Not sure how many people will be interested but I made a league anyway as it killed 15 minutes at work.
http://scrum.fantasyleague.com
League PIN: 1862
You get unlimited transfers till Saturday so can easily change your players if anymore get crippled.
On to the tournament though.
I actually have no idea who will win.
The only thing I feel fairly certain on is that Italy should get the wooden spoon and end up pointless.
Quite a few countries have shitloads of injuries which makes it harder to decide who will win (I obviously hear more about us and I know Wales list is getting a tad ridiculous now).
A couple of selections could make a big difference through this tournament though. I think England will be completely mad to bring back Wilkinson already and while number 10 has been quite a problem position for them it would be suicidal. Then if Jenkins picks Henson as full back I will be really pissed off. The man is in poor form in his best position, let alone playing him somewhere he is totally unfamiliar. I would much rather leave Gareth Thomas there (who I think has been extremely good in that position for us and is way too slow to be moved to the wing, assuming he doesn't get banned anyway) and see Dafydd James recalled as a winger.
France
A good chance of winning the grand slam. I think they will win in Ireland, though the game at Twickenham will be close. If England have had a good start to the tournament and don't suffer any more injuries then I think they have a good chance of beating the French. If not then the French will complete the grand slam at home to Scotland.
Probably 10 points, Championship winners.
England
Anyway, overall I think England could actually do quite well. I know they were abysmal under Robinson but I don't think their team is *that* bad on paper. If they can get past Scotland on Saturday then they have an easyish game against Italy before travelling to Ireland. The odds are against them but if they do manage to win their first two games I think they will put up a good fight but being the first game between these two at Croke Park I think the Irish should eventually win. I said above what i think of their chances of beating France and then they finish with a trip to the Millennium Stadium and as much as I hate to say it I think they will probably beat us.
6 points
Wales
Despite most of our backling being crippled I think our forwards are slowly getting a lot better than they used to be while of those left quite a few players are now coming into form. Especially Peel/Jones/Hook who will probably have to be the core of our backs. I think how our tournament goes will mainly be decided by the game against Ireland on Sunday. It will be a close game and if we manage to win then I think we could do quite well this year, if not it will probably end up even worse than last season (lose to everyone except Italy). If we win this I fancy us to beat the Scottish. We then play France and despite the fact that in the last 6 years the away team has won 5 times, I can only see France winning this. They were poor against the All Blacks but still can't see how we can win. After this I fancy us to win in Scotland (if we beat Ireland). We should then beat Italy but will probably lose at home to England though it will probably be a pretty messy game, similar to the 11-9 in 2005.
So 6 points, mid table, I'm happy as better than last year. Potentially the triple crown.
Ireland
Will (hopefully) start with a defeat against Wales which will be followed with a loss against the french, though both games I think will be quite close and could go either way really (watch Ireland humiliate us again now that I said this
) After that though I think things should get better. At home to England they have to be favourites and then they will close up with wins against Scotland and Italy.
6 points, maybe triple crown.
Scotland
They did better than expected last year and have a few good players but I don't think they have enough quality players and after poor Autumn internationals will struggle to do that well this year. They will beat Italy and will have a decent chance of beating Wales, especially if we have lost to Ireland which I think would destroy confidence. Despite this I don't think they much chance of winning at Twickenham this weekend and Ireland should have enough quality to win at Murreyfield.
2 points
In the end though either Ireland or England could beat France and we could be left with a three way tie for first on 8 points.
Sorry if this is a bit haphazard as it took me ages to write during the periods when I didn't have any work to do.
*edit* Looks like Wilkinson was picked, madness. Still think England will win this weekend but I can't see Wilkinson playing that well. Just hope he doesn't get injured again. Personally I think they would have been better leaving him in the Premiership for a few games, maybe bring him in at the end of the tournament or even wait till the summer internationals. Afterall the main concern has to be making sure he is fit for the world cup seeing as he is one of the few worldclass backs they have.