Ireland under pressure as Six Nations kicks off

Although France are the bookies favourites for this year's Six Nations it is Ireland that are the team with the momentum going into this year's tournament after an unbeaten 2009.

The Irish not only won the Six Nations Grand Slam (the second time they have achieved the feat in 100 years), but they also defeated reigning world champions South Africa in November. In the process Ireland have unearthed several outstanding young players, most notably the Leinster trio of fly-half Johnny Sexton, prop Cian Healy and flanker Sean O'Brien.

Yet while Dallaglio expects Ireland to ease comfortably past Italy in Dublin on Saturday afternoon, he is keen to discover how the Irish cope with the burden of expectation for the tougher challenges that lie in wait. "People have been waxing lyrical about Ireland recently," he says, "and they certainly deserve to be favourites for the title. They were outstanding last year but now they're Grand Slam champions they're the hunted, not the hunters. The champions are the team everyone else wants to beat and that makes it all the harder to repeat the success of the previous season."

Perversely, Dallaglio says that the England coaching team, led by Martin Johnson, has an easier task than its Irish counterpart. "England have so much room for improvement. If you were writing a school report for England after their autumn internationals you would say 'Could do a lot better'. But Ireland have been playing so well lately that anything other than winning the title will be considered a failure for their coach [Declan Kidney]."

Nonetheless, Dallaglio believes Ireland are strong contenders for the title, although if they're to accomplish back-to-back Grand Slams they'll have to win away in Paris, something they haven't managed since 2000. Dallaglio would be surprised if they ended the drought in 2010. "I have a gut feeling that France will win," he says. "And playing their two toughest matches at home – Ireland and England – means the French will have a good chance of winning the Six Nations. It's never easy to win over there, whether you're playing a club like Perpignan or Toulouse in the Heineken Cup, or France in the Six Nations. Having said that, you stand more chance of winning in Paris than you do in the south where the atmosphere is so passionate. If France played all their matches at Marseille they'd be world champions."

While Dallaglio says he's a fan of Thierry Dusautoir, the French flanker and captain, there is a caveat: "He's a very good player and it seems he can pull the team together. But has this current French squad got the ability to grind out results the way French teams did under Raphael Ibanez [who led France to the 1999 World Cup final and the 2002 Grand Slam]? I don't know."

In fact Dallaglio suspects that France's trickiest match might come on Sunday, when they play Scotland in Edinburgh. "That could be a real banana skin for France," he says. "It's never easy getting a win in Edinburgh and since Andy Robinson took over as Scotland coach they've become more competitive. They need to start scoring tries but they could catch France cold on Sunday."

As for Wales, Dallaglio thinks their Six Nations campaign will be defined by the outcome of Saturday's titanic clash at Twickenham against England. "It's a massive game for both sides, particularly as neither did well in their autumn internationals, but England will feel a little more confident as they're at home, and home advantage in the Six Nations should never be underestimated. But Wales' next three matches are at home so if they can beat England they'll be well set up for a Grand Slam."

Wales have won two Grand Slams in recent years – 2005 and 2008 – and Dallaglio says this has created unrealistic expectations among the Welsh public and media. "They're expected to win the whole time now," he says. "Living with that sort of intensity can't be easy for the players."

Tomorrow Lawrence Dallaglio discusses England's chances in the 2010 Six Nations. ·