Injuries to key players at the start of the tournament hampered France's challenge, but they were in magnificent form at home, won for the first time at Twickenham, and lost only narrowly in Italy and Ireland.

Wales would also have been broadly content with their performance, with narrow defeats to Ireland and England - but wins over Italy and Scotland ensured World Cup qualification, which was their main aim.

Scotland, on the other hand, suffered some horrendous defeats in a very disappointing campaign where they scored no tries and only three points.

As for England, like 2009, the vast majority of their leading players were left out of the Six Nations squad to prepare for the forthcoming Sevens World Cup taking place in June in Russia, so they used the Sevens World Series as a warm-up for that event.

Consequently, they had a largely inexperienced squad with only 3 players remaining from the successful series win over New Zealand in the Autumn of 2012.