Six Nations

“In rugby, forwards decide who wins the match, and the backs, well, they just decide on the score.”In the coaching box, we’ve seen innovation, which has been given that “maverick” tag. Take Springboks’ boss Rassie Erasmus, who has turned conventional rugby thought on its head. We’ve seen his team mark a ball and call for a scrum in their 2023 World Cup win over France.”I have to make sure that we are consistent, that players can bring all their strengths and the understanding of all of those around them is at its very best.” In short: be yourself, but make sure the rest of the team understands him. He went for Marcus Smith in their defeat to Ireland, he may opt for the more consistent Fin Smith or Ford for France this weekend.On Friday evening, France had been hammering away at Wales’ tryline for much of the opening quarter of the match but hadn’t yet managed to find the breakthrough.But sometimes, it just comes down to instinct.”I think we’ve been very good at breaking sides down in our attacking style of rugby. But as time goes on, teams start to kind of improve on things to try and reduce those threats, so we’ve got to keep pushing what we are doing to make sure that we stay ahead of that.”

“It’s the forwards who create the momentum which allow those talents to express themselves and their talent,” he tells ESPN.”You want the players to feel comfortable that if they see something then they can go and make a good rugby decision,” Easterby tells ESPN.Six Nations 2025PWB+/-Pts1 – France1114352 – Scotland1111253 – Ireland111554 – England101-515 – Italy100-1206 – Wales100-430The days of mavericks are over.Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend is well-versed in this type of player. He was one of them himself back in a playing career which saw him win 82 caps for Scotland and play two Tests on the British & Irish Lions’ victorious tour of South Africa in 1997. He has Russell at the fulcrum of his Scotland team, and the fly-half helped steer them to an opening round win over Italy.Russell’s Scotland career has seen him go from brilliant tearaway to settled vice-captain and starting fly-half. Russell and Townsend went through a phase where they didn’t see eye to eye. He was dropped in 2020 and 2022, but in 2025 with differences reconciled he is indispensable. The man who once coined himself as rugby’s version of Lionel Messi — and then distanced himself from that comparison — is now the leader, but also spark of genius in the team.But ask what it’s like to coach a “maverick,” and you get put shut down pretty quickly.”I don’t view it as maverick,” Townsend tells ESPN. “I view it as backing and making your decisions for the right reasons. I’m fortunate that I’ve got a group of players who are highly skilled, and you want to bring their strengths out. So you want them to be able to be making those passes and putting people in the space.”play1:11Who will replace Ntamack for France?ESPN’s Tom Hamilton and James Regan discuss potential replacements for France fly-half Romain Ntamack, who is suspended following his red card vs. Wales.The term “maverick” has been banded around before. David Campese, Freddie Michalak, Carlos Spencer, Quade Cooper have been given that moniker. But Russell, Smith and Dupont don’t fall into the same bracket. The sport has shifted.”I see them making the right decisions, but the right decisions are often where you look if there’s space, and you’re not tentative, if there’s space then go for it,” Townsend says. “We encourage our players to make the right calls and back them to do it.”Maybe I’ll be wrong in the Six Nations, but I don’t see our players throwing crazy balls when they’ve only got one player up against four defenders, which was maybe something I did in my career.”Danny Cipriani always bristled whenever he was called a maverick. The term suggests a player out on their own, living in a realm outside of the gameplan.The former England fly-half didn’t like being typecast as that. “They describe anyone different in English rugby as a maverick,” he said in 2023. “That’s wrong. I wasn’t a maverick. I was a decision-maker.”play1:28Can England ‘pull something out the hat’ vs. France?James Regan and Tom Hamilton debate whether England can get a result at home to France this weekend in the Six Nations.He personified the eternal England fly-half debate: pragmatist or free spirit. Steve Borthwick was weighing that up ahead of this year’s Six Nations, as he picked between Fin Smith, George Ford or Marcus Smith at fly-half. You’re more likely to see highlight reels from Marcus Smith and a flurry of sidesteps and hitch kicks, but Ford and Fin Smith are seen as the more composed, calm heads.

“If you look at the way Marcus gets that ball, he often skips out to that next player,” Steve Borthwick says. “Fin Smith attacks in a different way, much squarer. That means there is a change for everybody who plays outside them. Your start position and your running line naturally changes because their end point changes. That is just two, because George Ford is slightly different as well.Chances are you’ll see one-man highlight reels over the next six weeks. It’ll be Smith doing Smith things, Russell splitting defences open with sleight of hand, or Dupont finding a new way to break open the sport. It’s those sorts of moments which the game’s stakeholders devour, looking at the social media clicks going into seven figures, as they continue to try to break through to younger audiences.Their brilliant scrum-half Antoine Dupont picked up the ball deep in Wales’ 22, saw a wall of red in front of him, and a sliver of opportunity out on the wing. He put in a perfectly weighted chipped, cross-kick to bypass the Welsh defence and found the onrushing Théo Attissogbé to dot the ball down.We’ve seen them use an innovative traffic light system, they’ve shifted the ball between two jumping pods and had wingers throwing the ball in at lineouts. But back on the pitch, it’s about finding game-changing moments within a structure.Up in the coaches’ box, France head coach Fabien Galthié was watching his gameplan manifested on the field in their Six Nations opener. But even he can’t predict those Dupont moments. That’s what happens when you’re coaching a generational talent like the French scrum-half. As Dupont assesses an open field, his mind is working at 100 miles per hour, looking at every opportunity, weighing up the risk-reward of the situation and keeping in mind Galthié’s voice.Fin Smith looks ahead to facing France’s Antoine Dupont during his first start for England.– How to watch: Italy vs. Wales; England vs. France; Scotland vs. Ireland
– Overreactions: England in Q4 crisis? Wales to get wooden spoon?
– British & Irish Lions watch: Caelan Doris captain? Darcy Graham in?
– WATCH: Relive sone of Six Nations’ classic games
– NEWS: Borthwick excited for England’s Fin, Marcus Smith combo
– Six Nations and Women’s Six Nations: Full fixture listAsk Galthié about the role individual brilliance has in the sport, and you get stripped back to the game’s fundamental building blocks.

“Honestly, I’m lucky because I have a lot of freedom on the field,” Dupont tells ESPN. “We have a structure, obviously, but I can play free, and that’s lucky for me.play