The wait is finally over as the 2025 Six Nations gets underway this week, bringing together the best of Northern Hemisphere Rugby Union across five matchdays over the next three months.
Kicking off the first match of the competition will be France and Wales, who will collide in front of what should be a packed house at the iconic Stade de France on Friday evening.
Match preview
© Imago
After their heartbreaking quarter-final exit on home soil in the 2023 World Cup, it was uncertain how France would bounce back in the 2024 Six Nations under the leadership of Fabien Galthie.
Unfortunately for Les Bleus, a 38-17 loss to Ireland in Marseille put them on the back foot right from the off, while their draw against Italy in Lille in round three ended their hopes of lifting the trophy, a title they have still only claimed once since 2011.
However, Galthie's men played 57% of their phases within 10 metres of the ruck, recording the highest number of picks and go carries (70) and gaining the most metres (175m) from those carries than any other team.
Defensively, France boasted the best 22m-exit rate in 2024 (91.5%) and allowed the second-fewest entries into their 22 (33, behind Ireland's 30), yet were the only team to concede an average of over three points per defensive entry (3.42).
Despite losing to Argentina in the mid-year Tests, France still wrapped up 2024 with a 73% win rate (W8 D1 L2), continuing a streak of over 70% for the third year in a row - an achievement they had only managed once in the previous 17 years - and they will know that making a strong start this year will be crucial to their chances of winning back the coveted trophy.
© Imago
Meanwhile, Wales will be hoping that the New Year brings change, as 2024 went down as one of the worst in the history of the nation's rugby team, who are currently riding a 12-match losing streak.
In the Six Nations, they finished last with just four bonus points and were the recipients of the unwanted Wooden Spoon for only the second time since Italy joined the Championship, marking their first such finish since 2003.
Unfortunately, things only worsened from then on for Warren Gatland's side, as they went on to lose their final six games of the year, culminating in three tough defeats in the Autumn Nations Series, including a historic home loss to Fiji and heavy defeats to Australia and South Africa.
As a result, Wales lost every game in a calendar year for the first time since 1937, when they played just three Test matches, while in the professional era, only one other Tier 1 team has ever gone winless in a calendar year - Italy in 2020 (L8).
With departing stalwarts and wholesale changes over the last year, it seems as though the Dragons have yet to establish a clear, consistent style of play, but a win in this match could spark a much-needed comeback for Welsh rugby in 2025.
France form (all competitions):
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
Wales form (all competitions):
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
Team News
© Imago
After missing last year's edition of the tournament, Antoine Dupont returns to skipper France from scrum-half and he is joined in the halves pairing by Romain Ntamack, who will earn his first Test cap since his injury before the 2023 World Cup.
However, Les Blues are dealing with several injury concerns, with the likes of Gael Fickou, Jonathan Danty, Anthony Jelonch, Reda Wardi, Charles Ollivon and Damian Penaud all unavailable.
Notably, after refusing to accept a bench role for the match against the All Blacks and infamously leaving the squad during the Autumn Nations Series, Galthie has oped to snub Matthieu Jalibert in his 23-man squad.
Wales' hopes of bringing an end to their 12-match losing streak received a significant boost in the lead-up to the tournament, with Josh Adams, Liam Williams and Dafydd Jenkins all returning to the squad and being tossed straight back into the starting 15.
Owen Watkin and Nick Tompkins form the centre pairing, while Gatland has made an intriguing choice by selecting Cardiff's Ben Thomas at fly-half - where he played for Wales in Australia last year - with Tomos Williams taking the number nine jersey.
In the pack, Taulupe Faletau has not fully recovered from his recent injury and will miss out on this opening match, meaning Aaron Wainwright will once again don the number eight jersey for the Dragons.
France starting lineup: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 François Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Alexandre Roumat, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Hugo Auradou, 20 Mickael Guillard, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Nolann Le Garrec, 23 Emilien Gailleton
Wales starting lineup: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Ben Thomas, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 6 James Botham, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Evan Lloyd, 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Dan Edwards, 23 Blair Murray
We say: France 49-21 Wales
Wales will be hoping to make a statement by pulling off an upset in this match, but it is difficult to go against a France side that are on their home patch and have Dupont back pulling the strings. We feel the hosts will romp to victory in this one.
No Data Analysis info
Devesh Jaganath
