THE escalating debate concerning the future of the Six Nations tournament seems to miss the most obvious solution – go back to Five Nations.
Colin Boag and others are correct: Italy are now so far off the pace of the rest they are an embarassment and it is difficult to imagine how they will improve, bearing in mind their PRO12 results are going in the same direction.
Reverting to a Five Nations would also allow for a five-week tournament, with a break, and the bonus of every game being played on Saturday afternoon, back-to-back.
There is also a political context in that the way things...