who is ready to step up and become leaders?

Dafydd Jenkins (Wales): The 21-year-old has taken over captaincy from the injured Jac Morgan of a transitioning Welsh side shorn of almost a dozen key players from the last decade, making him his nation's youngest skipper since the great Gareth Edwards (with whom his grandfather played at Welsh schoolboy level) back in 1968.

The Bridgend-raised and Exeter-based lock may have just 12 caps to his name, but his leadership pedigree includes breaking the Premiership record for its youngest-ever captain when he led his club to victory over London Irish in November 2022 aged just 19 years and 342 days. This season he has skippered a callow Exeter side well on several occasions, most notably during against-the-odds Champions Cup victories over Munster and Toulon.

Matthieu Jalibert (France): The fly-half has been in electrifying form for his club this season and is one of four Bordeaux players in Les Bleus starting backline, for Friday’s big one against Ireland in Marseilles ... plus Louis Bielle-Biarrey on the bench. He was the coming man in French rugby after making his debut against Ireland at the start of the 2018 Six Nations when still only 19, only to suffer a knee injury in that game which put him out for 18 months.

Jalibert blew hot and cold during France’s heart-breaking World Cup quarter-final loss to South Africa, and he really needs to show that he can be relied upon to be steady as well as spectacular when required as France look to get back on track.

Tommaso Menoncello (Italy): The explosive centre became the youngest-ever Six Nations try scorer on his debut against France in 2022 but missed the World Cup after picking up a bicep injury in a warm-up game against Ireland last August. The 21-year-old only returned to action for Benetton in December but has hit the ground running with three tries from four games played so far for the URC and Challenge Cup high-flyers.

With Paolo Garbisi pulling the strings inside him, and Ange Capuozzo’s exhilarating eye for a gap and pace to exploit it outside, Italy have the bones of a serious backline which could do some damage if new head coach Gonzalo Quesada can strike the right balance between reinvigorating traditional Azzurri passion/power up front with retaining some of the attacking ambition of predecessor Kieran Crowley’s era when the time is right.

Blair Kinghorn (Scotland): There has never been any doubt about his physical and technical attributes. He is 6ft 5ins, reportedly the fastest player in the Scotland squad, can kick the ball a mile, passes well enough to play stand-off at the highest level, and has the courage of his attacking convictions. However, a combination of Stuart Hogg occupying his preferred No 15 berth and a lack of maturity after a charmed progression through the ranks in a country not awash with internal competition, led to a period of stagnation, creating a sense that this was a player destined not to fulfil his full potential.

But Hogg is now gone, and Kinghorn’s mid-season switch away from Edinburgh to Toulouse at the tail end of last year has taken the 27-year-old out of his comfort zone. He has responded superbly, fitting in seamlessly to life in the south of France and making the No 15 jersey his own - which makes his absence for the opening two games a blow for both himself and Gregor Townsend.

Ethan Roots (England): The brawny Exeter Chiefs blindside will make his international debut in Saturday’s clash against Italy in Rome. The former cage fighter represented New Zealand Maori but qualifies to play for England through his Reading-born father. He arrived in the UK after being chucked out of his jiu-jitsu club for dating his coach’s daughter and then enduring a spell of getting up at 4.30am to go to the gym to train for rugby before going to work on building sites in his native Auckland.

He didn’t pick up his first professional contract until he was 21 and played only four minutes of Super Rugby for the Crusaders before heading overseas to join the Ospreys for three years then Exeter this season.

Tough and determined, with a point to prove. He’s filling big, Courtney Lawes-sized, boots – but that won’t faze him in the slightest.