Brooke calls for Six Nations seeding system

SIX NATIONS organisers were urged yesterday to overhaul the championship to avoid a repetition of this year’s series which sees England opening the tournament against France next month.

Former All Black captain Zinzan Brooke says a seeding system would ensure the competition was decided on the final weekend.

And France coach Bernard Laporte concedes that once the Twickenham match is over, he will begin planning for the World Cup in Australia.

England and France dominated last season’s championship, with France winning a tremendous match in Paris to clinch the Grand Slam.

England are favourites this year after their successive wins over New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. France also looked good against southern hemisphere sides last November, beating the Springboks and playing out a draw with the All Blacks.

“People talk about Ireland being a team to challenge, but England and France will once again be the ones setting the standard,” Brooke said.

“The problem is that this year they play at Twickenham on the opening weekend of the tournament and most people think that whoever wins has wrapped up the championship.”

Brooke’s proposed seeding system would see last year’s winners, France, taking on the bottom-placed side in 2002, Italy, in the opening fixture.

England, as second seeds, would take on fifth-seeded Wales on the same weekend. England, the number one ranked team in the world, and defending champions France would meet on the fifth and final weekend of competition.

“We need excitement from start to finish, not getting the tournament’s best contest out of the way on the first weekend,” Brooke said. Laporte agreed that the February 15 Twickenham clash could undermine the rest of the tournament. “To tell the truth, we plan to use two teams in this year’s championship. The best team will play England, and Scotland, but after that we will be wanting to try out fringe players in view of the World Cup,” he said. Last May, the Six Nations committee turned down a move to switch the England-

France match to the final weekend of the tournamentAnd so Ireland, who also beat the Wallabies last year, might be called on to decide the tournament when they play England in the closing fixture at Dublin on March 30.

Meanwhile, openside flanker Andy Hazell is set to make another comeback forand Munster’s Heineken Cup rivals Gloucester this weekend after a year dogged by injury.

Hazellmissed five months last season with a knee injury and has had toe and Achilles problems this term.

Coach Nigel Melville hopes to have him in the team to face Viadana on Saturday.