If they lose in Dublin this week – and their inability to field a competitive pack is far more of a problem than Ireland’s unsuccessful search for a back division – they may well be whitewashed for the first time since 1978. Malcolm O’Kelly could develop into one of the great Irish second rows, Paul Wallace is a crafty survivor on the tight head and David Corkery a handful on the blind-side flank.However, Ashton has decided against giving Newcastle’s Ross Nesdale a start at hooker in the opener with Scotland – a move he may live to regret – and Eric Miller’s inconsistency remains a worry.Player to watch: Malcolm O’Kelly.SCOTLANDThe nightmare scenario for the Scots is if the opposition manage to find their way to the ground. In short, it’s a no-no.There is better news up front, even though Jeremy Davidson, such a central figure in last summer’s Lions triumph, is long-term injured. Short of a cutting edge in midfield and genuine gas out wide, the threequarters are also hampered by a lack of control at half-back. The Irish threequarters will tackle – they always do -but the problems tend to start when the opposition relinquishes the ball. Instead, the French selectors have handed the No 2 shirt and the captaincy to the unknown Rafael Ibanez.Still, the French look pretty useful, even without Abdel Benazzi’s incomparable presence in the back five of their scrum. Their flankers, Philippe Benetton and Olivier Magne, are right up there with the English thoroughbreds and if Thomas Castaignede catches fire at outside-half, he could bring the Stade de France down almost before the builders have finished putting it up.The question, as ever, surrounds the state of the French psyche, which is more complex and very nearly as baffling than a Marcel Proust paragraph.

How Ashton must wish he had gone shopping or popped along to the bookies that morning, for had he not been at home to take the fatal phone call from Dublin, he would probably be Clive Woodward right now.It is almost laughably ironic that Ashton, who ranks alongside Pierre Villepreux as the most visionary and inventive backs coach in Europe, does not have a back division worthy of the name. Stephane Glas has been known to betray his immense talent as an attacking centre, Fabien Pelous may not pack sufficient punch at lock and Thomas Lievremont is a new boy at No 8. All in all, quite a challenge for a rookie captain.Player to watch: Christian Califano.IRELANDThe Irish hierarchy moved in for Brian Ashton a matter of hours before Jack Rowell, then England’s coach, suggested he might find an opening for his old Bath confrere. As we saw in Bordeaux on Saturday, the Brive contingent of Lamaison, Carbonneau and Magne can freeze up on the big occasion. Such is his current standing with the English rugby public that while he emerged from last autumn’s four-Test SANZA series without a win, he also emerged without a smidgen of smelly stuff sticking to his red rose blazer.How long the honeymoon lasts is not entirely dependent on this weekend’s match in Paris.

Woodward can afford a narrow defeat there and still talk persuasively about progress. But any defeat by the Celts will leave him exposed to the slings and arrows of sporting fortune, especially as he possesses enviable strength in all areas of his squad.All, that is, except the front row, which must be giving him nightmares. Their refusal to ratify Italy’s long overdue appearance at the high table of European rugby was and remains arrogant, supercilious and downright illogical. If they are made to pay for their pomposity by one or more of their opponents over the next two and a half months, a form of justice will be seen to be done.ENGLANDClive Woodward insists that he has one priority and one only – namely, to build a team capable of lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy at next year’s World Cup – and, if it means taking a painful step backwards in order to accomplish two in the right direction, he will happily pay the price. The Scots have fared rather better, completing a famous Grand Slam in 1990 and going close to two more in 1995 and 1996 before having their pips squeezed by superior English packs. But there has been a poverty of recent performance from both nations that brackets them together Professionalism has skinned them alive, left them for dead. They are yesterday’s men.Assuming, then, that the Welsh are capable of only one rewriting of the form book rather than two, which of the big guns will avoid the banana skin? England are favourites to take the title, but only just.