And what a start it should be on Friday night - yes Friday night - when Martin Johnson's England will head over the Severn Bridge to take on Wales in front of what Johnno himself describes as the most intimidating atmosphere in world rugby.

The match is live on BBC1 from 7.30pm, but live from 7.00pm on BBC1 Wales and the Red Button for an extra-long build-up for what should be a crucial game in shaping the next seven weeks. The coverage will be hosted by John Inverdale, with Jonathan Davies and Jerry Guscott.

Adam Rhys Jones scores for Wales in last year's game against England at Twickenham - photo: Getty

It's difficult to over-hype the significance of this battle in Cardiff. With three home games to follow, England will believe that a win against the Welsh could set them on the road to a first title since 2003 when the side led by Johnson took Grand Slam glory on the way to that World Cup triumph down under.

And as Welsh fly-half Stephen Jones pointed out this week, both of Wales's recent Grand Slam seasons in 2005 and 2008 started with hard-fought victories over the English.

Indeed England have not returned victorious from the principality since that win in 2003.

Principality? Hmm, not sure we are really allowed to say that - and our opening on Friday evening will give you some indication as to why.

John Inverdale has visited a number of sites to try and explain the ancient antipathy towards the English. The Stereophonics famously sang "as long as we beat the English" - and in the name of rugby that has been a driving passion in South Wales for over a century.

Also watch out for a fascinating feature in which messrs Butler, Davies, Guscott and Moore debate that rivalry and the great moments of Wales v England conflicts over the past few decades.

Coach Warren Gatland understands how this passion drives the Welsh and the Kiwi has been winding up the English in the past couple of weeks - or more accurately their New Zealand-born hooker Dylan Hartley.

Gatland joked that he had promised the BBC an audience of eight million for the first game and needed to crank the pre-match publicity up a bit - and what with £50m footballers occupying the front and back pages we are with you all the way Mr Gatland!

The boy Dylan gets his say in our programme in an interview that is up on the BBC Six Nations website (and you can watch it below).

On Saturday, there is double-header of matches live on BBC 1. Gabby Logan is off to Italy, with Ireland starting in Rome where they are unbeaten (BBC1, 2pm), and then last year's Grand Slam champions France hosting Scotland (KO 5pm) - who are once again many pundits' choice to upset le panier de pommes after victory over South Africa and two in Argentina since they thwarted Irish triple crown hopes at the end of last season.

The first of our popular Red Button forums will also come from Paris (7.00pm Saturday) where we will reflect back on the first weekend's action.

As usual, the BBC's coverage embraces all platforms - and is well under way online, on the Red Button, via Scrum V in Wales and on News 24. On each match day the Red Button will also have alternative commentary options and match edits after each game as well as being the home of our Forums.

Watch out tonight for Radio 5's preview show from Pencoed RFC near Bridgend - and I say 'watch' advisedly, because you can view the show live via the BBC website too.

It will be co-hosted by Gareth Thomas, a Pencoed man himself, and Matt Dawson, with special guests including Gareth Edwards, Phil Vickery and our own Brian Moore.

Our Brian is set to be more ubiquitous than ever during this Championship. You may have seen Scrum V's excellent "Brian Moore's Head" challenge in which players, pundits and all sorts have taking on the task of passing balls through the mouth of our award-winning commentator's outsize head.

Well, this feature goes international over the next few weeks with someone from each of the six nations trying to become the winner of a not-so-handsome trophy!

And speaking of international matters, if you are reading this blog in the US, BBC America will have live coverage of one match each weekend throughout the Six Nations taking the event to over 68 million homes across the USA.

The first match on offer is France v Scotland on Saturday (from 11.30 ET & 8.30 PT). Who needs the Super Bowl says a disgruntled NY Jets fan!

Actually, in the Super Bowl this Sunday (BBC1, 10.55pm), the Green Bay Packers have to take on the whole of 'Steeler Nation' as Pittsburgh like to title themselves. Martin Johnson, a huge NFL fan, features in a BBC documentary (Saturday BBC1 1.00pm) on the event, hosted by his namesake Michael Johnson.

And this Friday no one will know better than Johnno that his England team also have to take on a whole nation when they cross the white line in Cardiff. Good luck to all.

Ten years this week, Italy joined the Five Nations to make it Six and celebrated with a victory over Scotland.

And, perhaps slightly more importantly, 20 years ago this week Nelson Mandela took the long walk to freedom from Victor Verster prison after 27 years in captivity.

Three facts. And here's a fourth. All these events will form a part of BBC TV's opening to the RBS 6 Nations, which gets under way this Saturday on BBC1 at 1340 GMT.

And to our delight, Morgan Freeman, who plays Mandela in the movie, has read the poem 'Invictus', which inspires the film's title, exclusively for the BBC and sent a good luck message to all the Six Nations teams.

But you don't have to wait until Saturday to see this. Check it out below, it's an epic moment.

Also in Saturday's programme, Matt Dawson meets Matt Damon and the man he plays in the film, former Springboks captain Francois Pienaar, to compare the relative size of the two and hear what happened when Hollywood went a ruckin' and a maulin'.

So to the championship itself which promises to be as open and unpredictable as ever. Yes, I know, I've said the same thing for the past few years, but it's another fact. Well, actually it's not, technically, but you know what I mean.

Ireland open with a home match at Croke Park against Italy, who haven't beaten the Irish since joining the annual jamboree in 2000. Before that game, we'll hear from Brian O'Driscoll, who has scored more Six Nations tries than any other player, and of course led his country to their first Grand Slam for 61 years in 2009.

Then it's on to the centenary celebrations at Twickenham before Martin Johnson's England take on Wales at 1700 GMT. Two years ago, Warren Gatland's side ended 20 years of hurt by winning at Twickers, using the impetus of that great start to go all the way to a Grand Slam of their own. That's how important a first week win can be.

This year, for the first time, all 15 matches are available in High Definition - and all will be live on BBC's HD Channel, which will also carry our popular red button forums that follow many of our programmes to bring you extra interviews, analysis and debate. The first of these runs until 1930 GMT on Saturday.

It is worth hitting that red button at any time to catch up with highlights of all matches and to find a few more goodies. This weekend, there is a chance to see a special documentary made by our colleagues at RTE about Ireland's Grand Slam season. The Ruck 'n Roll Years is back by popular demand, too.

Radio 5 and 5 live sports extra has live commentaries, while Matt Dawson will preview every weekend of the championship on the Thursday evening prior to the action.

After Saturday's match at Twickenham, John Inverdale, Jonathan Davies, Andy Nicol and several of our production team hit the long road to Murrayfield to be there in time - just - for Scotland v France (Sunday, BBC1 1430 GMT).

Mind you, at least we've got a car for the trip. Over the next four weeks, we'll be featuring Lawrence Dallaglio's journey across Europe as he travels to and from all the Six Nations grounds - on a bike. Yes, the big fella is getting the lycra on and hoping to raise upwards of a million quid for Sport Relief and his own charitable foundation.

If you want to find out more - or give to a great cause - head for the Sport Relief website. We'll be tracking his progress and saddle sores on BBC TV and online over the next month. Good luck, Lol!

Finally, and most importantly of all, on Saturday, BBC TV Sport will pay its own tribute to the "Voice of Rugby" Bill McLaren, who sadly died two weeks ago at the age of 86. This goes out at 1300 GMT on Saturday on BBC1.

Bill was not only one of the great sports commentators but also one of the most delightful, dedicated and lovely of men. John Inverdale visited Bill's home town of Hawick for his funeral and from there introduces a programme he made back in 2002 with producer Jo McCusker. Entitled "Flower of Scotland", it beautifully captures the essence of a great but humble Scotsman.

On Sunday, Murrayfield and the Scottish Rugby Union will join in the tributes to Bill, with his family in attendance, not least his grandson Rory Lawson, who is part of the Scotland team. The singing of Flower of Scotland is sure to be even more emotional and stirring than usual for the crowd and TV audience alike.

As Bill would have said, "Aye, it's a grand old tournament." Enjoy the next seven weeks.

For the Italians playing in their 10th Championship since five became six back in 2000 the Bergamasco brothers have become almost ever-presents since the younger Mirco joined big bruv Mauro in the side in 2002.

Mauro played at open-side flanker in Italy's 34-20 win over Scoland in their first match and this weekend will rival our own Austin Healey as international rugby's Mr Versatile having been chosen at scrum-half to add to his caps in the back row and on the wing.

Meanwhile for the home side Steffon Armitage will make his debut alongside brother Delon - making them the first brothers to represent England since the Underwood boys Rory and Tony in 1995.

OK here's your starter for 10. Who were the last pair of brothers to play against each other in the Six Nations? (Answer below)

Mention of Mrs U reminds me of the survey back in 2002 which found that she was more well known to the British public than a certain Jonny Wilkinson. At that time of course England's home games were not broadcast on terrestrial TV as they had been through Rory and Tony's career.

BBC TV coverage on Saturday begins at 1.30pm when there is a chance to see a superb documentary made in BBC Wales looking back at the Welsh Grand Slam of 2008. This uses "The Cut" footage that our extra, low cameras have been capturing at Six Nations games since 2003 and which has proved so popular in showing the pace and power of the professional game.

From 2pm John Inverdale will be live at Twickenham for an extensive build-up to the first match. Watch out for Sonja McLaughlan's first interview with Martin Johnson, interviews with the Armitage brothers and Andy Goode, Johno's surprise selection at fly-half. Also Keith Wood has been speaking to Brian O'Driscoll ahead of a huge season for the last Lions captain ahead of the summer's trip to South Africa.

England v Italy kicks off at 3pm and will be followed on BBC1 by Ireland v France live (KO 5pm). Ireland fans will not want to be reminded of the late, late Vincent Clerc try that ultimately cost them a Grand Slam in this corresponding fixture from 2007 - which was the historic first rugby union international at Croke Park.

On Sunday we are on from 2.25pm on BBC1 as Wales begin their defence of the title against Scotland at Murrayfield. Every year it seems Scotland are put forward as the 'dark horses' for the Championship, but it is worth pointing out that Frank Hadden's team have beaten all five of the other nations within the past three years.

Before this game we'll hear from Lee Byrne, arguably the player of the autumn internationals and Scotland's fly-half Phil Godman - who also takes on the crucial place kicking duties, an area that cost his side dearly against South Africa in November.

As ever there are lots of ways to enjoy the Six Nations experience with the BBC. All of the England, Wales and Scotland home matches are available in High Definition on the HD channel while Radio 5 will have all the team news and discussion in the days ahead of each match. Watch out too for Matt Dawson's preview programme ahead of every weekend of the Championship.

On the Red Button there will be highlights of every match as well as commentary alternatives for all the different nations. Our popular forums will also be back every weekend starting after the Ireland v France match with Gabby Logan on Saturday. Also hit your red button now and go to the sport multiscreen where there are two streams of preview material plus an entertaining historical review entitled the 'Ruck n Roll Years'.

On the BBC Sport website too there will be extended versions of this preview material, match highlights and your chance to select your Lions squad for the summer and see how it compares with our panel of experts - Jonathan Davies, Jeremy Guscott, Andy Nicol and Keith Wood.

Finally if you want to relive any match in full they are available on the BBC iPlayer for up to seven days afterwads.

It promises to be a fascinating seven weeks with the six teams more equally matched than at any time in recent years. Wales are the bookies favourites at about 2-1 and would probably carry my fiver too if pushed.

Let's hope the weather clears up around our three venues for this weekend. And I recommend you stay indoors for what should be a cracking start to the tournament.

*The last time brothers played against each other in the Six Nations was actually only two years ago when Rory and Simon Best of Ireland came up against the Lamont brothers of Scotland - Rory and Sean.

No, it's not EastEnders, but rather Pobol y Cwm, which has been produced by the BBC in Wales since 1974, although since 1982 it has been transmitted on the Welsh language channel S4C.

But what has this got to do with the final weekend of the Six Nations Championship?

Well, the fact is that over the past five years Welsh rugby has produced a soap opera to match Corry,' Enders or indeed Pobol y Cwm.

Two years later - now led by Mike Ruddock - the shaven-legged Gavin Henson kicked them to victory over England and on their way to a totally unexpected Grand Slam, their first for 28 years. Who saw that story line coming?

Within 12 months Ruddock was gone, an alleged victim of player power, and every Welshman's favourite Neighbour Scott Johnson was in charge. Captain Gareth Thomas lost it on the telly and then nearly lost his life after a dramatic seizure in his living room. You really couldn't write it.

Even last year, under Gareth Jenkins, the plot lines kept on coming. Four defeats in the Six Nations included final whistle lunacy in Italy before redemption and a 27-18 over England in the final match. Then in a crazy 80 minutes in the World Cup they lost, won and then lost again to Fiji by 38-34 and failed to make the knockout stages.

Bye bye Gareth. Hello to the Kiwi/English partnership of Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards for this year's championship - and after a first half roasting at Twickenham it's been onwards and upwards to four victories, a Triple Crown and one victory away from another unbelievable Grand Slam.

To celebrate this soap opera, John Inverdale will record his opening for our 'Super Saturday' show on the set of Pobol y Cwm ahead of what is sure to be seven hours of high drama on BBC1.

It will be a drama in three acts. The first in Rome (KO 1.00pm) will see Italy hope to beat Scotland by more than five points to avoid the wooden spoon - Gladiators v Bravehearts.

Then, centre stage at Twickenham will be Danny Cipriani, last week's fall guy now given the job of stepping out in Jonny Wilkinson's shirt and standing out as the stand-in for the new points world record holder. Prince Hamlet indeed. Alas poor Jonny.

Finally, at 5.00pm the spotlight will fall on the Millennium Stadium as Wales seek to hold off Marc Lievremont's latest French ensemble to lift the RBS Six Nations trophy. Will it be a Magnificent Seventh grand slam since the war for Wales, or will the French musketeers cut down their hosts and spoil the party?

Don't forget BBC online and the I Player will give you the chance to watch the highlights or full re-runs of all the drama.

So pull up your chair, draw the curtains and get out the popcorn. With the Welsh centre stage anything could happen.

This match has a couple of fascinating sub-plots with Warren Gatland taking his unbeaten Welsh side to play against an Ireland side coached by Eddie O'Sullivan, his former assistant, who replaced the Kiwi as the Irish coach back in 2001 amid accusations of disloyalty and plotting.

The canny Gatland has played down any revenge motive in the media this week, but you can bet he will be using it as a motivational tool for his men before they enter the unique amosphere created at the new Irish rugby home.

Ireland v Wales (KO 1.15pm) is the first match of a huge weekend for BBC Sport with three Six Nations matches, three live FA Cup quarter-finals as well as the return of Moto GP and extensive coverage on BBCi of the World Indoor Athletics Championships.

As a consequence of such a busy weekend we have less time before the action to preview all the Six Nations games. This is by contrast with a fortnight ago when we had a long build-up before the three matches on that marathon Saturday for rugby fans.

On my last blog there were a couple of complaints of bias about the fact that the whole build-up from 2pm was not devoted to the Wales v Italy match. I'm not going to apologise on that one (and I'm not saying sorry for too much sport either).

The fact is that the time before Wales v Italy was the only build-up time for all THREE matches on a crowded day of live action once it started. We did features on England and Ireland, an analysis piece on the French back three, a Sport Relief item and chat around Frank Haddon's problems with Scotland - all in the first half hour.

After that there was a full half-hour's build-up from Cardiff featuring a long interview with the new Gatland/ Shaun Edwards coaching axis and interviews with a trio of Welsh boxing world champions as well as hearing the views of Jonathan Davies and Colin Charvis.

A footnote to this debate is that next week John Inverdale will host the final weekend of the Championship from Cardiff - as whatever happens this weekend the destiny of the title cannot be decided before the final match between Wales and France.

The build-up to Saturday's Calcutta Cup clash between Scotland and England has been enlivened in the last 24 hours by the news that Danny Cipriani has been dropped by Brian Ashton after being spotted leaving a nightclub.

This story - and all its ramifications - has rightly overshadowed a small but significant announcement by the International Rugby Board (IRB) this week. They have confirmed that the 2005 match played by the Lions v Argentina at Cardiff HAS now been granted Test match status. The significance is that Jonny Wilkinson scored 20 points for the Lions in the 25-25 draw. Those points added to JW's 1070 for England and Lions now mean he is level with Neil Jenkins world record of 1090 and looks sure to break it on Saturday.

A record for the BBC this weekend will be that the Calcutta Cup match will become the first ever sporting event to be broadcast in 3D by satellite. The experiment will see three stereoscopic cameras (with two HD lenses that apparently means) used to produce alternative match coverage. This will be directed by Rhys Edwards from BBC Wales and the 3D OB has been supplied by BBC Resources in partnership with a company called The3DFirm. The results will be broadcast at a special live viewing in London for the media and some technology experts.

Whether it's in SD (standard definition), HD or 3D we should have another cracking weekend of international rugby for you.

Don't forget the highlights of all the games will also be available online as well as full replays of Scotland v England and Ireland v Wales on BBC TWO in the early hours on Sunday - and the chance to watch all three games for up to seven days on the BBC iPlayer.

Can I recommend a lie-in followed by a large late breakfast, a bit of Footy Focus on the settee and then down the pub for EIGHT hours of action, previews and analysis of Wales v Italy, Ireland v Scotland and France v England.

Get there for our preview show at 2pm. John Inverdale will be joined in Paris by Jeremy Guscott and Austin Healey. We'll have the usual mix of chat and features, including a fascinating interview with Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards done by Jonathan Davies. We'll also have a tribute to the French back three that dazzled the Scottish two weeks ago.

The subject of video referees was back in the spotlight after the Wales v Scotland game in Cardiff when TMO Carlo Damasco made a wrong call in allowing Shane Williams's second try when replays showed the winger's foot had dragged across the touchline before the touchdown.

It is the second year running that the Scots have had a grievance after Jonny Wilkinson's try was allowed at Twickenham in last year's Calcutta Cup clash when he too was shown to have a foot in touch.

I don't think many people would deny that these two calls were wrong, but I would disagree with the view which says what's the point of video refs if they are going to get it wrong.

The point is that these guys are only human, are under tremendous pressure and like all of us will occasionally make mistakes. In defence of Mr Damasco he got locked in to checking whether Williams had grounded the ball before hitting the corner flag - which he did - and failed to pick up the trailing foot breaking the sideline.

Before this year's Championship I addressed the IRB's elite referees about how we in TV can help the process. At all BBC-hosted Six Nations games (all venues except Paris) the TMO sits in the Match Director's truck. Importantly this means he has eye-to-eye contact with the director as well as being in direct communication.

Our replay director will offer as many different views of an incident as the TMO feels he needs to make his mind up. At any point the TMO can ask for a second viewing (or more) of any particular angle. This process continues until he has a decision. We do though reserve the journalistic right to show other angles later in the coverage if he decides before seeing all angles that he is happy to make his call. Indeed this happened in Cardiff two weeks ago.

I believe these moments produce drama for both the TV audience and the crowd - who see the process on the big screen in the stadium. The top referees all admitted to me they would rather be the man in the middle than the man in the TV booth. The calls by definition are nearly always tight (Did Mark Cueto really slip into touch in the World Cup Final?) and the scrutiny is greater than anything else in the world of sport. But, ultimately, in 99% of cases the right decision is arrived at - which is surely for the good of the game. Just don't try arguing the point with a Scotsman at the moment.

After the first two matches on Saturday we are off the air on BBC ONE between 7pm and 7.50pm. But don't worry! If you have the Interactive facility a press of the red button will give you our Forum. Gabby Logan with Keith Wood and Andy Nicol will have more reaction from Dublin before handing to John Inverdale for build-up and interviews ahead of the England game in Paris. Also there will be highlights of the earlier matches available for latecomers. For imsoniacs and returning nightclubbers BBC TWO will re-run the whole France v England match at 3.15am on Sunday morning.

Remember too that if eights hours live is not enough for you - or should you miss anything - there are full repeats of all three matches on the BBC iPlayer and highlights, reaction and statistics on all games on the BBC website.

It promises to be a humdinger of a day - just try and ensure you are sober enough to see it through to the final minutes in Paris. Good luck.

The regular reader (thank you!) of this blog will have spotted that my efforts last week included the most seering, incisive bit of sports betting advice for many a year - move over Angus Loughran!

What I said was that France were my tip to take the RBS 6 Nations title - and here's the big one - the French winger Vincent Clerc was my tip to be the Player of the Tournament. Clerc didn't let us down at Murrayfield last Sunday with his two-try, man of the match performance, as new coach Marc Lievremont's side rammed Scottish optimism back down their throats with the most convincing win of the first weekend.

Anyway just as I was researching the French for "rotation policy" and thinking of my Rafa Benitez lines, a pulled thigh muscle for last week's try-scoring debutant Julien Malzieu earned Clerc a reprieve. Fortunately for my bet he will start against Ireland - who will no doubt remember his last-minute try from last year at Croke Park.

The Irish were unimpressive in their win over Italy last Saturday and still seemed burdened by those World Cup blues, as Keith Wood said last weekend, surely the French will only get better with more time - and three successive games at Stade de France.

The real drama of week one came at Twickenham last Saturday as Wales recalled the revival of Paris 2005 to overcome a faltering, and admittedly injury-ravaged England for their first win at Twickenham since 1988.

As Brian Moore said last Saturday England "imploded" and for Jonny Wilkinson, so long the golden boy, Sunday's papers made interesting reading. Wilkinson has had to carry the can, fairly or not, for the catalogue of errors that allowed Wales back into a game that was seemingly lost.

In his interview for BBC TV this Saturday, Wilkinson says he barely slept for two days after the match and accepts the pressure is on his much-battered shoulders for England's match in Rome on Sunday.

By contrast the Welsh coach Warren Gatland has had to hold a nation's euphoria back after such a sweet unexpected victory over the old enemy in his first match as coach. Another part of our build-up on Saturday will see an amusing reworking of the Lord's Prayer in praise of Gatland and his men for beating the English. Rugby it seems is still a religion in Wales.

Hopefully this light-hearted item won't offend anyone but judging by your responses and e-mails our "Spider-cam" at Twickenham enraged some sensibilities last week. Having reviewed the coverage we accept that one or two uses of this new camera may have been injudicious, but it was a first outing for a very sophisticated piece of kit to operate and we hope we have learnt from this debut.

Sorry if you were one of those offended by this, but interestingly our broadcast achieved an Audience Appreciation Index (AI) of 82% - which is exceptional and among the 8.2 million viewers they can't all have been delirious Welsh-folk.

Previously on this blog I have defended our directors being adventurous in our coverage. Yes, as many have said there are basic rules which should be adhered to. Miss any live action at your peril and keep the grammar of coverage simple. But with such a huge audience of mainly rugby-lite folk I believe it is our duty to entice those viewers in and try and capture the pace and power of rugby at close quarters - and a few tighter cuts are part of that process. I'm sure this debate will go on and on….particularly on the Gloucester Fans Forum it would seem!

A more successful innovation last weekend was the chance to watch all three games again in their entirety on the BBC iPlayer. This proved to be a huge success with 10% of all traffic to this service coming for the Six Nations games. This service is obviously now in place for all this year's games.

Finally I wrote last week of Rory Lamont's unusual preparation for this year's Championship - visiting South Africa for Sport Relief. Unfortunately, although Rory's knee and ribs were good for last weekend he suffered shoulder and ankle injuries in that defeat by France. So the wheel comes full circle this weekend with Rory back as our pitchside guest for Scotland's visit to Cardiff.

We wish Rory and all the week one casualties a speedy recovery. The list of injuries suffered last weekend serves as a reminder of the brutal nature of this sport these days - whatever angle you look at the game from!

That's because three weeks ago while his team-mates were battling it out in the various European Club competitions, Rory joined a five day Sport Relief trip to South Africa alongside fellow RBS ambassador Jason Leonard and the BBC's John Inverdale and Jeremy Guscott.

It was a fascinating and, at times, moving few days as we saw people from the poorest parts of South African society who have been helped by the millions of pounds raised by Sport Relief since it began in 2002. The films we made will form part of our coverage throughout this year's Six Nations building up to the final weekend which will coincide with Sport Relief itself on March 14-16. (Go to bbc.co.uk/sportrelief for more details). Watch out for one on Saturday featuring South Africa's World Cup winning winger Bryan Habana who joined us for an afternoon in Pretoria.

Rory went to Africa with bruised ribs and an injured knee, but fortunately he is now fit enough to take his place in Frank Haddon's side - who are some people's outside tip for the title in what is a ridiculously open championship. At 14-1 they are certainly the value bet and lest we forget Wales were 33-1 before their Grand Slam season in 2005.

This year's post-World Cup competition sees three new coaches Marc Lievremont (France), Nick Mallett (Italy) and Warren Gatland (Wales) and a stack of new selections including a young French fly-half, Francois Trinh-Duc of Montpellier, who few of us could pick out in a line-up.

BBC TV's coverage will also have some new faces and features. Gabby Logan joins our team of presenters alongside John Inverdale and Jill Douglas. Gabby is no stranger to rugby union of course. Her bloke won a few caps for Scotland in his day and during her ITV days Gabby presented the 2003 Rugby World Cup from Australia.

Gabby replaces Craig Doyle who has left our team to present football for ITV in the near future. Despite his departure to the 'dark side' I'd like to say a big thanks to Craig for his work with our rugby team and wish him all the best for the future.

Other new faces in our line-up are the Wasps pair of heavyweights Lawrence Dallaglio and Raphael Ibanez. Mr D should need little introduction to our audience as one of the famous leaders of the World Cup sides of both 2003 and 2007 while Raf, as he likes to be known, is the super suave French fella who lifted last year's Championship trophy in his dinner jacket at Stade de France - and captained his country in two World Cups. The injured Italian captain Marco Bortolami will also join us in Rome next week.

Add those three to our expert squad of Jonathan Davies, Jeremy Guscott, Keith Wood, Andy Nicol, Brian Moore, Phillip Matthews, Austin Healey and Gregor Townsend and I reckon we have a team to keep you well informed and entertained through the next seven weeks.

On Saturday at Twickenham we also have one other special guest. South Africa’s World Cup winning coach Jake White will join us for the whole day. Don’t forget, our whole coverage gets underway from 1300 on BBC ONE.

For the second year running all of England, Wales and Scotland's home matches will be shown in High Definition.

As well as every Six Nations match being on BBC television, all of those matches will be streamed on the BBC Sport website (for UK users), and there will be commentary of every game on Radio 5 Live or Radio 5 Live Sports Extra. Very soon after each match, and again for UK users of the website, there will be a five-minute highlights package (with highlights of the first half published at half-time).

And for the first time, the whole match will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer from the day after the match for a period of one week. So if you've been at a game and want to relive it in full, or just find the one specific incident that needs another view, as long as you are in the UK you will be able to do so.

On the pitch, or rather above the pitch, TV viewers should watch out for the launch of "Spidercam" - a moving camera swung on two wires above the action which gives a unique view of the game.

We also pride ourselves on doing something a bit different at the start of our Six Nations coverage. Anyone remember the exploding quarry a few years ago? This year watch out for John Inverdale in a motorised skip belting through the streets of Paris...you'll just have to watch the programme from the start!

And if you are not able to get in front of a TV, website or radio do not forget you can access the BBC's website on your mobile phone or PDA, and you will find latest scores, results, fixtures and the Six Nations table, wherever you are. In fact if stats are your thing, the website will have all the key facts and figures updating live during all of the matches.

Wales last won at Twickenham 20 years ago and the star of that Triple Crown winning side was Jonathan Davies who will give us his own unique take on the events of that day. And throughout the tournament we'll bring you our team's memories of their Six, or for most, Five Nations' debuts.

Any new championship is a time for optimism, but I really believe this year's tournament, free of the build-up to a World Cup, could be a liberating, flowing rugby experience - unlike some of what we saw last year.

Mind you, unpatriotic though it may be, my tip for the title is the new-look France. And my man of the tournament selection is the man who ultimately denied Ireland a Grand Slam last year - Vincent Clerc. The Toulouse winger never seems to get it wrong and has it all.

Go on, tell me your choice and we'll have a look back in seven weeks time. Enjoy!

And on Sunday it's BBC Wales again at Harlequins, where the home side need a four-try victory over the Ospreys if they are to make it through. Again this is available on BBCi via the red button. We'll also be sending cameras to Leicester and Wasps for their decisive EDF games against Sale and Newcastle.

But that's not all. This weekend the IRB World Sevens series gets under way in Dubai with teams from England, Wales and Scotland hoping to get off to a winning start in the eight event series. New Zealand may have blown the World Cup, but they took the World Sevens title in a dramatic final event at Murrayfield last May after Fiji had failed to go beyond the quarter-finals there.

You can watch the Sevens live, again via the red button or this website, on Saturday, at 7am and 2.15pm. Also on BBC TWO from 3.55pm on Sunday we will have the best of the Dubai action before a full round-up of all the EDF Energy Cup action including highlights of that Quins v Ospreys clash. The draw for the semi-finals of the competition will then be made live in the studio at around 5.20pm.

Our round-up show, dare I call it Rugby Special, will also include one final look at the mercurial, fleet-footed skills of Jason Robinson who takes his bow from rugby for the Baa-Baas against South Africa on Saturday.

Billy Whizz, as he has come to be known to fans of both rugby codes, is a true modern master. His blinding acceleration and elusive skills were legendary in league, and in the confines of the 15-man code he has remained one of the few capable of continually breaking modern defences - and was outstanding in two World Cups.

After their amazing World Cup turnaround England's rugby union team will be fancied for the Team of the Year award while Robinson is an outside contender for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award which will be chosen a week on Sunday. But for the likely winner of this coveted prize we need to head back to our new favourite Surrey town. For Woking is the home of the McLaren racing team and the working base for a certain young British driver.

He'd better stop dreaming of a quiet life...

Or here's a fact. In the past five World Cup finals there have been just five tries but 39 penalties kicked. Unfortunately a combination of fitter athletes, better defensive organisation and the ability to throw on seven substitutes means that risk-taking rugby is exactly that - not the percentage call and therefore not on display when there's everything to play for.

We all admired Argentina's run to the semi-finals, but it was largely based on Juan Martin Hernandez belting the ball high and a terrific, marauding pack. Until last Friday when, encouraged by France, the shackles came off in the 3rd/4th game and the Argies showed off their running, handling, space-making skills. This was the best game of the last two weeks - and, of course, the one with least to play for.

Every Pom's favourite Aussie, John O'Neill, has said Union must learn from League: "We need to create space, we want to create a philosophy that encourages try-scoring. We had two very poor semi-finals and a final in which there were no tries scored".

In reply to this the Aussie-Bok Eddie Jones said: "There's nothing wrong with the game. When you're playing for a big prize you're sometimes going to play simple rugby. We've got to be careful we don't change the game just because we want entertainment".

The IRB though are concerned. Law changes designed to create space and reduce the impact of the penalty kick are already being trialled in the Southern hemisphere. This is encouraging because change is needed for the game at the highest level.

Sorry... I said I was grumpy.

Anyway, this week live rugby union is back on BBC TV with the start of the EDF Energy Anglo-Welsh Cup.

We have two matches this weekend, which will also be on the website. John Inverdale is back from Paris and at Sixways on Saturday for Worcester v Ospreys (BBC ONE, 2.20pm).

Jonathan Davies, Jeremy Guscott, Eddie Butler, Brian Moore and Austin Healey are all there too and after the match from 4.30pm we'll have a special World Cup forum on BBCi to debate things like the removal of flankers and lineouts to make Union more watchable...only joking!

On Sunday we'll be at the Memorial Ground (BBC TWO, 3.00pm) for Bristol v Llanelli Scarlets.

And don't forget it's this sort of Cup football that made England the battle-hardened, grumpy warriors that allowed them to turn things round in France. And don't get me started on the video ref...

One thing that did cheer me up was the great news that the BBC has extended its contract with the RBS Six Nations through to 2013. That means that EVERY game will be live and exclusive on BBC TV.

Thanks for your reaction to this news on the blog. As Roger Mosey says; I do read them all!

Hey it's good to be back.

But I think I can, perhaps uniquely, claim to have witnessed the two most dramatic sporting events of even this weekend of weekends.

The first was on Friday night at Odsal in the Super League play-offs when Wigan Warriors came from 30-6 down with 25 minutes to play to shock the Bradford Bulls and the home fans with an incredible 31-30 victory.

No side had ever recovered from such a deficit in play-off history. Our guest on the highlights show was Wigan coach Brian Noble who had previously coached the Bulls to three Grand final triumphs. He talked of momentum swings and never-say-die spirit but when such things happen it almost defies explanation. I'm sure though that Brian kissed the cat when he got home.

The Wigan fans will now head for Hull this weekend with the belief that they can become the lowest ever placed side to reach a Grand Final. Highlights of that match and the battle for an automatic Final spot between St Helens and Leeds Rhinos can be seen on Sunday, BBC TWO at 12.00pm. The Super League Show is on BBC ONE North at 2.35pm.

The second part of my dramatic weekend came at The Oval on Saturday, as Lancashire chased 489 in the fourth innings to beat Surrey and become Country Champions for the first time in either 73 years or 57 if you count the title they shared with last week's opponents in 1950.

Like many cricket-loving Lancastrians living in London, I had thought all hope had gone before the final day as Surrey, or more particularly Mark Ramprakash, seemed to have batted the Red Rose county out of the game as Durham and then Sussex claimed victories.

But after my kids' morning swimming lesson, a glance at Ceefax brought a glimmer of hope - Lancashire 190 odd for 2 and Stuart Law and VVS Lancsman (as we now know him) both going well.

So kids, buttie boxes, drinks and cuddly toys were all quickly loaded up and 'Operation History Made My Son' was back on!

This scene was being repeated in hundreds of homes over London it seems, as Lancy dads dashed with their lads in the hope that they'd be there for the moment we finally clinched a Championship.

As we entered the ground, Laxman fell for exactly 100, but as long as the Lawman was in, we were definitely on course - or so the chat went around the Pavillion End where the kids ran free as dads chewed their fingernails.

Unlike the 25 minutes of mayhem on Friday this was a slow, torturous death for our dreams. Every run was cheered from around 260 still needed to win and cries of "Oh Lanky, Lanky" echoed around Vauxhall.

Law went, Stev Croft went, tea came and went, but the Man City fans due at Fulham for the 5.15 kick-off stayed as Luke Sutton, Glen Chapple, Saj Mahmood and Dominic Cork kept up the chase. Even my two-year-old daughter joined the nervous chorus of "C'mon Corky" as the target came down - 80, 70, 60, 50 40, 30…. a whole season down to the final session.

Of course it was not to be, as Corky went with just 25 more needed. Our pain was glory for Sussex, but everyone of us who made the dash will tell you for ever - that they were there the day Lancashire NEARLY won the Championship after 74 years.

Was anyone out there at both these events? As the legendary Sid Waddell once said; "There's Shakespeare on Radio 2 but you can't beat this for drama" - and from Odsal to The Oval we couldn't agree more.

We Leaguers also love our history and the game in France is a fascinating one. Branded illegal as a rebel sport under the wartime Vichy government in occupied France, League has had a century long struggle to maintain its place at the heart of French sport. This Saturday, even with an Aussie and Kiwi playing core, a Catalans victory would be a huge boost for French RL.

Clare Balding will present BBC TV's coverage of the final from 1430 BST on Saturday. And fittingly for such a day we have a very special guest - the world's greatest rugby player, Darren Lockyer. The Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australia star last year led all three of his teams to triumph in NRL Grand final, State of Origin tournament and the Tri-Nations.

Also in the studio are Wigan coach Brian Noble, whose side were shocked by the Dragons in the semi-final and Hull KR coach Justin Morgan, who knows French RL better than most from his successful spell as coach of Toulouse.

Pitchside we will have two Wembley legends - Joe Lydon, once of Widnes and Wigan, and Robbie Paul who played in last year's final for Huddersfield Giants, lifted the cup with Bradford Bulls, as well as scoring the first ever hat-trick in a Wembley final back in 1996.

Both men will take part in a "Parade of Legends" before the game, as the RFL honours former winners of the Lance Todd trophy such as Alex Murphy, David Topliss, Brian Lockwood, David Hobbs, Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah, Henry Paul and Mark Aston.

Also part of the big match build-up will be the under 11s champion schools final this year between Normanton Freeston and Castleford High.

Here's your big day starter for ten - what connects Joe Lydon, David Hulme, Denis Betts, Philip Clarke, Kevin Sinfield, James Roby and James Graham among others?

The answer is they all first played at Wembley in this under 11s curtain raiser .

Ten years ago, Roby and Graham represented St Helens Blackbrook in the kids game while Keiron Cunningham was in the Saints team that won the Cup against Bradford. This Saturday all three will be in the Saints pack with Cunningham given the honour of leading his side.

That's another top Wembley story for the scribes. And the one guarantee is that there will be another one to be written after Saturday's first final at the new Wembley.

Oh, and as I said, the sun will shine. Get on!

Ashton's squad, announced on Monday, actually has a higher average age than four years ago. Chris Rattue, of the New Zealand Herald, has been quick on the uptake here saying that if four years ago it was “Dad's Army”, England will be sending the cast of "Last of the Summer Wine" to France next month.

Ashton says the time for experimenting has stopped and victory on Saturday would be a huge boost ahead of bigger battles on French soil in the next few weeks. There are highlights of France v England on Sunday (BBC TWO, 1700).

Our live game on Saturday (BBC ONE, 1410) sees Wales take on Argentina. This should be an intriguing contest with the Welsh keen to put behind them their drubbing at the hands of the "Last of the Summer Wine" boys two weeks ago and now up against a side they have lost to four times in their last five meetings.

Before he takes up the coaching job at Leicester, Argentina's coach Marcello Loffreda is determined to see his side produce a big show at the World Cup. They are in Group D with hosts France and Ireland who they beat twice in the summer. Indeed in their last 10 matches against European opposition Argentina's only defeat came narrowly 27-26 in France last year.

The South Americans will provide another formidable test for a Welsh pack that, like Australia, need to show they can match up with the best to give their creative players the chance to shine on the world stage.

It should be another illuminating weekend. Who's going to win the World Cup? Well, at the moment as our man on The Herald would know "Only Fools and Horses" are betting against the All Blacks.

There are a number of interesting side stories to the clash in Edinburgh, not least the fact that when Ireland clinched the Triple Crown in Scotland last March the headlines were dominated by Eddie O'Sullivan's allegation that an unknown Scottish forward had tried to choke his fly-half Ronan O'Gara in the closing moments - a charge vehemently refuted by the Scots.

Meanwhile, Scotland's rugby followers may feel that the life is being choked out of the game itself, after the loss of the Borders franchise and the huge problems between Edinburgh and the Scottish Rugby Union. The transfers of stars such as Simon Taylor (to Stade Francais) and Chris Paterson (to Gloucester) mean that only six of Saturday's starting 15 will play their club rugby in Scotland - even if the Edinburgh row is resolved. At least the Scots can welcome back their captain Jason White and scrum-half Mike Blair who both missed the last Six Nations through injury.

By contrast Ireland seem to have had the least troubled preparation for the World Cup - although being in the 'group of death' with hosts France and their summer tour conquerors Argentina they may need all the help they can get. Saturday's match is a crucial one for former GB rugby league winger Brian Carney in his quest to make the cut for the World Cup.

Full back Geordan Murphy is another in need of a big game to clinch selection - and he will have to cope with the memory that his 2003 World Cup hopes were shattered in this fixture four years ago when he suffered a broken leg.

Ireland are rightly favourites for this one, but with so much at stake individually for players it can make these occasions strained for teams - if there is only one spot on the wing left in the Ireland squad, how would Tommy Bowe feel if Carney skips in for a long-range try, or vice versa? Like trial games at junior levels these are difficult games for players and coaches.

John Inverdale will lead our coverage of this match with Keith Wood, Jonathan Davies and Gregor Townsend providing the opinions on who should make sure their passport is in order. Commentary will be led by Eddie Butler with Phillip Matthews and Andy Nicol dissecting the action while Jill Douglas will put the questions pre and post match.

It's good to be back!

Scully is one of the finest players of his generation and has been a great servant for Saints since his world record £375,000 transfer from Warrington nine years ago. But in recent times he has had to spend too much time in hospitals and TV studios as a result of a depressing number of injuries. He hopes to return for his club next season and we wish him well with that ambition.

His successor as GB captain will be one of a number of topics under discussion in our Interactive Forum which will follow the first semi-final on BBCi at around 2.25pm. Press the red button.

Another topic sure to provoke your e-mails and text messages is the four-point penalty handed out to Wigan this week for breaches of the salary cap last season as they strove to avoid relegation.

The Warriors feature in our second semi-final on Sunday (BBC TWO, 3.00pm) when they take on a Catalans Dragons side looking to become the first French club to reach a Challenge Cup final.

Wigan, of course, made Wembley their second home as they dominated this competition from 1988 to 1995 with eight successive Challenge Cup triumphs. They also won the first ever Wembley final at the original stadium back in 1929.

If Catalans were to pull off a surprise win at Warrington on Sunday it would be a huge boost to the RFL's controversial decision to site a Super League team in France for the second time. The BBC's coverage is being shown live on Canal + TV station throughout France.

While Wigan's latest expensive Aussie import Trent Barrett has looked to be on a personal mission to get his side to Wembley, Catalans former Warrington player Jerome Guisset has issued a rallying call to his old club's fans to get out and support the French team on Sunday.

Justin Morgan, who coached another French club (Toulouse) to the semi-finals in 2005, and John Kear will join Clare Balding for this one.

However, if you can't make either match, highlights of both will be available on bbc.co.uk/sport. St Helens forward Jon Wilkin will also give his reaction to his side's semi-final with Bradford in his regular column.

They always say that semi-finals are the worst matches to lose in the Cup. Never will that adage be truer than this weekend. It should make for two truly dramatic contests for viewers, listeners and readers.