RYAN WILSON: Why France are my hot tip for Six Nations title … while finishing second would be a success for Gregor Townsend’s Scotland

Heading into another Six Nations and a lot of people have asked me what success would look like for Scotland this year.

For me, finishing second would have to be seen as a success seeing we’ve never finished that high in the table before.

Third is the baseline, pass marks. If we finish lower than third, we won’t be happy. We finished fourth last year so it’s going to be tough again to improve on that.

It makes that first game away to Italy on Saturday so important. That’s a huge match now for Gregor Townsend and the boys against an improving Italian team who will battle all the way. 

Scotland need to get off to a good start, perform well and, most importantly, get the win, as getting off to a flier could be vital with England to come at home after that.

I hope Scotland can do it off the back of a big performance as it will fill the squad with confidence ahead of the rest of the tournament. We want to see things clicking from the first whistle.

They should be in good spirits. You’ve got all the Glasgow boys bringing the momentum they’ve been building up in the Champions Cup and the URC and, hopefully, continuing that in a Scotland jersey. 

You then add in Finn Russell and what he gives you, Blair Kinghorn and Ben White bringing something special from playing in France, and hopefully it all adds up to a winning combination.

If I were Gregor Townsend, I’d be starting Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie on the wings in every match. Scotland fans who maybe don’t follow Glasgow that closely will be turning up at Murrayfield next week and wondering why Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham aren’t in the line-up. I know I’m biased but I think the two Glasgow boys need to be in there as their form has been brilliant. Mind you, I’d probably pick 15 Warriors if I could. Or 12 plus Finn Russell, Blair Kinghorn and Pierre Schoeman maybe. And I still think of Tom Jordan as a Glasgow player, too.

I hope Wales pick up a little bit and perform well, apart from round three when they play Scotland. Steve Tandy, in as head coach after leaving Scotland, and others in his coaching box like Dan Lydiate and Rhys Patchell are good men and you wish them well.

My tip for the Six Nations title, though, is France. If a head coach can afford to leave out players of the calibre of Damian Penaud, Gregory Aldritt and Gael Fickou then it shows the depth of the squad available to Fabien Galthie, especially with some of the younger ones coming through. It’s scary, especially when you think they’re actually ranked below Ireland and England in the world at No. 5.

They’ve got a brilliant match to open the tournament with Ireland the visitors in Paris on Thursday night and a big win in that one should set them up nicely.

I’ve looked at the Ireland team and I don’t know why people are writing them off. They’ve still got the depth there. It’s just some of the selections that you wonder about. You look at Sam Prendergast starting at No 10 and you think it could be a long night for him. France will be sending every man down that channel to get after him.

So, France are my shout for the championship but I’m not sure about them doing the Grand Slam because they’ve obviously got to come to Murrayfield and I’m hopeful for a Scotland win in that one. We always just seem to manage to turn it on against the French at home. That could tee it up nicely for a decider in the last game, with England going to Paris for what should be another cracker.

It’s great that the Italy-Scotland game is going to be broadcast on Premier Sports and I get to be a part of it. My old pal Duncan Weir and I are going to be presenting and, as anything with Premier Sports, we’ll look to provide an alternative view and mix it up a little bit. 

We’ve got Sebastian Negri in there, too, for the Italian perspective. I’ve been told I’m going to be presenting in the studio so anything could happen on the day!

But it’s awesome to see Premier Sports continue to add to their growing roster of rugby coverage and we’re going to be pitchside for our other matches later in the tournament, which is always good fun. 

We’re also bringing in the suspended spider cam view that you see a lot in the NFL which is just something different again. It’s brilliant if you love to follow the tactical side of the game as it gives you a bird’s eye view of the whole pitch with just the ref mic and the noise of the crowd which is pretty cool. I’m looking forward to being a part of it all.

* Ryan Wilson will join Duncan Weir and Sebastian Negri for Premier Sports’ live coverage of Italy v Scotland this Saturday starting at 1.30pm on Premier Sports. For the first time, in a new partnership with Six Nations Rugby, Premier Sports will broadcast five live matches from the 2026 Guinness Men’s Six Nations Championship across the UK – further strengthening its position as the home of elite rugby for rugby fans which includes EPCR rugby, Top 14 and URC. To join in visit www.premiersports.com from £11.99 a month.