The centre on why England believe they can beat Ireland in their Six Nations opener and how his apology to fans over Alex Mitchell incident backfired

“That’s a good question,” Ollie Lawrence says as he ponders the reasons why England have lost five of their previous six Tests, even though they were in a position to turn each of those defeats into a precious victory. “I think if I had the answer to that then … ”

The Bath and England centre pauses, lost in thought, and then laughs when I suggest that if he could reel off an immediate answer he would be on his way to becoming Test rugby’s next head coach. “Exactly. I think the main thing for us is seeing off games. We’ve been in the lead, or in a position to win after 60 minutes, in all of those games. So it’s making sure we play the game fully from now on. We’ve hopefully learned our lessons and, going into this Six Nations campaign, we can push on and put things to bed when we’re in the lead.”

From Ireland’s shot at history to Italy’s raised expectations, the 2025 championship has all the ingredients to rival past classics

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Six Nations and what strikes me on the eve of the tournament is how much of a reassuring presence in the calendar the championship has become. The World Cup is a wonderful tournament but there is debate over how many teams should feature, the Champions Cup has been tinkered with in terms of format and the Premiership has undergone changes, whether it be the number of teams or the absence of promotion and relegation. Against that backdrop, having a tournament as consistently familiar as the Six Nations is special.

Whether you’re a supporter, an administrator, a player or a broadcaster, we all believe that the Six Nations is the shining light of rugby. It is the one tournament where there is a unified belief that it is still the greatest competition. In the coming weeks we’ll have 10s of millions of viewers watching our sport, it is our moment in the spotlight.