France fancied as 2022 Six Nations favourites, but England Grand Slam odds bring the value

More than a decade removed from their last , are once again back in the saddle as early favourites to win European Test rugby's highest honour in 2022.

Wales only just beat Fabien Galthie's men to the prize in 2021, while recorded the worst Six Nations performance in their history en route to a fifth-place finish.

What a difference a year makes.

& Co. have recovered well thanks to an autumn clean sweep that featured wins over Australia, Tonga and world champions South Africa, and the squad's prospects are once again bright.

Then again, they're not the only ones. France and each got the better of the not-so-indefatigable in November, while are out to improve yet again after last year's run to fourth.

The Rugby Paper dissects the top three frontrunners leading the way towards Six Nations honours, with odds compiled using an aggregate of market prices and UK bookies offers.

France (Grand Slam odds – 7/2)

The great disappointers. Harsh as it may sound, it's in fact a compliment to suggest Les Bleus have probably entered the most Six Nations tournaments with the rugby world expecting them to win—only to come up short or fall victim to some such underdog any given year.

But this feels different.

Former Toulon and chief Galthie has a youthful crop of world-beaters on his hands—which is a scary prospect considering his 42-man selection for November had just 10 players over the age of 27.

Newly crowned World Rugby Player of the Year Antoine Dupont, 25, is one of those leader figures playing ahead of his years, and Les Bleus are only getting more motivated to end that 12-year wait for a Six Nations title.

France are fortunate two of their three home games are also against their stiffest competitors in Ireland (Feb. 12) and England (March 19), which just so happened to be their schedule when they last lifted the trophy in 2010.

England (Grand Slam odds – 5/1)

Barring a certain win over the All Blacks, the Red Rose has had a very similar build-up and squad makeover ahead of the Six Nations, with Jones also placing a particular emphasis on youth of late.

Expectations will be rightly raised following a flawless autumn, even given the potential absence of usual captain Owen Farrell, with Marcus Smith on hand to continue thriving in the No. 10 role:

But the Harlequins playmaker is one of numerous young guns who could argue they deserve to start regardless, a club that also houses the likes of Raffi Quirke, Nic Dolly, Alex Dombrandt and the prodigious Freddie Steward.

Road fixtures against Scotland (Feb. 5), (Feb. 13) and France (March 19) certainly complicate matters, but this England squad with more time to knit together is a dangerous thing.

Ireland (Grand Slam odds – 8/1)

France aside, Ireland are the other of the four previous Six Nations champions who have endured the longest wait between titles having gone without a gong since 2018.

By contrast to the aforementioned challengers, however, head coach Andy Farrell perhaps has more reason to be expectant in 2022 given the average player in his squad is much closer to their prime years.

While England and France's squads have a mean age closer to 25, more than half of Farrell's 38-man autumn contingent were aged 28 or over, including 11 who are at least 30.

The Boys In Green could, in truth, be the most valuable pick to clinch a Grand Slam at odds of 8/1. Ireland have won the Six Nations four times in their history and swept the opposition in two of those tournaments, showing that when things go well, they tend to go really, really well.

For that to be the case in 2022, however, they'll be relying heavily on the fitness of 36-year-old fly-half Johnny Sexton, especially with first-choice back-up Joey Carbery in a race to be fit amid more injury woes.

2022 Six Nations Odds

TeamOdds
France13/8
England9/4
Ireland9/2
Wales6/1
Scotland10/1
Italy1000/1

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