The Six Nations Championship will offer an indication of the strength of the European challenge at a World Cup scheduled for England in seven months.
That the shadow cast by the Webb Ellis Trophy is inescapable can be seen from the fact that tomorrow’s Six Nations opener in Cardiff sees Wales against England, with the old rivals in the same 2015 World Cup pool.
For an injury-hit England, victory at the Millennium Stadium would help ease the pain of a crushing defeat in the Welsh capital two years ago.
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It would also establish Stuart Lancaster’s side as serious title contenders, with England not having won the Six Nations since 2011.
England have finished runners-up three times under Lancaster and the coach said: “We are frustrated that we haven’t nailed down that Championship win — it does burn inside us.”
England’s much-vaunted playing depth is to be put to the test with No 8 Ben Morgan, lock Joe Launchbury and fly-half Owen Farrell all ruled out of the Six Nations, and with other players also sidelined.
Ireland may like to portray themselves as perennial underdogs but the defending Six Nations champions will rightly start the 2015 tournament as favourites.
Under coach Joe Schmidt, Ireland were the form European side during the November internationals.
Ranked No 3 in the world behind world champions New Zealand and South Africa, Ireland defeated the Springboks and Australia in November.
Now they begin their quest for back-to-back titles away to Italy on Saturday.
“The work ethic and confidence you gain from getting over the line against the likes of South Africa and Australia should put us in good stead for 2015,” Schmidt said.
Wales have a relatively settled side, with Gatland sufficiently confident of his squad’s quality to warn wing George North not to take his place for granted.
Gatland insisted the Six Nations was not just a warm-up for the World Cup.
“This tournament is about winning. The expectation in Wales is for us to win,” he said.
“It’s important you win and get some confidence and in the back of our minds we’re all thinking about the next six months in terms of preparation for the World Cup.”
France have not won the Six Nations since a 2010 grand slam but a November win over Australia gave coach Philippe Saint-Andre some respite.
If not knowing what to expect from France is one of rugby’s enduring truisms, it is one Saint-Andre endorsed when asked about what to expect from his side in the Six Nations.
“You don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know,” he said. “The confidence is back, we had some good games in November.”
Scotland, too, reckon they have grounds for optimism under Cotter after a November series that yielded wins over Argentina and Tonga allied to a narrow loss to New Zealand.
“There’s a great buzz, partly off the back of the autumn [November],” said Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw.
Italy captain Sergio Parisse believes his side can bounce back from losing all five matches last year, having won twice in 2013.
“They’ve written us off, but that’s fine,” Parisse said. “It will be great to surprise everybody.”
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