The glory of the six nations

We were waiting for the old pep talk and there was Tony, sat in the corner on his own having a fag and reading a book. To make it worse it was a really horrible day and a really heavy pitch and we looked at Tony and he had a pair of rubbersoled boots on!

Five minutes before the game, he put his book away, put his fag out, put his boots on and said, 'Right, let's go and stuff these bastards.' That was it. We lost.

Gavin Hastings: The preparation wasn't much better by the time I started in the Five Nations in '86. We trained on the Sunday before the game, then we'd all go to the bar at Murrayfield and drink about four pints, then they'd say 'See you next week'.

The next Thursday at 11 o'clock we'd meet up and train for three hours, meet in the bar for three or four pints at 5 o'clock, then go in for dinner. We couldn't move, we ate so much. Then on Friday we'd go for a run, do our own thing in the afternoon, have a four or five-course meal on the Friday night.

After that we'd go to the pictures. We'd get all the kitty money together and buy out the sweet shop and come back at 11 o'clock and order sandwiches.

Then on Saturday we'd wake up, have breakfast, an hour later lunch and then go and play. It sounds completely ridiculous now, but that's what you did. When you were a young player in the team you just accepted it automatically.

Keith Wood: Even when I started in 1995, most of the boys would go for a couple of pints the night before the game. It's unheard of now, but then a lot of the boys would do it.

PJ: Were the Scottish eating habits described by Gavin typical?

GE: Absolutely. For us it was an 11 o'clock team talk on Saturday, steak and chips for lunch and then kick off two hours later.

GH: It's chalk and cheese comparing now and then. And the only thing I ever did once I became captain (in 1992) was to get rid of the fizzy drinks that were always lying around. Wine does you more good than a can of Coke.

GE: Everybody did the same. If you didn't do what everyone else did, you were the odd one out. Cinema, pub, steak and chips. It was all normal.

GH: In the early '90s we got a dietician in to help us, but it wasn't always a help. I remember one time our meal arriving and we got a bed of salad and a tiny bit of salmon. We thought, the starter's a bit small. But that was our meal. The guys rebelled, Damian Cronin got up and went to the local chippie for everyone - so it was worse than before the dietician.

KW: We'd do the same. Sometimes we'd have to send a taxi on a 35-mile round trip to get pizza for the lads on the Friday night.

GE: I remember JPR Williams coming along one time and telling us we had to bulk up on carbohydrates. I didn't have a clue what carbohydrates were! But it seemed that we were allowed to have a lot of chips so the boys were happy with that!

KW: They were amateur times back then and maybe the approach seems amateurish looking back. But one of the most important things for me was doing what we are doing now - sitting around a table and talking rugby. And not just with your team-mates but with your opponents after the game too.

PJ: There is something very special about the camaraderie of international rugby, isn't there?

FC: I think it's unique. If you went to a rugby school you were brought up to respect the referee and you always had to sit with your opposite number at dinner after games. It was ingrained into you from an early age.

Then in senior rugby you were taught to honour the tradition of always buying your opposite number a pint after the match. You'd tell him how you gave him a hard time and he'd tell you how he gave you a hard time. That way you made friendships for life.

KW: There are some very special friendships. I have a lot of time for Jason Leonard, having played with him and against him. We've had some real ding-dongs.

I remember one game where he flattened me early on and I was unsteady on my feet, doing my Bambi impression. The referee told me to go off to recover. I got Jason back later on in the game and I got an earful from the ref.

But I think the true test of a man is in defeat. It's easy to be a gracious winner - though not everyone manages it - but I remember after we beat England in Dublin in 2001 the first person to reach me and congratulate me at the end of the game was Jason Leonard.

FC: There is something truly wonderful about the championship. It has such great tradition. You feel you are part of history, part of something unique. Everyone is so passionate about it.

And it's not just for the players. I'd never been to a Six Nations game not involving England, and then I went up to Murrayfield to see Scotland-Ireland. It was the last game for the wooden spoon, tipping down with rain and you couldn't move for the amount of people.

GE: I remember when Graham Henry first experienced a Wales- Scotland game. He thought it was going to be a nothing game. Afterwards he said, 'My God, I didn't know what it all meant until I got up here'.

PJ: How about the pressure to win? Is that greater nowadays?

GE: The game is no more serious now than it used to be. It's professional, but not more serious. The pressure in our day was huge, especially for amateur players.

FC: When we were playing, we'd have loved to have been full-time professionals. When I came back from the Lions tour in 1974 I'd added a stone in weight and two inches round my neck simply because it was the only time I was scrummaging every day.

KW: It was the same for me in 1997. When I went, my neck was 191/2 inches. I came back and it was 211/2.

PJ: How about the fame? Were you often recognised in your day?

FC: It would depend where I was. I could walk down the streets of my home town and hardly anybody would notice. But with Gareth and Barry and those guys, they would walk around Cardiff and the whole world knew who they were.

PJ: But you weren't rewarded, were you, and sometimes your unions could be pretty mean.

GE: They could. The best story was in '78 when I won my 50th cap at Twickenham. We won and it was fantastic - we had our families with us. So on the bus home we stopped off at Swindon and they said, 'Go on boys, go and have a good meal with your wives. Enjoy yourselves'. Which we did. By the Wednesday we had a bill from the WRU: 'Steak and chips for your wife - £3.50.'

PJ: Did you pay it?

GE: No we didn't.

PJ: Can we turn now to this year's championship? Does England's World Cup victory add extra spice to the tournament?

GE: Absolutely. From all the other countries' perspectives it's a great opportunity to try to put them on their bums.

KW: I think it would be the same if France or Ireland were world champions, but England have been dominant for a long period of time. Having said that I'd be happier if we beat the other four teams rather than just England.

GH: People are already talking about Wembley 1967 (when Scotland became the first side to beat England's World Cupwinning footballers) and there's nothing wrong with that.

But we should respect what the English team have achieved and not hate them in a sporting context. I don't think you gain anything by hating a team. It should help raise Scotland's performances and drag them up.

GE: What I hope we might see this year is the growing up of this young Welsh side.

PJ: Some people will look at this year's championship and say the winners will be whoever prevails in Paris on March 27.

GE: And so it was in our day. Whoever won in Paris won the championship.

KW: If we can get into a run of form, without a run of injuries, then we can be serious contenders.

Ireland's aim is not to win the Grand Slam, we want to win the championship. Which means winning our three home games and at least one of the away games. Four wins should be good enough.

PJ: Will the absence of Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson affect England's chances?

KW: No player is irreplaceable but when you've played for or against Martin Johnson, you notice the difference when he isn't playing. As a player and a leader.

FC: You can't replace players of the ilk of Wilkinson and Johnson, they are two very big players. It is going to be more difficult for England than it was last season. But we've got the strength in depth to cope.