England favourite for the Six Nations

The autumn series has now been completed and the next international action will not be until February, when the 2005 Six Nations gets under way.England are the favourites for that tournament at 11/8 at Stan James. They impressed against Canada and South Africa, but were denied a clean sweep by Australia, who won by 21-19 at Twickenham. It was a game that Andy Robinson's men really should have won however, and the coach should be able to welcome back Jonny Wilkinson at fly half. His goal kicking skills were sorely missed.Their first game is against Wales, and it should be a terrific encounter. The Welsh came desperately close to beating South Africa and New Zealand and have improved greatly over the past twelve months. 16/1 can be found about their prospects at VCBet.France were the favourites before these latest contests, but consecutive defeats to Argentina and New Zealand have pushed les bleus out to 13/8. With away games at Twickenham and Lansdowne Road on the schedule we are not too positive about the chances for the defending champions.Third favourites are Ireland, and they are the only one of the six nations to have won all of their matches during November. USA, South Africa and Argentina have all been put to the sword and the fixture list dictates that the two favourites, England and France are home fixtures for Eddie O'Sullivan's men and this must give them a great chance of a Grand Slam. We selected them prior to the season as 13/2 shots (VCBet).Scotland are 200/1 shots but Matt Williams will be happy to simply avoid the wooden spoon. Italy are the 2000/1 outsiders (Blue Square)