Ireland are the team to beat in this year's Six Nations

Players at Six Nations 2019 launch with Rory Best at front

Ireland will be crowned 2019 Six Nations champions if the form guide holds true and bookmakers are proved correct.

And while rugby is played on grass and not on paper, it is difficult to dispute and reckless to dismiss Ireland's title chances.

England and Wales appear best-placed to prevent a fourth Irish success in the past six seasons, but they have their work cut out.

Ireland, under head coach Joe Schmidt's masterly direction, won 11 Test matches last year and lost one.

That solitary defeat was against Australia, but Ireland responded superbly to then beat the Wallabies on successive weekends and claim a 2-1 Test series triumph Down Under.

They also toppled world champions New Zealand for a second time in three years and won the Six Nations with a Grand Slam, in addition to Leinster lifting the Heineken Champions Cup.

Currently ranked second in the world behind New Zealand, Ireland are likely to take some stopping, and they could make an immediate statement of intent against opening opponents England.

Eddie Jones' men finished fifth in last season's Six Nations, and two of their first three games this time around are against Ireland in Dublin and Wales in Cardiff.

If England are to regain the Six Nations top spot they enjoyed under Jones in 2016 and 2017, then it will undoubtedly be achieved the hard way.

While Ireland defeated the All Blacks in November, England should have done, but they lost a 15-0 lead and slipped to a one-point defeat.

It was one of six reversals from 12 starts last year, and with the long 2019 World Cup build-up now having turned into the home straight, consistency will be a key ingredient that England must rediscover.

Wales, meanwhile, would like nothing more than to mark Warren Gatland's final Six Nations as head coach by winning it for a first time since 2013.

And their chances should not be overlooked, given that they are on a nine-match winning run, having accounted for South Africa (twice), Argentina (twice), Australia, France, Scotland, Italy and Tonga since losing to Ireland during last season's Six Nations.

Wales won all four of their autumn Tests for the first time and it is 30 years since they claimed 10 successive victories.

But with Ireland and England both facing trips to Cardiff, it is feasible that Gatland could end his Wales' Six Nations reign exactly how he started it 11 years ago by overseeing a title triumph.

Scotland, buoyed by the impressive European form of Edinburgh and Glasgow this term, head into Six Nations combat following an erratic year.

They famously beat England at Murrayfield, but also lost to the United States during a results sequence of seven victories and five defeats, while injuries have also played a part in head coach Gregor Townsend's Six Nations squad selection.

They have home advantage against Italy, Ireland and Wales, but they could find themselves finishing in the table's bottom half, being joined by France and Italy.

France had less than a 40 per cent success-rate last year, ending 2018 by losing at home to Fiji, with Italy - Six Nations wooden-spoonists 13 times in 19 years - again seem destined to prop up the table.

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