Former England players embarrassed with official predictions before Six Nations
Several of England's former top rugby players made a series of bold predictions ahead of the Six Nations, and they've not aged well.
On February 7, the England men's rugby team opened their 2026 Six Nations campaign with a bang as they thrashed Wales 48-7 at Twickenham Stadium.
The performance came off the back of England receiving huge hype heading into the annual tournament, with many expecting the Roses to be the dominant force this year.
However, things haven't exactly gone to plan for England, who faced a brutal 42-21 loss to Ireland over the weekend.
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The loss will of course be a bitter pill to swallow for all England fans, but none more so than a group of former players who were convinced that their side would show up at the Six Nations.
Ahead of the Six Nations this year, popular rugby pundit Alex Payne and former England players Mike Tindall and James Haskell asked several other ex-pros to predict England's matches.
The trio were joined by former England rugby stars Mike Brown, Jonny May and Joe Marler, and it's safe to say they were all confident about England's chances.
All six predicted that England would win their opening match against Wales and go on to beat Scotland, Ireland, and Italy in their next fixtures.
In fact, all four of Payne, Tindall, May and Brown predicted that England would pick up a Grand Slam this year, meaning they would beat all other teams during the competition.
Marler and Haskell had different views to their peers, with the former boldly claiming the final match between England and France would be a draw, while the latter thought that Les Bleus would prove too much for Steve Borthwick's side.
Of course, just weeks later and the pundits have already been proven embarrassingly wrong, as, following their win over Wales, England have gone on to lose to both Scotland and Ireland.
Across the two matches, England have score five tries and a total of 41 points, while conceding a combined eight tries and 73 points.
The back to back losses leave England fourth in the Six Nations table with just five points ahead of France and Italy's clash on Sunday afternoon.
It means that England can now finish on a maximum of 15 points and would need Scotland, France and Ireland all to fall apart in the closing two matches if they hope to have any chance of winning the Six Nations this year.
Topics: Rugby, Rugby Union
Ben McCrum