By Andy Nicol THIS is one the of most open RBS 6 Nations Championships for a long time - and Scotland could even be a good outside bet to win it.

And that is not my heart ruling my head. Scotland could be the surprise package of the championship, so I think there is real cause for optimism.

England were demoralised in the group stages against South Africa, but went all the way on to the World Cup final, so why not Scotland to win the RBS 6 Nations?

The World Cup was a curate's egg for Scotland, because we wrote off the New Zealand game and rested the first team. It was mission accomplished against Italy to reach the quarter-final stage before a disappointing exit.

It just did not happen until the last 10 minutes, and we did not do enough, but there is no shame from losing to Argentina, who annihilated France in the opening game as well as beating Ireland.

I think the overriding emotion after theWorld Cup was frustration, because I believe Scotland can compete against the top sides in the world, and the ideal time to show that is the RBS 6 Nations.

So we should go into this championship more confident than we have been for a number of years.

I amcertain we can go on and win a number of games. Yes, we played poorly to get the wooden spoon last year, but our targets should be higher than winning just one game.

Scotland have got the big sides in France and England at home, and three away games, all of which are winable, so the fixture schedule certainly favours us.

My main concern is that coach Frank Hadden might be too conservative with his choices.

There are players like Edinburgh's outside centre, Nick De Luca, pictured, who have been performing well with a lot of flair and deserves a chance.

It's a perfect opportunity to introduce the likes of Nick against France, and we will see the creative, attractive rugby I know Scotland are capable of playing.

Ireland must take stock after woeful World Cup By Philip Matthews IRELAND'S expectations are going to be much lower going into this RBS 6 Nations than they have been for many years.

From what we can gather, not even the coach and the players can put their fingers on what went wrong at the World Cup.

The roots were that the 15 players in the team were too secure in their places, a little bit too comfortable.

Players and coaches need to be kept on their toes and under a little bit of pressure to perform each time. You need to make sure you keep them a little bit paranoid.

The problem is that now you've got a coach who had been reinstated before the World Cup. If there was anything that needed to be changed, it's a little bit more difficult to change it now.

Ne v e r t h e l e s s , Eddie O'Sullivan now needs to breathe some life and fresh air into this. He needs to come up with some kind of alternative.

I don't think there's going to be a huge amount of change to the starting XV, but O'Sullivan needs to start to bring some different people into the wider squad, people who have been playing well.

I think Eoin Reddan has probably secured his place now at scrum-half. He did that at the World Cup, having come from third choice.

I'd be bringing other people in, like Jamie Heaslip from Leinster. That sends a really clear signal to Denis Leamy that this guy is being seriously considered.

Players need to be picked on form a little bit.

If you look at the form No.8, it is Heaslip, pictured. If you look at the form hooker, it is Bernard Jackman.

A message needs to be sent out to the whole squad that all bets are off.

I don't see anything being done with the captaincy in the shortterm, but I wouldn't be surprised if, at some stage, even that is looked at.

B r i a n O'Driscoll is the type of player who will always feel a huge amount of responsibility. It would be great to see him back to the days when he was going out there not trying to force things.

11:51am Tuesday 5th February 2008

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