All the pundits have made their Six Nations predictions and there's a clear winner

The Six Nations is finally upon us.

Wales head into the tournament as defending champions, but few - if any - are tipping Wayne Pivac's side to repeat last year's achievement.

With the tournament about to begin, it's time to take a look at the predictions from some of the game's biggest names to gauge who might be lifting the trophy on March 19.

"If I had to put money on it, I'd go with France," the former referee told the Mirror. "And that's because the fixtures fall to suit them this year.

"I also think it may not be a Grand Slam, it may well be a championship win.

"It's going to be very, very interesting, but if I had to put my money on somebody, I'd go for France.

"But — and this is key here — what is adding a big question mark behind things is: we don't know what Covid is going to do."

"I don't see France losing a game," the former Irish full-back told the Daily Mail.

"You see it in the way France are playing since [Shaun Edwards has] been involved. Their defence has gone to the next level and they seem to be far tougher mentally.

"It will be a much tougher ask for Wales in Dublin. They will try to impose their game on Ireland, but I was looking at the Leinster team who had four or five weeks off over Christmas due to Covid. I thought it would be interesting to see how they started back into Europe and wow, look at the way they played.

"Look at their confidence levels. The Leinster team will form the majority of the Ireland side supplemented by some other outstanding players, but all the Irish provinces are performing very well right now.

"France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Italy."

Former Wales coach and scrum-half Howley is tipping Wales to finish fifth this year, having told the Mail: "Wayne Pivac has