It's a week and a bit away but I can't contain my excitement.

Although I liked Lancaster, I'm pleased that a new era already seems to be being ushered in with the arrival of Eddie Jones.

He seems to be getting his own way by being able to name Hartley as captain and the RFU talking about relaxing the rules on allowing English players who play their rugby overseas.

Let's see what kind of rugby a new look England team can muster.

My money's on Ireland to make it three in a row.

P.S. If anyone's interested in doing a fantasy six nations league I have entered a team and could set up a mini league.

A story from way back in the seventies when it was just the 5 nations cup.

Due to a French air traffic controllers' strike I had had to travel to Perigeux in the Dordogne via Marseilles and was at Bordeaux airport returning a hire car before getting a train to Paris thence back to the UK.

I say a small hand printed sign sayin "Londres" and checked with information what it was about.

They pointed out a man in a raincoat and suggested I spoke to him.

I did and for £20 in cash that went straight into his pocket was let onto a Dan Air Comet going to London.

Apart from the crew I was the only non-French person on board. It turned out to be chartered by French rugby fans off to Twickenham for the match.

I have never seen so many people so completely pissed on a plane before or since.

Really happy group of drunks starting their long weekend in fine form, but I wouldn't have wanted to clean the plane afterwards.

We are up in Paris for the France v Ireland game on the 13th.
45 euro tickets,cheap train and a posh hotel for Valentine's Day.

Ireland have a fair few new squad members so it's all up for grabs.

The men in green can win it but it will be tight. Wales and Scotland were playing well in the World Cup even with injuries.

England will want a lot of big performances from thier men.

I'm revising my prediction based on squad strength. Wales for the championship, but not the Grand Slam.

England to win today, but I don't think we'll learn anything from the performance. I expect a game dominated by kicking and a win by about 10 points.

I can't disagree with you Ali. Although I think Scotland are still in a good place right now. An interesting battle.
Massive game for both teams tomorrow . Wish I was there.

Talking to some French pals last night they seemed confidant.I reminded them that Italy are no pushover though.
I still think Italy are spoilers and make it tough for most sides to get into thier stride.
Really looking forward to the tournament.

I am happy to say that Italy are certainly not spoiling so far.

Brilliant games so far, bit sad to see Scotland looking a bit lame in attack. France were very lucky. Roll on tomorrow!

England ground out the win as expected but there was no real spark in attack.

The wingers both look good but they need space and service. Farrell is not a centre and shouldn't be treated as such. Roll on Tuilagi/Slade being available.

England also desperately need dynamic back row players. Vunipola is an excellent player and makes yards every time he had the ball in hand but the two flankers are slow and from the old era of back row players. If we want to compete at the top level we need some young athletic blood in the same vein as Pocock and Hooper.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

I think thats harsh on Haskel who had a good game. Robshaw was ok too. The Scots were quick in defence which impacted the game dynamics and the experience they bring will have helped to settle the England side.

Watson was poor IMO and as was JJ which impacted alot of attacking moves. Ford seemed to be struggling a little to.

To be fair its exactly the performance that a new team in the first game of a tournament against an old rival plays. The team need time to gel more before we will see a true reflection of what they are capable of.

Missed today's games as I was playing....

A good result for England today.

Well done England for securing the grand slam.

Great to see - though I'm still not sure how we'd get on against the southern hemisphere.......

One of the most disgusting things I have witnessed on ANY rugby field happened today.

Johnny Sexton feigning injury to get a decision. IMHO that deserves a seasons ban, if not a lifetime one. If he wants to play that shitty deceitful game then he should use a round ball. If Rugby follows soccer into the mire of cheating and biting/diving then I will have nothing to watch in the winter.

Yep. I've seen a lot of bad behaviour all round in this competition, far too much back talk to the refs as well. Money in, wits out.

The "increase" could be due in part to the proliferation of slo-mo playback from the multitude of cameras now located around the pitch; some of these incidents of foul play may have previously slipped under the radar.

In any event the greater surveillance should be backed up by decisive action to hand out stiff penalties for this type of behaviour - I agree we don't want to go down the route of soccer and Strictly Come Diving.

I thought I had registered Sexton going down in that particular incident and suddenly clutching his head but probably thought he couldn't possibly be making it up...I also wondered why he was sent to the bin but perhaps this was the reason.

I was pleased with Scotland's improvement the most this time round, sorry for the Italians - especially Sergio Parisse who seems like Atlas to carry the team around him for little tangible reward - but hopeful for an England side, full of youth and energy and at least some desire for creativity, to be developed after the initial spotting by Stuart Lancaster and the present motivation by Eddie Jones.

I think it could have turned out to be a masterstroke to appoint the hitherto badfella Hartley to captain - remember David Beckham?

100% agree with you John. I was disgusted when I saw this. I'm not sure he can be cited for feigning an injury, but if he can he deserves a long ban. Used to be a huge fan of Sexton but he's gone way down in my estimation now.

On the positive side of the game, a great achievement by England to win the Slam. Not a great performance on Saturday as we gave away too many silly penalties again, but they have the nucleus on a very good team.