LONG READ Can Wales win a match and will Borthwick smile? Ten key Six Nations questions

The Six Nations Championship begins this week with a heavyweight showdown in Paris, and promises to deliver a blockbuster six weeks of action.

Here, RugbyPass gets stuck into the key questions ahead of kick-off.

1. Will a Thursday kick-off work?

The organisers have gone for a Thursday start to avoid a clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday evening. Joyous though the opportunity is to enjoy Andrea Bocelli, Mariah Carey and some impossibly overblown dramatic symbolism at the San Siro, the move to the fringes of midweek doesn’t sit naturally with the championship’s rhythms.

A Six Nations weekend should mean a Six Nations weekend. Even if an enticing opening game between France and Ireland – the sides that have won the last four titles between them – pulls in decent ratings, let’s hope the suits don’t get any ideas.

2. What mark will Louis Rees-Zammit leave on his return to the championship?

It is three years since Rees-Zammit last played in the Six Nations. The landscape – and the Wales team – has changed drastically since then with no Alun Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, George North or Dan Biggar to lean on these days. It could be a rough tournament for Wales but in Rees-Zammit they possess a diamond. In 2021, before his venture into American football, he scored the try of the tournament with his chip-and-chase effort against Scotland. With luck, he has a few more of those magical moments in him in this edition.

3. Does compression lead to predictability?

This season’s championship will be played over six weeks as opposed to seven. Cutting the fallow weeks from two to one gives the tournament more chance to maintain its momentum. However, shortening it carries dangers for the countries with shallower squad depth. While England, France and, to a lesser extent Ireland, have some wiggle room to rotate, the others do not. The Six Nations’ inherent capacity for surprise is one of its charms; it would be the lesser if it lost some of that but compressing the competition calendar looks like it will favour the heavyweights.

4. Will the championship end in a Paris Grand Slam shootout?

The prime scenario is the final game of round five on Super Saturday, March 14 – France v England – will be a championship decider; the dream one is it will also be a winner-takes-all Slam shoot-out. Only once in the Six Nations era has there been a head-to-head final weekend Slam showdown.

That came in 2003 when Martin Johnson’s England stormed Lansdowne Road, after the pre-match red carpet furore, to complete the sweep. So it is unlikely. But not impossible. France and England look like the leading title contenders again this time around.

5. Will Henry Pollock start a Test?

England’s boy wonder has been stirring the pot and stealing the headlines with cameos off the bench so far in his international career. A key part of the Pom Squad with his energy and unerring ability to make things happen, he has already carved out an important accelerator role for himself in Steve Borthwick’s set-up. But if he can have the effect he does in half an hour – see his two tries against Wales last season – there has to be an argument to unleash him from the start. England have such back row depth that finding someone to make way is the devil’s own job but Italy has traditionally been the game to experiment so maybe round four in Rome will mark Pollock’s first Test start.

6. Will Jalibert outshine Dupont?

With Romain Ntamack injured for the start of the Six Nations, Matthieu Jalibert has his opportunity as France’s number 10. That means pairing the Bordeaux playmaker with the repaired Antoine Dupont at half-back. Dupont’s gifts are such he does not ordinarily play second fiddle to anyone but Jalibert is a front-and-centre sort of operator. He will want the baton too. Can the pair work in harmony or will it be two-cats-in-a-bag time for France? It is going to be fascinating finding out.

7. Could this finally be Scotland’s year against Ireland?

There are tantalising possibilities when it comes to Scotland’s cursed fixture. Glasgow are flying in Europe, Ireland have problems at prop and Bundee Aki is suspended. Then there is the general sense of an Irish side tipping gently over a hill or at least treading water having given so much to the Lions cause in the summer.

After 11 successive losses to their Celtic rivals, the Scots will travel to Dublin with some hope this time for once. But it is the hope which kills you…

8. Will Wales win a game?

Wooden spoonists for the past two seasons, Wales have lost their past 11 games in the championship. The domestic game is in turmoil and in their last international they were whitewashed 73-0 by South Africa. It is against this slate-grey background Steve Tandy has to try to fashion something positive out of his first campaign as head coach. England away is a horrible start. Wales’s only hope for a victory would appear to come on the final weekend against Italy in Cardiff but who knows where morale will be by then.

9. Can Italy win two?

The Azzurri did so in 2024 and, competitive under Gonzalo Quesada, they should fancy their chances of a repeat. They beat the Wallabies in the autumn after all. The key game comes in the first round in Rome against Scotland. If Tommaso Menoncello can rediscover the form that made him player of the championship two years ago, Italy can certainly give the Scots the hurry-up.

10. Will Steve Borthwick smile during the championship?

The England head coach can be a genial figure behind the scenes when the mood takes him but on game day he shows all the emotion of an Easter Island statue. Whatever the excitement level on the pitch, he remains in his own bubble, analytical data points plugged into the mainframe, pulse rate low. Might the mask slip if England win the Six Nations title? Borthwick is tracking towards it having gone from fourth in his first championship in 2023 to third in 2024 and second last season. That would be an excuse for some levity, surely? With the ultimate anti-showman though, there can be no guarantees. One thing is for sure, even with a Grand Slam, you can definitely rule out the knee slide along the touchline.