glut of possession into tries. Decision making was also questionable, at times, the home side guilty of kicking away ball and forcing passes.

"Castres couldn’t believe their good fortune and in snatches demonstrated reasonable continuity and muscularity. They might have had one or two more tries of their own without really threatening to win the match."

The Scotland on Sunday's Iain Morrison reflects on Edinburgh's Heineken Cup victory over Racing Metro.

"Whatever else you say about Edinburgh Rugby, they offer value for money because the team always plays for the full 80 minutes. Phil Godman’s winning kick sailed over the bar 14 seconds after full time. Edinburgh never triumph by more than a short nose, so despite winning four of their five matches the club still boasts a minus five points differential.

"A few weeks back a London-based broadsheet bemoaned the state of English clubs in general, and Northampton Saints in particular, after the Midlands club had fallen to Castres. Northampton, the journalist explained, were desperately underpowered in comparison to their cross-channel rivals who had bigger budgets and could field bigger, stronger players.

"They should all be force fed the video of Edinburgh’s extraordinary double bill against French giants Racing, who have an annual budget of approximately ¤22 million. Just as the race does not always go to the swift, so too the match does not go to the muscle and so it proved on Friday night. For all their forward power, Racing often looked lost in the face of a swarming Edinburgh defence that never gave them time.

"The French club’s woes were made flesh by Sebastian Chabal. The totemic No.8 wasn’t just looking his age on Friday he was looking mine and that can’t be good. It wasn’t his coach beckoning him from the field midway through the second half, that was retirement calling."

Stuart Lancaster has emphasised youth, but picking tyros who are not regular starters for their clubs will only add to England’s woes, according to the Sunday Times' Stephen Jones (via paywall).

"Without the foundation stones, a rugby team are nothing. Last week England selected four props for the RBS Six Nations and beyond from clubs who play in the Heineken Cup, entrusting Matt Stevens, Dan Cole, Alex Corbisiero and Joe Marler with the task of laying the foundations for the recovery of the national side.

"Is the castle built on sand? When their respective clubs announced the starting teams for their crucial pool matches this weekend, none of the four was chosen. They were all on the bench. Anybody not chilled by that statistic ruddy well should be.

"Saracens preferred Carlos Nieto, an experienced Italian, to Stevens. Meanwhile, Leicester chose the charismatic Martin Castrogiovanni at tight-head instead of Cole; London Irish went to Clarke Dermody at loosehead instead of Corbisiero, and Marler, perhaps most pointedly of all, was supplanted when Harlequins moved their reserve tighthead, the Irishman Mark Lambert, to Marler’s loosehead side. In all four cases, the clubs have gone for players of vastly more experience than the young Englishmen.

"What does this tell us? For the top 32 players of England, the first hurdle has been negotiated. They are safely in Stuart Lancaster’s first squad. Congratulations abounded. So did excited media tributes to bold selections and brave new worlds. All the 32 need now is parental permission and to promise to be home by their bedtime, then off they go. To Murrayfield, Mothercare and beyond."

England’s caretaker rugby coach, Stuart Lancaster, has asked a former army corporal shot in the face while serving in Iraq to address his squad at their Yorkshire training camp next week. The Sunday Times' David Walsh talks to Simon Brown (via paywall).

"Asked what his message to Lancaster’s men would be, Brown told The Sunday Times: “You guys are the cream of the cream of English rugby, you are young, you are talented, player for player you can stand against the best players in the world. But you are also young and you need to learn. So why not go out there and just show what you can do. Be proud to wear your national shirt. Rugby is fun and you are earning money doing what you love to do. How many of us wouldn’t offer up limbs to have the opportunity to put on our national shirt, and you guys have that opportunity.”

"Brown was invited to speak to Warrington’s rugby league team before a 2010 Challenge Cup match, which Warrington won. The club’s coach, Tony Smith, said: “It helped keep us grounded. He’s lost sight in one eye and most of the sight in the other eye and, when you hear those sort of stories, it really comes home to roost. I’m not saying [victory] was all down to Simon Brown but it was worthwhile.”

"Lancaster has also asked Dave Brailsford from cycling and Hugh Morris, managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, to address the players during the five-day training camp at Leeds."

The Daily Telegraph's Steve James talks to Scarlets No.8 Ben Morgan about his career choices.

"Ben Morgan has made the right decision. He has chosen the land of his birth and upbringing rather the land where, at the Scarlets of Llanelli, he has made his rugby name. And now England have chosen him in their Elite Player Squad.

"This is not your stereotypical story of the rise and rise of a young rugby player, spotted early and carefully reared in the sanitised environment of an academy. Morgan has done it his way – a very different way.

"Born in Bristol, he grew up in Kingswood, Gloucestershire. From the age of five he was playing at his local club, Dursley, where Gloucester wing Charlie Sharples, who won an England cap against Wales last summer, joined him in the under-14 and under-15 sides. Just imagine if both were to be selected against Scotland on Feb 4.

"I played in every age group, except one year when I had Osgood-Schlatter disease, right through to the under-17s, then the colts, and then I had one season of men's rugby," says the personable Morgan, "I played centre, wing and full-back when I was younger. When I was about 10 or 11, I turned to No 8."

The Observer's Eddie Butler reflects on the announcement of England's squad for the Six Nations.

"Given the exhaustion of the English patient after all the prodding and vile emanations of the past three months, it could be argued that Stuart Lancaster could hardly go wrong. If the interim coach had suggested swapping Pennyhill Park for Lourdes and reduced his call to arms to a request that his country say a little prayer for him he would have been commended for his unshakable belief in the power of the sporting miracle cure.

"It turns out, however, that Lancaster is a coach of reason, guided not south, but to the expanses of West Park Rugby Club outside Leeds. Yorkshire before blind faith. England will train at a staging post on the way to Murrayfield, the location chiming perfectly with a post-World Cup reconnection with the earth.

"It is a sign of positive restlessness: to be prepared to uproot and start afresh. But even a disciple of reason must worry about the restrictions of time, his existence merely as England's temporary coach. Presumably at some stage, the dart of ambition has pricked Lancaster and he has heard a little voice in his head, saying that the caretaker may yet be handed the keys as the landlord."

Wayne Barnes has come in for criticism this week from Sale CEO Steve Diamond © Getty Images

Brian Ashton, writing in his column for the Independent, calls on referees to use common sense rather than abiding by the exact letter of the law.

"Most of the attention of rugby followers in recent days has been on Stuart Lancaster's initial selection decisions as interim England coach ahead of the Six Nations Championship and on the build-up to the decisive rounds of Heineken Cup pool games, the first batch of which take place this weekend. Both competitions are noted for the ferocity they generate, and it is a truism that in this kind of environment the mentally strong prevail.

In this connection, I find it interesting that the people who need to be as strong as anyone in the mind department – those charged with ensuring things run as smoothly as a dynamically chaotic game like rugby allows – rarely merit a mention when the big events are being previewed. Yet their decisions, the most significant of which inevitably decide the outcome, will be picked over and dissected, in real time and slow-motion replays, by studio analysts and armchair critics. In addition, they might well suffer abuse (mild in comparison to football, but abuse all the same) from the paying public, before being collared for less-than-polite talks with losing coaches keen to deflect attention from the poor performance of their teams. They will also find themselves castigated in the media if one of their law interpretations is deemed to be wrong."

The Daily Mail's Alan Fraser talks to England new boy Ben Morgan about his battle with illness.

"Ben Morgan, one of the fresh faces of the England rugby revolution, might have been forced to limp away from the sport after suffering from a disease which previously struck down the likes of Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes.

Morgan, 22, the Scarlets No 8 who has opted for England over Wales, fell victim to the Osgood-Schlatter disease while in his mid-teenage years.

Osgood-Schlatter attacks children between the ages of nine and 16, more commonly boys active in sport. The condition coincides with periods of growth spurts and can be accompanied by such intense knee and/or shin pain that even walking up and down stairs is difficult.

Gerrard and Scholes overcame the disease to become the heart and soul of English football for a decade and more. Morgan will hope to make a comparable progression in rugby."

The New Zealand Herald reveals that Sonny Bill Williams' fight is in doubt as his opponent is in the midst of legal difficulties.

"There's nothing all that eyebrow-raising in the sad tale of Richard Tutaki, the boxer who is sitting behind iron bars when he should be pumping iron in preparation for a fight with Sonny Bill Williams.

Plenty of boxers exist on the margins of society and eventually fall foul of the law.

It's hardly an unfamiliar story. For every Muhammad Ali or Manny Pacquiao, there are hundreds of Richard Tutakis - hard cases who make their bucks the hard way, inside and outside the ring. More often than not, things don't end well for them.

Had it not been for the intersection of his life with SBW, Tutaki would have remained an obscure character; a footnote in newspaper crime pages would have been the extent of his fame."

The Independent's Chris Hewett provides his take on the battle for the England centre berths and analyses Brad Barritt's chances.

"A question: who has the most difficult task in English rugby? Perhaps it is Stuart Lancaster, the caretaker Test coach, who has plenty on his mind as he attempts to restore the red-rose nation's credibility as a major force in the sport following the many and varied failings of the Martin Johnson regime.

Maybe it is Ian Ritchie, the governing body's incoming chief executive – a position offering the kind of job security once associated with marriage to Henry VIII. Just conceivably, the award should go to those charged with keeping Danny Care, the troubled Harlequins scrum-half, away from the rozzers."

Wales Online's Carolyn Hitt looks at the dispute between the WRU and the SRU over Steve Shingler.

"I can’t get the concept of a Welsh player who has to be forced to play for Wales. Deciding who to support can be much simpler than deciding who to play for.

There are many differences between those who play rugby and the rest of us who simply watch it.

They have six packs, we have party packs. They know the laws of the breakdown, we just pretend we know the laws of the breakdown. They eat in Nando’s, we can eat in Krispy Kreme.

But if there’s one issue that is much simpler for fans than players, it is identity. We don’t need to refer to IRB Regulation 2 to decide whether we are “eligible” to support Wales. It’s a given. Born here, raised here, done all your supporting here – you’re hardly going to start wearing a kilt, crooning Swing Low or smuggling a cockerel under your pacamac come the start of the Six Nations are you?"

Graham Rowntree is a fan of the move to the North © Getty Images

Shaun Edwards, writing in his column for the Guardian, believes Stuart Lancaster has organised the perfect preparation for their trip to Murrayfield by taking England to the north of England.

"Taken at face value it looks a gamble. Nine new faces, four more with just a single cap and 13 changes from the World Cup squad of 30. Under anyone other than Stuart Lancaster it might be going some to knock the 32 men England's interim coach named on Wednesday into a team – and in less than two weeks.

Actually, from 23 January, when the squad gather in Leeds to the first day of the Six Nations, when England play Scotland at Murrayfield, probably amounts to only 10 days proper training for those England guys involved in Europe the previous weekend. They may join up on the Monday, but anyone who has been playing Heineken Cup rugby the previous Saturday or Sunday will be in pieces until around the Wednesday. They'll need two or three days before bodies are back in any kind of condition to do serious work."

The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Mairs believes that Sale prop Andy Sheridan is on the verge of signing for Top 14 side Toulon.

"England prop Andrew Sheridan appears to be on the verge of bringing the curtain down on his glittering international career after entering into negotiations with Top 14 club Toulon about a move to France next season, Telegraph Sport can reveal..

The big-spending French club are also understood to be close to signing England full-back Delon Armitage, who was also overlooked for Stuart Lancaster’s Elite Player Squad for the Six Nations announced on Wednesday.

Armitage’s London Irish team-mate, the former England lock Nick Kennedy, is also thought to have signed a three-year deal with Toulon, which could potentially bring the number of English players at the club to eight next season in a fresh exodus of players across the Channel.
Former England players Jonny Wilkinson, Simon Shaw, Steffon Armitage and Dean Schofield are already at Toulon as well as former Saracens lock Kris Chesney."

Stuff.co.nz's Matt Richens talks to Zac Guildford about his battle against the bottle.

"'Zac Guildford says staying sober for a year is going to be hard, but he knows it's a must after hitting "rock bottom".

When the 22-year-old should have been enjoying the afterglow of the All Blacks' Rugby World Cup win late last year, he was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons after a booze-fuelled night in Rarotonga where he walked naked and bleeding into a bar before getting into a stoush with patrons.

His public fall from grace led Crusaders coach, Todd Blackadder, to warn that the Super Rugby campaign was "no second-chance saloon" for the talented wing who was suspended for three pre-season games and one Super match."

The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly looks at Ireland boss Declan Kidney's push to be coach of the Lions.

"'Bold as a lion' is a phrase that has its origin in the bible (Proverbs 28:1), but also one that has significance for Ireland coach Declan Kidney heading into the Six Nations.

The decision on who will lead the Lions to Australia next year is due to be made at the end of the tournament in March, with Wales coach Warren Gatland the clear favourite, followed by Scotland's Andy Robinson and Kidney a distant third.

That pecking order could have been different had Ireland not been flipped over by the Welsh in the World Cup quarter-finals last October, but, either way, the Six Nations will play a major role in deciding who gets the gig.

It is a job made for Kidney -- the ultimate man manager and delegator -- who flourishes in a tour environment (as was proven at the World Cup up until Wales did their thing).

Kidney would surround himself with expertise in every area and take an exhaustive approach to ensuring his players were in the best condition to secure a first series victory in 16 years."

Can England boss Stuart Lancaster back up the positive spin with results? © Getty Images

The Guardian's Rob Kitson offers an insight into an off-the-record briefing given to the media by England boss Stuart Lancaster.

"It is impossible to overstate the gale of fresh Pennines air which has begun to blow through English rugby. The unfamiliar names on the squad list reflect the shifting climate but the change in attitude is the most striking. When in 10 days' time the players arrive at the Sycamores, home of West Park Leeds RUFC, for their pre-Six Nations training camp, they will be walking into a cultural revolution.

"Stuart Lancaster, England's interim head coach, was not about to give all his tactical secrets away on day one but already it is clear how he has achieved world-class level-five coaching status. By way of welcoming the media to Yorkshire for the start of a potentially gripping adventure, he gave an off-the-record presentation on his attacking philosophy which ranked among the most gloriously refreshing delivered by any coach in my biro-chewing experience. Suffice to say, he made some of his predecessors sound like blinkered speak-your-weight machines."

The Western Mail's Gwyn Jones previews a crucial few weeks for Welsh rugby.

"The decisions made and the results achieved during this pivotal period in the calendar defines individuals, coaches, regions and nations. It is a time for those who wish to stand apart to make their move.

"Everyone has something to prove, form turns on its head and only those players and teams that possess the extra will, ability and desire will succeed.

"The region with the best prospect of making the knockout stages are the Blues. The away win in Paris against Racing nudges them into pole position, but they have a very awkward game against London Irish on Saturday afternoon.

"It will be interesting to see if Leigh Halfpenny keeps the kicking duties in the presence of Dan Parks for this match. Halfpenny has a prodigious boot, but his usual role is to take the distance shots at goal.

"Being regular kicker is very different. He has nothing to lose on the efforts from distance and three points is a bonus. But the expectation is very different when you are 30 yards out."

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary is refusing to get carried away with Stuart Lancaster's youthful-looking England squad.

"Stuart Lancaster has proven himself to be a slick PR operator: presentable bloke, media-friendly, strong message. The returns have been immediate. The soiled RFU brand has had an instant makeover.

"From the trough of post World Cup despond, suddenly there is light and optimism. It’s a pity that England have got to play some matches. It could ruin what has been a great story.

"Well, so much for the curmudgeon’s perspective. It may not pan out that way. But as Lancaster prepares to name his 32-man Elite Player Squad tomorrow, it’s only right to correct false impressions that may have built up. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that gung-ho England is a mirage. They are defending Six Nations champions, after all."

Ruan Pienaar's two-year contract extension with Ulster has been factored in under the IRFU's new Player Succession Policy, with Munster and Leinster understood to have been aware of the deal. The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly reports.

"Under the Union's recruitment directives to be introduced for the 2013-14 season, the three provinces will only be allowed one non-Irish qualified (NIE) player between them in each of the 15 positions.

"Thus, the South African's recapture by Ulster until the end of that season suggests he will be the designated NIE scrum-half among the three provinces in 2013/14. Leinster, through Eoin Reddan and Isaac Boss, and Munster, with Conor Murray and Tomas O'Leary, already have Ireland international scrum-halves on their books and this would have been considered by the IRFU before agreeing Pienaar's contract extension.

"Under the new directive, Pienaar's contract will not be extended after 2014 and a NIE player will not be allowed as his replacement."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley previews the latest round of Heineken Cup action.

"And so to the meat of the season. As a prelude to the forthcoming Six Nations, the next couple of make-or-break, concluding weekends to the pool stages of the Heineken Cup take some beating.

"Aside from providing the usual complications and dramatics next weekend, they are also likely to define some clubs’ seasons. In the cup, it’s all about stayin’ alive beyond January and thus, the Six Nations as well.

"The return to European matters finds three Irish provinces leading their pools and thus never better placed to provide three Heineken Cup quarter-finalists for the first time. Munster are the only team with four wins from four – and all of them by six points or less – while Leinster are the only other unbeaten side."

Sport24's Rob Houwing offers his take on Rassie Erasmus' exit from Tge Stormers.

"When he first came to Newlands in his new, cerebral post, he quickly held a refreshing, well-attended evening at the stadium with one of the WP supporters’ clubs, outlining his philosophy and even using some fascinating video footage of match-play to back up his thoughts. Why, even some journalists were invited!

"It seemed the dawn of exciting times.

"But almost since then, it seems as if he retreated, consciously or otherwise, ever more profoundly back within himself, shirking public attention and certainly ducking the press even more resolutely.

"Even at Stormers training sessions, Erasmus often seemed happiest cantering around amidst his beloved Under-21s, leaving Coetzee and others to handle the communications spotlight ... perhaps even lopsidedly to the level of the players themselves?

"Like it or not, the media in all its expanding forms remains an important conduit to the rugby public, yet the newspaper stories following his resignation have placed heavy emphasis on his “struggle to handle the constant media pressure”.

Supersport.com's Gavin Rich reflects on the void left by Rassie Erasmus at The Stormers.

"It would be naïve to suggest the DHL Stormers won’t be affected by the resignation of Rassie Erasmus, but the many supporters who watched a training session in Hermanus on Wednesday would not have left the primary school venue feeling too downcast about their team’s prospects for the coming season.

"There was an impressive level of energy and graft as the Stormers players toiled under the hot January sun, their coaches enthusiastically barking out instructions as the serious part of the build-up to the new season begins.

"The coach directing onfield operations was Allister Coetzee, which is one of the reasons there shouldn’t be too much panic."

The New Zealand Herald's Patrick McKendry reflects on the gambling woes of former Western Force player Willie Ripia.

"You can get away with quite a few things in rugby, even in the professional era, but former New Zealand Maori player Willie Ripia has learned that stealing from your teammates, as he is alleged to have done at the Western Force, is not one of them.

"...It's understood Ripia was officially reprimanded at least once because of behavioural issues connected to gambling and also alcohol while with the Hurricanes. Some officials there breathed a sigh of relief when he left.

"Although rugby players and officials tend to turn a blind eye to the occasional gambling or alcohol indiscretion, stealing from your teammates is seen as the lowest of the low."

Stuart Lancaster has wielded the axe in his EPS © Getty Images

Chris Foy, of the Daily Mail, reports that 13 members of the squad which journeyed to the 2011 World Cup are likely to be axed by Stuart Lancaster in Wednesday's EPS announcement.

"Stuart Lancaster will confirm his overhaul of the England set-up on Wednesday when he reveals a 32-man squad awash with emerging young talent and minus 13 of the players who were at the World Cup.

Of the 32 names expected to be included in the senior group to be revealed at lunchtime, 15 were not in New Zealand for a campaign which ended in quarter-final defeat after a catalogue of off-field dramas.

As revealed in Sportsmail, veterans Mike Tindall, Nick Easter and Mark Cueto are not among the chosen men for a Six Nations which will act as the first step towards the home World Cup in 2015."

The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Mairs believes that the 2012 Six Nations could be an audition for the role of British & Irish Lions coach for the 2013 tour.

"The appointment of the British and Irish Lions head coach for next year’s tour of Australia will almost certainly be decided by the outcome of the Six Nations Championship.

Wales’s Warren Gatland and Scotland’s Andy Robinson the leading contenders.

John Feehan, the Lions chief executive, confirmed yesterday that the selection of the coach would “in likelihood” come from one of the four Home Unions, with the Six Nations performances set to form a crucial part of the recruitment process.

Both Gatland and Robinson have Lions experience. Gatland worked under Sir Ian McGeechan during the 2009 tour of South Africa while Robinson, the former England head coach, was involved heavily in the 2005 tour of New Zealand."

Wales Online's Andy Howell writes that the Ospreys must find a big name to replace Scott Johnson.

"Scott Johnson's impending exit as director of coaching at the Ospreys can’t come quick enough for some people.

Wales great Jonathan Davies has called on the Australian to leave immediately so Sean Holley and Jonathan Humphreys can have a chance to prove they should be in charge next season.

Johnson splits opinion like no other. But is he a great coach, or not?

The question is just as pertinent today as it was when he was controversially appointed by the Ospreys three years ago.Some players in the Wales camp loved his methods and his personality when he was their skills coach.

According to illustrious names such as Martyn Williams, Stephen Jones and Gareth Thomas, Johnson is amongst the very best and can do no wrong."

The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Mairs believes that Bill Beaumont is likely to take on the chairman role at the RFU.

"Bill Beaumont looks set to become the next chairman of the Rugby Football Union after the former England captain narrowly failed narrowly in his bid to become chair of the International Rugby Board last month, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Beaumont is understood to be close to declaring his intention to stand and if he does so it is almost certain he will not be opposed for the position given his popularity within the governing body and the wider grassroots game.

There was support in the RFU council before Christmas for one of the two new independent non-executive directors, Andrew Higginson or Miles Templeman, to put themselves forward for election while Ian Metcalfe, the current chair of the professional game board, has also demonstrated strong leadership after the political fallout following England's World Cup quarter-final exit."

Writing in the Guardian, Rob Kitson previews Stuart Lancaster's EPS squad.

"It is almost 15 years since English rugby last experienced such a complete change of direction. The arrival of Clive Woodward at Twickenham in 1997 was the prelude to a wholesale selectorial reshuffle. Something similar is imminent. When Stuart Lancaster unveils his senior and Saxons squads at West Park Leeds RFC in Yorkshire, last year's World Cup will suddenly feel like ancient history.

Lancaster, of course, is merely occupying a caretaker role but half of the squad that Martin Johnson took to New Zealand are in danger of becoming permanently surplus to requirements. Trading places with Lewis Moody, Mike Tindall, Mark Cueto et al will be names such as Owen Farrell, Ben Morgan, Brad Barritt and Joe Marler, all uncapped and desperate to be part of a brighter future. It will not so much feel like a small transfusion of fresh blood as a whole armful."

Vern Cotter is reportedly on the shortlist to become the next England coach © Getty Images

Gavin Mairs reports in the Daily Telegraph that Clermont Auvergne coach Vern Cotter is in contention to become the new England head coach.

Vern Cotter, the coach of French Top 14 side Clermont Auvergne, is understood to be in contention for the England head coach position if Stuart Lancaster is not retained beyond the Six Nations championship.

The headhunting firm hired by the Rugby Football Union to search for a permanent successor to Martin Johnson, who resigned as England manager in November, is thought to have given a presentation about their progress to the professional game board yesterday.

Cotter, who was narrowly pipped by Steve Hansen to succeed Graham Henry as the next All Blacks coach, is understood to be one of the leading names under consideration, along with former South Africa and Italy coach Nick Mallett.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Steve James argues that Stuart Lancaster temper some of the more flambouyant characters in the England squad, such as Chris Ashton.

England must not just win; they must win with style and grace. As individual characters they have to become less disliked.

So, say, in the case of Chris Ashton, that is going to be some task. Again the truth can’t be as bad as the perception, but he has appeared to reveal the most remarkable ability to wind up almost anyone in contact with him, from opponents to, most recently, his own club, Northampton.

To read his good-idea-at-the-time book, Splashdown, is to pore over a defence of his actions to the people he has irritated.

From the Wales players when he appeared to celebrate Stephen Jones’s concussion, to Italy’s Gonzalo Canale over his silly try-scoring dive (“leave him alone, he’s an idiot,” his team-mate Toby Flood said, tellingly, of him), to Ronan O’Gara over a perceived lack of respect, to Manu Tuilagi, who thumped him so spectacularly last season.

Sadly the book was published too early for the latest hair-pulling incident at Leicester. Maybe Lancaster should ban that mocking Ashton dive, something Martin Johnson tried and failed. Now that would be a real statement of intent.

In his column for the South Wales Evening Post, former Wales playmaker Phil Bennett believes the Scarlets must target Northampton fly-half Ryan Lamb in this weekend's Heineken Cup clash.

Northampton are in form, with Ben Foden firing on all cylinders, Ryan Lamb hitting his straps and the forwards going well.

Lamb is key for them. On his day, the playmaker is outstanding, capable of lighting up a game and creating space for those around him.

But I’m sure Nigel [Davies] will have picked up that he can also have off days as well, particularly when he comes up against a side who are intent on rattling him.

The Scarlets need to get to Lamb, keep pressure on him and shake his confidence.

In the Irish Independent Hugh Farrelly talks to Munster hooker Jerry Flannery about the Irish province's prospects in the Heineken Cup this year.

Jerry Flannery, who has been forced to watch his province's progress from the sidelines as he continues his recovery from the calf injury that forced him out of the World Cup, believes the fact that Munster are not being talked up is working in their favour.

"No one is going, 'Munster have this thing wrapped up', even with four wins from four," said the hooker. "People are saying, 'Munster have had a good start but we are still not sure about them', which is a good place for us.

"I look back on past seasons, particularly when we won it in 2006 and '08, and it was never a case of it being there for us to lose.

"We take some criticism every year and most of the time it is deserved, but we just have to look at the bigger picture. It has been a fantastic start and there are so many younger, newer guys coming into the squad too."

Sir Clive Woodward is poised to lead the Great Britain team to the Winter Youth Olympic Games © Getty Images

The Independent on Sunday's Alan Hubbard talks to Sir Clive Woodward who reveals he would have taken a different approach to former England coach Martin Johnson.

"I ask him if he would have done things differently. "Yes, I like to think I would," he says. "But it's easy to view things from the stands.

"I never had to experience the sort of things that went on there in my years in charge. We were very, very big on discipline, how we operated both on and off the field. It's not just the obvious areas of drinking and partying, it's all sorts of things.

"I would have sat down with them as individuals and then as a team, looked them straight in the eye and said, 'How do you want to be remembered?' I know how I want to be remembered, and that's for being on the back pages rather than the front pages.

"I can think of nothing worse than being remembered for doing something inappropriate that would affect the performance of a team-mate or another athlete. It will be with you for the rest of your life."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Brian Moore previews the announcement of England's Six Nations squad on Wednesday.

"The sight of two brooding, shaven-headed characters at various public venues last weekend might have provoked calls to the Home Office reporting escaped inmates.

"England coach Stuart Lancaster and his assistant Graham Rowntree look more likely to reside in a halfway house than at Rugby House in Twickenham, but, as they say, appearances can be deceptive.

"Their behaviour prior to announcing their 32-man Six Nations squad has shown common sense and refreshingly little spin.

"Having announced that the tone will be one of hard work and humility, the pair now face the much more difficult job of selection and their success will define their contribution to the national cause.

"Can they reverse the recidivism of previous regimes, who slid into reactive choice by crisis and could not establish a planned route of progression for players?"

Wales boss Warren Gatland is tipping Leigh Halfpenny to fill the huge boots vacated by little wing wizard Shane Williams in 2012. The Western Mail's Gareth Griffiths reports.

"Leigh is crucial to our plans for the next four years because he can play wing or full-back.

“What I admire about Leigh is the work he has put in to get back to his best.

“When he first burst onto the scene a lot was written about him, he was talked about loads and possibly took things a little bit for granted.

“He slacked off a bit and maybe thought that he had made it. Leigh’s form dropped a bit and we dropped him from the team.

“But he has gone away and worked hard at his game. Leigh knows what is required in terms of preparation and delivering the best performance for him and Wales.

“He is still incredibly young and there is a lot more to come from him.”

Ireland have rejected New Zealand's request to play two midweek games on their tour there in June which includes three Tests. The Irish Independent's Brendan Fanning reports.

"The NZ union had hoped Ireland would play midweek games against the Maori -- who beat Ireland in Rotorua on the 2010 tour -- and a Super 15 franchise, in addition to facing the All Blacks on three straight Saturdays.

"It's for logistical as well as playing reasons," an IRFU spokesman said last week. "We would have had to move around to play the midweek games and we want to focus on the Test series."

"Ireland have never played three Tests in New Zealand -- or any other single country -- before and the New Zealanders had hoped they would agree to go all out with top-of-the-range midweek games rather than second division provinces. Super Rugby will be suspended during the June window so it would have been perfect for the Kiwis to give some of those players international opposition."

The Irish Times' John Harrington reports from Leinster's RaboDirect PRO12 victory over the Cardiff Blues.

"On Saturday night Leinster added some more substance to the sporting truism that the very best teams can play well within themselves and still find a way to chisel out a victory against durable opponents. They could have lost this Rabodirect Pro 12 match against Cardiff, but you somehow always knew in your bones they wouldn’t.

"Had Cardiff’s Leigh Halfpenny kicked a late second-half penalty that would have put his team ahead then maybe the result might have been different, but the probability is Leinster still would have found a way to claim their 10th successive league win. There’s such a deep-rooted sense of self-confidence in this team that they’re utterly convinced of their own ability to persevere no matter what the circumstances.

"We don’t care where we go or where we play,” admitted Jamies Heaslip after Saturday’s victory. “If we bring our own intensity and just worry about the job we have to do rather than the team that we’re playing, I don’t think it really matters where we go to or what the circumstances.”

Danny Care has been booted out of the England squad after his recent run in with the law © Getty Images

The Observer's Eddie Butler looks at the drinking culture within rugby.

"In the light of what a few England players got up to in the bars and harbours of New Zealand at the World Cup, not a lot of sympathy came Danny Care's way when he had a fixed-penalty fine slapped on him for drunk and disorderly behaviour before Christmas. And even less when he failed a drink-driving test on New Year's Day.

The Harlequins scrum-half may have missed the World Cup through injury and thereby avoided seeing with his own eyes the misadventures of England, but he must have been in a state of total oblivion not to recognise that what happened out there has had an effect over here. After the binge came the hangover of all those reviews and leaked questionnaires and the resignations and the sackings. And now has come the taking of the pledge, with the new coach, Stuart Lancaster, promising a fresh approach on the field and a reappraisal of the culture of England rugby."

The Daily Mail's Ian Stafford writes that England boss Stuart Lancaster will refrain from banning alcohol within the side.

"Stuart Lancaster will not impose a 'booze' ban on his squad, despite the problems that have beset England players both during the World Cup and since.

England's interim head coach will announce a predominantly youthful group of 32 players for the Elite Player Squad and a further 32 for the Saxons squad on Wednesday."

Iain Morrison, of the Scotsman, casts his eye over the new faces in Andy Robinson's Scotland squad.

"Like Oscar Wilde’s response to the death of Charles Dickens’ fictional character Little Nell, it is difficult not to laugh out loud at the latest shenanigans over the eligibility or otherwise of Welsh under-20 cap Steven Shingler.

You can bet the additional two or three other Scottish-qualified players that Andy Robinson has admitted he is also talking to will now be vetted as closely as the president of the USA.

With the Welsh union insisting Shingler’s under-20 outing against France ties him to them, his Scottish mum and his stated determination to keep his eligibility open (he’s also potentially English due to his dad) mean the Scottish Rugby Union are confident they’ve got their man."

The Observer's Paul Rees talks to Stuart Lancaster about where he feels England are ahead of their Six Nations opener with Scotland.

"It has been forgotten, in the self-flagellation and mea culpas that followed England's wretched World Cup, that they go into the Six Nations next month as champions. They lost three matches in 13 in 2011, the same number of defeats that Wales and France suffered in New Zealand in the autumn.

Wales's World Cup was considered an unqualified success after they reached the semi-finals, but they finished the tournament two places lower in the world rankings than when it started. England went to New Zealand in fifth position and returned home in the same place, having clambered into the top four after the group stage. It is, as Stuart Lancaster, their interim head coach, mused last week, a matter of perception. Leaked reviews into what happened, however, painted a bleak picture of a group of players who had little respect for the management."

The Sunday Telegraph's Paul Ackford picks over the forthcoming EPS squad.

"England's interim coach Stuart Lancaster has a difficult job picking the England squad ahead of the Six Nations.

Injuries

Andrew Sheridan and Richard Wigglesworth are both long-term crocked. Louis Deacon, Manu Tuilagi, Courtney Lawes and Toby Flood are all also carrying injuries of varying seriousness.
Regulations require most to be named in squads for later matches, but availability for selection against Scotland on.

Feb 4 could be severely hit. Anyone playing well at loose head prop, openside or lock has a big chance."

The Mail on Sunday's Ian Stafford talks to Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell about his ambition to emulate his father and get an England cap.

"Owen Farrell knows all too well the sporting characteristic he has inherited most from his famous father, former England star and now backs coach Andy Farrell.

'I've got Dad's big mouth,' admitted Farrell junior. 'You could always hear him on the pitch.

'There would be 20,000 people in the stands at Wigan, but you could still hear him giving orders and leading people. I'd like to think I'm the same'."

Brian Smith calling the shots when he was in charge of England's attack © Getty Images

Former England coach Brian Smith, talking to Chris Hewett of the Independent, gives his side of the story after the World Cup fiasco.

"The moment Martin Johnson announced his resignation as England manager in mid-November, the attack coach Brian Smith decided he had no option but to do likewise. "It was Martin who had appointed me, so I felt my position was untenable," he says quietly, reflecting on that supremely difficult moment.

His departure was not confirmed until after the leaking of three post-World Cup reviews – an act that brought the Rugby Football Union to its knees and left Smith, heavily criticised in the published extracts, incandescent with anger at what he saw as a one-sided assault on his professional credentials.

He thought about leaving the country; for a moment, he even wondered whether a career in top-level sport was worth the hassle. Happily, he has spent the last few weeks thinking again."

Wales boss Warren Gatland gives his take on some of the pressing issues ahead of the 2012 Six Nations, on Wales Online.

"Wales coach Warren Gatland is gearing up for a big year in 2012 when he hopes to carry on our splendid form from the World Cup...and could even be appointed Lions coach.

Here, in his first interview of the year, Gatland opens up on a raft of subjects to rugby correspondent Gareth Griffiths."

The Irish Independent's Ruaidhri O'Connor looks at Keith Earls' chances of stepping into the void left by Brian O'Driscoll in the Ireland centres.

"With the festive season done and dusted, the evenings beginning to stretch and the hangovers receding, the collective minds of the rugby world are beginning to switch towards the Six Nations.

Sure, there are two Pro12 games and the final rounds of the Heineken Cup to negotiate for the provinces, but with England, France and Scotland naming their squads this week, an Ireland 'A' international against England at the end of January and the opening game against Wales less than a month away, there's limited opportunity for players to impress Declan Kidney.

Tonight at Thomond Park is one such chance. It remains to be seen whether Kidney will revolutionise his set-up or stick with the tried and tested, gradually introducing change, but there are a few wearing red in Limerick who will be hoping to force their way into contention."

Former England boss Brian Ashton, in his column for the Independent, provides his take on the forthcoming EPS.

"It is with keen anticipation – keener than usual following Martin Johnson's resignation as England manager and a clear-out of the coaching staff – that the rugby public await next week's announcement of the new Elite Player Squad ahead of the Six Nations Championship.

Stuart Lancaster and his colleagues have been weighing up their options for the best part of a month now and in many ways they find themselves in a win-win situation. In this pressurised day and age, the chance to tread a totally fresh pathway with a major national side is a rare opportunity indeed."

Leicester prop Dan Cole could be an outside shot for the England captaincy, according to Mick Cleary of the Daily Telegraph.

"If strong leadership is the key to future success for England, then head coach Stuart Lancaster will have taken note of the decisive, unruffled manner of Leicester tighthead Dan Cole as he saw off the challenge of team-mate George Chuter, to win a knockabout sports quiz organised by insurers QBE in Stafford on Thursday evening.

From a fun night to serious business, Cole will be at the Welford Road coalface today chiselling away to find a point of weakness in the Wasps front row as Leicester look to continue their push into the Aviva Premiership play-off positions on the back of a recent run of good form.

Cole, 24, is a wry, reticent type, not strident captaincy material but just the sort of honest-to-goodness bloke Lancaster needs to come forward and assume responsibility if England are to mould the next generation of influential leaders on the field."

On the eve of the 2000th Aviva Premiership match, Paul Rees, of the Guardian, looks back at the colourful history of England's top flight.

"When the Premiership was launched in August 1997, the weekend before the death of Princess Diana, senior figures in the Rugby Football Union scoffed at the notion that professional club rugby would ever be self-sustaining. Today, 1,995 matches and almost as many political battles with the governing body later, the international and club games live, almost, in a state of symbiosis. No one dared predict that 15 years ago, when the talk was about breakaways and expulsion.

The landscape has changed considerably since 1997: grounds have been redeveloped, facilities for spectators have improved considerably, the academy system is flourishing, coaching is the responsibility of a team rather than an individual and players' welfare is a priority rather than an afterthought.

But the biggest shift is in the status of club rugby. In the late 90s, the Commons select committee on media, culture and sport described it as a stepping stone to the international game, "a means to an end and not an end in itself". It is now a business with an annual turnover of some £120m – not far short of what the RFU brings in."

The Daily Mail's Chris Foy talks to Geordan Murphy who waxes lyrical about his passion for the Leicester Tigers

"Leicester versus Wasps. For so many years this was the prime fixture, the main event in the calendar and a seismic collision between domestic giants. Not any more.

On Saturday, Welford Road will stage the latest instalment of a once-fierce rivalry, but the visitors from London are a pale imitation of their predecessors who reached the pinnacle of the domestic and European game.

Wasps are in a state of turbulent transition and lie 11th in the Aviva Premiership table.

Like most clubs in most sports, Wasps are caught up in a cyclical process, but Leicester are seemingly immune to such inconvenient ebbs and flows of fortune. They are the Manchester United of the oval-ball code - perennial contenders, with strong support."

Steve Diamond's appointment is hoped to herald in a new era for Sale © Getty Images

Shaun Edwards, in his column for the Guardian, looks at the revolution occurring in the north of England in a week which saw Stuart Lancaster take England to Leeds and Steve Diamond taking on the CEO role at Sale Sharks.

"It may be overstating the case to suggest that a great northern storm is blowing through the portals of English rugby, but there are certainly a few gusts of which to take note.

Eye-catching, of course, is Stuart Lancaster's decision to move England's base camp for the Six Nations to Leeds, a patch he knows best, rather than follow what had become the accepted way of doing things and booking his elite squad in for a few days in the gentler airs of a Portuguese winter.

Along with the disciplining of Danny Care, while telling some of England's more venerable internationals that they will not be required, the interim coach has set a different tone from the one which seems to have applied at the World Cup, but look over the other side of the Pennines and you'll see something equally important going on."

The Daily Mail's Chris Foy claims Charlie Hodgson is on the verge of a remarkable re-call to the England side.

"Charlie Hodgson last started a Test for England three-and-a-half years ago, but in a week when other 30-something players have refused to abandon their international careers, his may be about to take a major twist.

Sportsmail understands that the Saracens fly-half has strongly considered retiring from Test rugby in order to allow the next generation of No 10s to emerge. However, if the 31-year-old had resolved to quit, he is surely having a re-think now. All of a sudden, more caps appear to be within his grasp."

The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly casts his eye across the wealth of talent coming through Ireland's ranks.

"Perhaps it stems from the insecurities of our colonial past and existence in the arm-pit of a once global power, but there is a long Irish tradition of cap-doffing when it comes to overseas visitors.

It is a regular feature of chat-show interviews, past and present -- a desperate need to get an answer to the "what do you think of Ireland?" question, the throwaway replies generally revolving around central themes of the greenness of the grass and friendliness of the people.

Rugby is particularly susceptible. It is easy to recall the fawning deputations sent to Cork Airport to cover Jean de Villiers' arrival a few years ago. With his blond hair and easy charm, the South African cut quite the dashing figure, but his worth to the Munster cause was always in question and those doubts were justified over the course of one unfulfilling season."

The Daily Telegraph's Brendan Gallagher talks to Northampton Saints' Phil Dowson about his ever-present England ambitions.

"By his own admission Phil Dowson has been playing for England Saxons "since the crusades began" but the Northampton flanker, a veteran of six largely successful campaigns with England's second string, still hasn't given up hope of making that final elusive step up to the full England squad.

And Dowson, still only 30, will never have a better opportunity to press his case than at Franklin's Garden's on Friday when Saints take on Harlequins in one of the showpiece matches of the Premiership season.

While the performances of Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw, both touted as England starters in the Six Nations next month, will be minutely scrutinised along with that of Nick Easter who has been in fine form despite some critics penning his international obituary, Dowson is well capable of stealing the show and launching one final assault on winning that elusive first cap."

The Guardian's Rob Kitson looks at the battle for the England captaincy.

"Decision time looms for England's interim head coach, Stuart Lancaster, and a floodlit Friday night match in the east Midlands will effectively provide a final Six Nations trial. Lancaster has settled on the bulk of his 32-man senior squad but he still has to identify a captain and his best starting XV. Northampton's game against the league leaders, Harlequins, should help answer both conundrums.

Between them the two clubs have around 16 players hoping for inclusion in the senior or Saxons squads that will be unveiled in Leeds next Wednesday. Three of the prominent candidates to replace Lewis Moody as England captain – Tom Wood, Chris Robshaw and Dylan Hartley – will play, as will the in-form full-backs Ben Foden and Mike Brown and numerous other contenders."

England will train in Leeds following Stuart Lancaster's decision © Getty Images

The Guardian's Rob Kitson provides his take on Stuart Lancaster's decision to take England to Leeds.

"On the surface England's new era is not easy to distinguish from the old one. Stuart Lancaster has yet to preside over a senior Test fixture but already he can relate to what his predecessor Martin Johnson went through. The combination of Danny Care's second drink-related arrest in three weeks and worryingly timed injuries to potential key men such as Manu Tuilagi and Courtney Lawes is hardly a recipe for pre‑Six Nations managerial nirvana.

Care's latest error of judgment, even so, may just have done Lancaster an unintended favour. By excluding the Harlequins scrum-half from national service until May at the earliest, the caretaker has delivered the starkest of messages to the rest of the squad. Not only is the scenery shifting, with this month's training camp to be held at West Park RFC just outside Leeds rather than the Algarve, but mindless irresponsibility by cast members is to be outlawed, too. The players are not heading to Yorkshire for the quality of the local real ale."

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary looks at the revolution England boss Stuart Lancaster is currently undertaking.

"In admitting on Wednesday that there was a perception that elite rugby players were self-obsessed party animals, England head coach Stuart Lancaster pledged to flush away all pretensions of grandeur by siting his pre-Six Nations camp in the back-to-basics surroundings of the club at which he coaches under-11s mini-rugby on a Sunday morning in Leeds.

The West Park club, some 10 miles north of Leeds, play their rugby in Yorkshire Division Two. The setting is a far cry from England’s usual training HQ set in the country-house surroundings of Pennyhill Park in 123 acres of rolling parkland in Surrey, and has even less in common with the warm-weather site on the Algarve which England used to prepare for last year’s Six Nations.

West Park run four sides and although their 42-acre site has been impressively redeveloped in recent years, they abide by classic Yorkshire virtues of graft and humility. “Owt for nowt”, as Lancaster put it recently, and will be just the tonic needed to right the badly-listing World Cup ship."

The New Zealand Herald's Martin Robinson analyses the similarities between politics and rugby in New Zealand.

"Reports on the distribution of wealth in New Zealand usually reveal increasing inequality. Rugby is a good example of this widespread trend.

New Zealand rugby players come in all ages, shapes and sizes, and both sexes. Players vary greatly as regards their skill levels, commitment and training schedules. Rewards for players are extraordinarily unequal, as most actually pay to play while a very few are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Is this fair or unfair? Should the Labour Party, the Greens or the Occupy Auckland movement campaign for more-equal payment of rugby players? Should the "greedy" All Blacks be forced to hand over some of their colossal income to the more impoverished fellow players? Should the Government intervene to reduce this glaring disparity in rewards?"

The Irish Independents' Hugh Farrelly looks at the worth of Paul O'Connell to Ireland.

"You think back a year and a half, and the doom-mongers were out in force. Rumours have found a natural home online and the internet was throbbing to tales of Paul O'Connell's demise.

The debilitating effects of his groin injury complete with misdiagnoses and false dawns had been stretched out over most of 2010 and there was wild speculation as to whether he would ever return or, if he did, whether he would be the same player as before.

Those doubts have been cast to the wind as, rejuvenated by the extended break, O'Connell grew into 2011 and finished the year restored to his omnipotent best, a key component of Ireland's best World Cup moments and Munster's storming start to the Heineken Cup.

Yesterday's contract announcement -- following on swiftly from his confirmation as stand-in captain for Brian O'Driscoll -- confirms as much and the player, who turned 32 in October, has two years to re-emphasise his ongoing provincial and national importance."

Lancaster (centre) has opted to discard Danny Care from his Six Nations plans © Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary reflects on England's decision to kick Quins scrum-half Danny Care out of their Six Nations plans.

"Stuart Lancaster has already made a bold statement of his managerial style, and shown himself to be more of a disciplinarian than his predecessor, a stance that can only stand him in good stead when the Rugby Football Union comes to deciding on a permanent head coach.

"Lancaster might have been tempted to take the easy way out with Care. Even though he had had cause to have stern words with the Harlequins scrum-half only a few weeks ago, this latest incident was once again on club duty.

"However Lancaster, who has made a good impression with his upfront ways and positive talk since being promoted to the job on an interim basis from the England Saxons, made great play on appointment in early December of the virtues of character and correct behaviour following England’s scandal-blighted World Cup campaign."

Cardiff Blues star Gavin Henson is determined to show Wales credentials against European champions Leinster. The Western Mail's Andy Howell reports.

"Giving his first interview since making his debut for the Blues after recovering from a broken wrist, Henson insisted he was pleased with his comeback from injury... but admitted it was time to take his game up a notch.

“Every match is massive for me from here on in,” declared the former Ospreys star. “The Six Nations is not far away and I’m running out of time to impress before then. It’s great to be back out on the field. I really enjoyed the two games I’ve played in, against the Dragons and the Ospreys.

“I’m pretty good and am just hoping to get a start at the weekend against Leinster, who aren’t European champions for nothing. I don’t think anyone has higher expectations of me, and the way I play, than I do of myself.

“I know I have to be patient after my wrist injury and it’s frustrating to make small mistakes in games. But I’m going in the right direction and, hopefully, I’m getting better with each game. I’m just concentrating on getting into the flow of it and more involved in the action.

“There’s always been a bit of hype around me for whatever reason but I don’t think it has any affect on my rugby. It’s never been an issue for me. If it helps on the entertainment side, great, because we’re in the entertainment business."

Despite an impressive season so far and growing support behind his continuing as Munster coach, Tony McGahan says his future with the province is unclear. The Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly reports.

"The Australian has placed the province in a commanding position at the mid-point of the season but has told the Irish Independent a decision on his future has yet to be made, with discussions to take place in the near future.

"It is certainly a topic that will come up in the next period of time," said McGahan. "We will just have to wait and see how things pan out for myself and the club."

"McGahan came under pressure at the start of last year after Munster failed to get out of their Heineken Cup pool for the first time in 13 seasons with CEO Garret Fitzgerald issuing a message of support at the time.

"However, McGahan then steered Munster to Magners League glory, before overcoming injury and transition issues to guide his side to four wins from four in this season's Heineken Cup as well as a top-four position in the Pro12."

Writing in the Irish Times, former Ireland and Munster star Alan Quinlan offers his stake on the Irish Rugby Football Union's controversial overseas player policy.

"Every foreign player who comes to play professional rugby in Ireland has a different kind of story to tell and just as they’re not all Clinton Hupperts, they’re not all Rocky Elsoms either. If the IRFU’s new policy with regard to foreign players guarantees one thing, it’s that the provinces will have to get the process of finding new recruits from overseas down to a fine art over the coming years. They will have no other choice.

"I have to say, I think some of the outrage there’s been since it was announced just before Christmas has been a bit over the top. If you sit down and go through it, there are some very good ideas in the new policy.

"It makes sense from a national point of view. The objective of aiming to have two Irish-qualified players for every position is a worthwhile one and I suppose the IRFU can argue that since it’s not coming in until the end of next season, the provinces have time to think ahead and work out how they’re going to deal with it. It definitely needs tweaking in a couple of areas but overall there’s a lot of merit to it."

Could watching UFC result in better performances from your team? © Getty Images

Watching erotic or aggressive videos before training leads to measurable improvements in the physical performance of rugby players, according to scientists. The Times' Hannah Devlin reports (via paywall).

"The findings might not help England’s rugby players to redress their reputation after a poor World Cup campaign, but coaches believe that the results could help players to maximise the effectiveness of training sessions.

"The study, involving 12 professionals from a top English rugby union team, found that when players were shown a four-minute clip of either exotic dancing or an ultimate fighting championship (UFC) competitor, they experienced a peak in testosterone levels and their power output rose in strength-conditioning exercises.

"The study, which is due to be published in the journal Hormones and Behaviour, was carried out by UK Sport, which provides scientific guidance to the British Olympic squad.

"Some coaches are already using “motivational” videos of this type to help to boost performance in training, according to scientists."

If the IRFU’s foreign player regulations come into existence, then from 2014 onwards the provinces can forget about winning the Heineken Cup again, writes the Irish Times' Gerry Thornley.

"[Isa] Nacewa’s 40-metre sashay through four befuddled Leicester defenders in last season’s Heineken Cup quarter-final remains arguably the try of the season.

"It was the difference between the sides on the day and, allied to his general excellence, no less than the one-season-wonder that was Rocky, it’s doubtful Leinster would have reached Europe’s promised land without Nacewa.

"Of course, if the IRFU’s proposed new guidelines on foreign players from 2014 onwards had been applied a few seasons ago, Nacewa would not have been allowed to join Leinster in the first place, or at any rate not unless he was decreed “position specific”. What a laugh.

"It was Nacewa’s ability to play anywhere from numbers 10 to 15 which enabled Leinster to most adroitly fill in the gaps when the galacticos were away on Irish duty and which could keep each of them on their toes when Michael Cheika had a full hand to select from.

"This is true of all the versatile players – Paul Warwick, Felipe Contepomi et al – without whom all the Heineken Cups and league titles would probably have never been possible."

Rhys Gill would dearly love to re-sign for Cardiff Blues or one of their regional rivals © Getty Images

In an interview with Andy Howell of the Western Mail, Rhys Gill reveals that he has his heart set on a return to his homeland next year.

"There might have been an exodus of Wales stars to foreign fields of late, but Rhys Gill is intent on bucking the trend when his contract finishes with English champions Saracens.

"The loose-head prop might have starred in front of a record club crowd of 82,000 when Saracens beat great rivals Harlequins at Twickenham last week, but home is where his heart lies.

"Gill’s deal runs out at the end of next season and the Treherbert product would jump at the chance of rejoining the Blues or signing for another Welsh region.

"There shouldn’t be any shortage of takers because the 25-year-old is mounting a strong case for the Wales No. 1 jersey worn with such distinction by Gethin Jenkins."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Greg Taipari argues that Liam Messam will have a job on his hands holding on to his place in the Chiefs line-up this season.

"A new year means new challenges for All Black No.8 and last year's Chiefs captain Liam Messam.

"His starting position in the franchise team he has been a part of since 2006, isn't guaranteed. With coach Dave Rennie not yet naming his captain - rugby pundits have to be thinking who is the favoured No 8 for the 2012 season?"

Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times was present as Connacht suffered a desperately unlucky defeat at home to provincial rivals Leinster on New Year's Day.

"When you know how to win, you know how to win and by extension, when you know how to lose you can almost take it to an art form.

"So it was that Connacht played the better rugby, outscored Leinster by two tries to nil yet missed five kicks in total to Isa Nacewa’s haul of five from five, thereby being consigned to a 12th defeat in a row, whereas Leinster made it 13 games unbeaten with a smash-and-grab 15-13 win to maintain their six-point lead in the RaboDirect PRO12 League.

"Looking well-drilled and with a good shape to their attacking game, if a little lacking in cutting edge, Connacht assuredly made much more carries and recycled, put more width and ambition on their game, yet ultimately came up agonisingly short as a drop goal attempt by Miah Nikora, entering the 82nd minute, was shown to have come up just short of the crossbar by the TMO."

Could Declan Kidney's Ireland beat the All Blacks in 2012? © Getty Images

Writing in the Irish Independent, Jim Glennon looks ahead and predicts a year of mixed fortunes for Irish rugby in 2012.

"1. The IRFU's controversial proposals on non-Irish eligible players to be diluted, at the very least.

"...2. France to win the Six Nations. When the Six Nations follows a Lions tour or a World Cup, it tends to stretch the less well-resourced nations and so it's to be expected that Italy, Scotland, ourselves, and even Wales, notwithstanding their exceptional performance in New Zealand, will suffer.

"...3. Leinster to regain the Celtic League

"...4. Leinster not to retain the Heineken Cup. There are several reasons why retaining their European crown may well prove beyond Leinster, notwithstanding all of the above, or indeed the manner in which they are progressing through their pool.

"...5. Ireland to defeat the All Blacks for first time...Ireland will play the recently-crowned world champions three times in the space of a June fortnight. We've never beaten them in 24 encounters since 1905 and, more relevantly, in ten games since the turn of this century, but it's a run which must stop sometime and an early-season All Black combination could be caught on the hop by a full-strength Irish team set on proving to their new-found New Zealand support base that their World Cup performance against Australia is the real benchmark of their ability, rather than that against Wales."

Writing for the International Rugby Board, Ian Gilbert preview the year ahead.

"The European Nations Cup may not have the same kudos as Stade de France or Murrayfield on the opening weekend, but its profile is growing. The multi-tiered competitions resumes with the top division as Romania tackle Portugal and Ukraine host Georgia.

"Georgia will be out to show they are once again Europe’s best outside of the Six Nations by retaining the title, while Ukraine face an uphill battle to remain in Division 1A as teams battle for promotion and relegation in the other five tiers over the coming months.

"The race to be crowned Asia’s best is expected to begin in April with Japan once again favourites to win the HSBC Asian 5 Nations, their biggest challenge likely to again come from Hong Kong, winners of the Emirates Airline Cup of Nations in December.

"June will see the future stars of world rugby converge on Cape Town and Stellenbosch for the fifth edition of the IRB Junior World Championship, when the conundrum 11 teams try to solve is how to stop New Zealand keeping the trophy in their hands."

One from Ulster and one from Munster, but both sharing a farming background, the Irish Times' Gerry Thornley sits in as Irish internationals Rory Best and Denis Leamy talk about a friendship that stretches back to the all-conquering Irish schools trip to Australia in 2000.

"Best was 17 and Leamy 18 when they toured Australia, winning all nine matches. “The closest game that we won was the Test match, and we won 35-6 or something – stuffed them. We had a decent old team,” chuckled Best, which is putting it mildly given the squad included the likes of Gavin Duffy, Shane Jennings, Roger Wilson, Matt McCullough, Stephen Keogh, Frank Murphy, Ian Humphreys, Scott Young and Andrew Maxwell.

“Almost everyone at one point had been involved in a professional set-up,” said Best. “People like John Lyne was on it and at that stage he and Jodie Danagher were two of the best props I played with. They were unbelievable at underage.”

"Ask them what brought them together and Leamy echoes Fr Jack when he quips: “Drink!” Indeed, they had a few days off in Surfers Paradise, which happened to coincide with Best’s 18th birthday. “I’m not in the same league as Leamy,” says Best, to which Leamy retorts: “He’s a martyr for the cause.”

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Paul Ackford senses a whiff of optimism in the air as 2012 dawns.

"A new chief executive is soon to stride into Twickenham to repair an administratively dysfunctional Rugby Football Union. Rob Andrew is still there, ’tis true, but his wings have been clipped and he will have nothing to do with the senior team.

"Wales, with the bulk of their coaching group signed and sealed, are intent on making the most of a young side who will be better for their World Cup heartache. The appointment of the maverick Scott Johnson, who will join Andy Robinson as a ‘senior assistant’ at the end of the season, is evidence that Scotland are serious in their search to find an attacking edge, and Ireland, blessed with a formidable back row and a gifted outside-half in Jonathan Sexton, are intent on demonstrating that success does not begin and end with O’Driscoll, O’Connell and O’Gara.

"Transformation is also all the rage across the rest of the rugby world. Eddie Jones has been installed as Japan’s boss, replacing John Kirwan. France and Italy have shuffled their coaching decks, and for the first time in almost eight years the All Blacks will take to the field without Graham Henry calling the shots. Steve Hansen has the privilege of succeeding Henry and will face South Africa, who are highly likely to have a fresh man in charge too. There is even a new team to take account of in that part of the world, as Argentina wait to make their entrance to a four nations tournament for the first time later in the year. The times they are a-changing."