The Six Nations is nearly upon us. For Keith Wood – one of Ireland’s greatest ever rugby players – the championship season might just qualify as the most wonderful time of the year.

“It was always the biggest thing of the year in our house, that’s for sure,” he smiles. “My father played for Ireland and, of course, I got involved when I was about twenty or twenty-one.” Although he has long retired from the game, the Six Nations is still a central part of Wood’s life.

“I got ten or twelve years playing at it, and I’ve covered it for the BBC ever since. So it’s part of my life still – I’ve been part of it as a young fellow, part of it as a player and part of it as a pundit. I like its place in the year. I like its history. I like the positive nationalistic element to it – one country against the other – I love it. There is genuinely something fantastic about this competition.” ANALYSING THE REFEREES