New French rugby coach Philippe Saint-Andre says this year's Six Nations Championship is "more open than ever".
France enter the tournament as favourites following their narrow World Cup final loss to New Zealand, but Saint-Andre believes England, Wales and Ireland all have the potential to win European rugby's biggest prize.
Les Bleus begin their campaign against Italy at the Stade de France on Saturday (4th February).
Three months after a heartbreaking 8-7 loss to New Zealand in the final of the World Cup, the French rugby team have shifted their focus to the Six Nations Championship.
They'll enter the tournament with a new coach Philippe Saint-Andre, who replaces Marc Lievremont.
Saint-Andre's starting line-up includes ten players from the side that lost the World Cup decider.
The new faces include centre Wesley Fofana, who'll line-up next to his Clermont Auvergne team-mate Aurelien Rougerie.
"It's a team with a lot of experience and also a few guys with fresh blood I would say. What I want is a good balance between defence and also keep the ball because in international rugby you need to keep the ball. And I just hope that we'll show a French team that's ambitious because I don't think you can win a big competition just with kicking the ball. Also I just hope we'll have a good balance, with experience, with discipline but also to be ambitious in the game."
SUPER CAPTION: Philippe Saint-Andre, France rugby coach
France are the favourite to win the tournament, but Saint-Andre believes three other teams have just as good a chance.
"After (last year's) Six Nations tournament, and after the World Cup, there are no favourites. The English team has great potential, people say they had a poor World Cup, but they lost just one game against France. The Welsh have a very good team with a good generation of players. We see that the Irish provinces dominated the European Cup, so this Six Nations tournament is more open than ever. We will focus on the first match. It is important to get a good start in this competition and we are thinking just about the game against Italy."
France's tournament kicks off on Saturday when they host perennial underdogs Italy.
The Azzurri have only beaten France once - but that 22-21 defeat in Rome came just 11 months ago.
Not surprisingly, captain Thierry Dusautoir refuses to take Italy lightly.
"It's an important game for us, important because we play the first game against Italy at home. This is the first game of the tournament. We have a goal and ambition to win this tournament and we all remember the defeat against Italy last year."
But history and form suggests a relatively comfortable French win.
Les Bleus have not lost a home game in the opening match of the Championship since 1975.
SNTV