KYRAN BRACKENS PRE MATCH VIEW
EXCITING SELECTION
It looks a mobile team and the good thing is it’s full of players who are on top form for their clubs, like David Strettle, Phil Dowson and Alex Corbisiero. Individually, it’s probably the form fifteen players in the Premiership, which is how you should pick a team. Having said that, it lacks a bit of experience. But it’s exciting, a new era, let’s see what happens. England have talked a good game for the last few weeks; now it’s time to front up. I think the public will be expecting a new brand of rugby, which is all well and good, but this is about winning ugly – it doesn’t really matter how.
SCOTS ENTITLED TO BE COCKY
Murrayfield is a tough place to go. England haven’t won there easily for quite a few years and I’ll be interested to see how the new team copes with the pressure of that environment. So of course Scotland coach Andy Robinson can feel confident. He has some really good players, others coming back too, and has a reasonably settled team. The question will be whether they can convert their pressure into points, which has been their problem for a long time.
FRANCE ARE FAVOURITES
First off, I don’t think anyone’s going to get the grand slam. France have to start as favourites – Philippe Saint-Andre is a very clever coach and I imagine he’ll galvanise them better than anyone – although Wales are the form team and it’ll be interesting to see if they can continue in that vein. I don’t think England will win the championship, but I do expect them to do enough to provide encouragement for the future with a new brand of rugby.
Kyran Bracken was speaking courtesy of GamePlan Solutions: Managing high profile and popular sport stars; speakers, leaders, motivators, ambassadors www.gameplansolutions.co.uk