Six Nations: England, Scotland, Ireland and co's chances dissected and debated by panel of experts

The 2022 Six Nations begins next weekend. Wales are expected to defend their title. Sportsmail's panel of rugby experts debate the issues and offer their predictions.

Danny Cipriani and Clive Woodward believe England will be strong contenders for the Six Nations. Owen Farrell's absence could prove costly for Eddie Jones. The back row is England's Achilles heel. Clive believes Eddie has gambled too much on Farrell. Chris Foy and Danny are excited about the upcoming tournament. They are waiting for it to begin.

Scotland will play England first up in the Six Nations. Andy Nicol believes England's discipline is a problem. Rob Howley believes that England are not a typical side. Wayne Pivac is preparing his team for the 2023 World Cup. Wales are without many key players. They have 726 caps missing. Taine Basham is one of the only players who is fit and available for next weekend's tournament. He is captain of Wales. They are the holders. Gregor Murphy believes it's an ideal time for Scotland to play against England. Scotland won last year at Twickenham and they beat them in 2018.

Six Nations is just around the corner. Experts discuss the chances of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. They discuss their thoughts on the team's chances. They also discuss Ireland's improvement since the win over the All Blacks. Former Ireland full-back Geordan Murphy is hopeful of a good championship. He thinks Scotland's squad is the strongest in the Six Nations. Other experts discuss Wales' chances if they lose to Ireland. The panel also discusses the England's and Scotland teams' prospects. It's a debate on their chances in this year's tournament. For more information, visit the website of the experts. for more details. and for the full discussion, click here.

The panel are split over whether Scotland are genuine contenders to win the tournament. Last year, Scotland lost at home to Wales when they were in complete control of the game.

France are favourites for the Six Nations. They have the best player in the world in Antoine Dupont and Shaun Edwards, who has been in 40 finals as a player and coach and never lost one. Cipriani has also branded France defence coach Shaun Edwards a 'serial winner'. France's defence has gone to the next level since Edwards has taken over. They are getting it right now, but they need to win something. France used to be brittle away from home, now they are different.

There should be a play-off between the bottom team of the Six Nations and the top team from tier two. For many European countries there is no incentive to join the tournament. There is so much potential for growth in Europe that we don't need a Japan or South Africa. For others, there's no real incentive. It's a commercial reality. We all sit at Murrayfield when it's -5°C, when we could be in Cape Town.

DC asks what would happen if South Africa came in and one of the home unions was relegated. DC also wonders if the Italians would push for a Georgia play-off.

GM, AN, RH, DC and AN are looking forward to watching Antoine Dupont play. DC is excited to see how Marcus Smith goes in the absence of Owen Farrell. Ian Botham is looking ahead to playing at Murrayfield. Ian Johnson is also looking for a player to impress. He is most interested in Marcus. Marcus has to step up for England in Owen's absence.

GM, DC, RH, CW, GM and Anan are discussing the Six Nations. They discuss the match between Scotland and England. They also discuss Tadhg Beirne and Ireland's chances. The match is crucial for both teams. It will be played 55 minutes into the game. England play Scotland.

Rob would pick Taine Basham and Cameron Redpath as the Welsh players to watch in the Six Nations.

GM loves the Six Nations. CF thinks it's great but needs to evolve. GM has been to games at the Millennium Stadium and Murrayfield and Twickenham.

GM, AN & RH think England's game against Ireland is the most important one for their country to win.

Murphy, Howley, Nicol, GM, Rhys, CW, Anan, and CF discuss the Six Nations. They discuss England's chances. They predict France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, in order of finish.