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Why Chris Ashton feels France are the Six Nations 'team to beat'
Former England back Chris Ashton has tipped Fabien Galthie’s France as his favourites to win the 2024 Guinness Six Nations. The French fell at the quarter-finals in their recent home Rugby World Cup, agonisingly losing to eventual winners South Africa by a single point in Paris.
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They now pick up the pieces in Marseille where they host Ireland on Friday in the opening round of the championship and Ashton is tipping Les Bleus to have a successful campaign which will conclude with the March 16 fixture at home to England in Lyon.
Ashton told Gambling Zone: “It’s going to be hard playing the French in Marseille. They will be playing this game with a new captain and without (Antoine) Dupont, so they have their own challenges.
“But the new captain Gregory Alldritt is one of the best No8s in the world right now, so they will be led by a great replacement. France are the team to beat at this championship. Both teams probably don’t want to be playing each other first, but for the fans this is going to be an incredible way to start the tournament. It will be amazing.
“Matthieu Jalibert has been having a phenomenal season playing for Bordeaux; the Bordeaux team has been incredible. Jalibert has been instrumental to that success at fly-half and the French team looks really settled.
“They were so disappointed with what happened to them at the World Cup and will want to give the French fans something to cheer about. The first game at Marseille is different as France usually always play in Paris.
“They love their rugby down on the south coast and that could give them a bit of an edge. The French will nick it on Friday night… This is a game I can’t wait to see. I’m really looking forward to this fixture and both teams will be going into this one with plenty to prove.”
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Ashton labelled Ireland an amazing team even though they do also exited the World Cup at the quarter-final stage when pipped by the All Blacks in Paris. “Losing the likes of Johnny Sexton, it will be a difficult challenge for Ireland, but they have more than enough quality at fly-half to still be an amazing team.
“When you see what Leinster are throwing around week in, week out in the URC then there are reasons to be confident if you are an Ireland fan. They all know each other inside out and have amazing chemistry.
“They just need to find a way to cover or find a way to replace Johnny’s experience because he has dug Ireland out of so many holes over the years.”
- Click here to read the full Chris Ashton Six Nations preview column
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
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