As we approach the start of the Six Nations, we profile one player from each side who could make a massive impact this year. Here are Opta Analyst’s Six Nations 2025 players to watch.
Sam Prendergast
Ireland
This century, the Ireland No. 10 jersey has been owned almost exclusively by two players: Ronan O’Gara and Johnny Sexton. Pretenders have tried and failed to wrestle it off them, but ultimately it has been a case of waiting for those legends to retire.
With Sexton hanging his boots up after Ireland’s disappointing 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign, there has been an ad up at the Job Centre rarely seen:
Ireland out-half needed. Must thrive under pressure. Insatiable hunger for victory essential. Proficiency in match-winning drop-goals preferred. No time wasters…
Since O’Gara’s final start in the No. 10 jersey in 2011, and up to the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, nine different players started a game at fly-half for Ireland. Sexton (92) accounted for 68% of those starts. The others to get a shot were: Paddy Jackson (14), Joey Carbery (12), Ian Madigan (6), Ross Byrne (4), Jack Crowley (3), Billy Burns (2), Jack Carty (2) and Ian Keatley (1).
In the immediate aftermath of Sexton’s retirement, Jack Crowley appeared poised to be the heir, earning nine consecutive starts. However, in the autumn, Sam Prendergast put his hand up. Based on the history of the shirt, whoever stakes their claim now could well be the long-term custodian.
Leinster’s Prendergast, who played just 154 minutes across Ireland’s autumn internationals, showcased his ability to attack the gainline and put teammates through gaps.
In total, he assisted seven line breaks, nearly double the tally of any other player from any team in the Autumn Nations Series (four players tied on four).
Additionally, although he only faced nine tackles, he evaded two-thirds of those attempted hits – only Antoine Dupont (71%) had a better tackle evasion rate of players to face at least as many tackles as Prendergast. Now that is not bad company.
Noah Nene
France
Fabien Galthié unveiled a bumper squad ahead of the 2025 Six Nations, though it’s likely to be trimmed before the tournament begins. Among the initial selections are six uncapped players – four forwards and two headline-grabbing backs.
Noah Nene (centre) has been lighting up the PRO D2 for Dax while Gaël Dréan (wing) has been making waves for Toulon in the TOP 14.
Dréan, the joint-top try scorer in the TOP 14 this season with 10, has certainly caught the eye, but we’re going to focus on the 20-year-old Nene, who is surely a star in the making.
Of the 505 players to play 240+ minutes in the PRO D2 this season, Nene is the only one to average over 50 post-contact metres per 80 minutes. His rate is way above above that at 61m.
Nene also leads the league for overall metres carried per 80 (110) and ranks second for both breaks per 80 (1.6) and defenders beaten per 80 (6.3). It’s fair to say he has been unstoppable in 2024-25.
While Nene featured in the 2024 U20 Six Nations, his involvement was limited to a 15-minute cameo against Ireland. Currently on loan at Dax from Stade Français, his parent club will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on his progress. With Stade Français languishing in 13th place in the TOP 14, they’ll be eager to recall him to Paris as soon as possible.
Marshall Sykes
Scotland
Marshall Sykes is one of five locks named in Gregor Townsend’s 2025 Six Nations squad, a position that has traditionally been highly competitive for Scotland. At 25 years old, Sykes is no newcomer, but this season he has developed into a formidable force.
Last campaign, Sykes struggled for starting opportunities in the URC, with just two of his 18 appearances coming in the starting XV, averaging a modest 28 minutes per match. This season, he has started seven of nine matches and averages 58 minutes per appearance.
Relentless tackling is somewhat of a Scottish tradition at the moment, with the likes of Jack Dempsey, Hamish Watson and the Gray brothers setting the standard at club and international level. Sykes has followed in these footsteps. Only one player (Teddy Williams, 14) in the URC this season has made more dominant tackles than him (13, also Jac Morgan).
As most 6-foot-7 locks are, Sykes (20 lineouts won) is a handy lineout option, although he’s not one of Edinburgh’s top two targets, ranking behind Grant Gilchrist (29) and Jamie Ritchie (29) in that regard.
The breakdown is an area where Sykes also makes a massive contribution. He has hit more rucks than any other Edinburgh player this season (187), making an effective contribution at 81% of the attacking rucks he engages in.
Whether Townsend utilises Sykes as an impact substitute – as was often the case at club level last season – or hands him a starting role remains to be seen. Either way, his presence adds valuable depth and versatility to Scotland’s pack.
Asher Opoku-Fordjour
England
England’s front-row is in transition. With stalwarts like Joe Marler, Dan Cole, Kyle Sinckler and Mako Vunipola no longer in the picture, the only props in their 2025 Six Nations squad with more than 10 caps are Will Stuart (45) and Ellis Genge (62).
Beyond them, an exciting crop of young talent is emerging, led by Fin Baxter and Asher Opoku-Fordjour. Others eager to burst through include the likes of Afolabi Fasogbon and Emmanuel Iyogun.
Opoku-Fordjour made his debut off the bench in England’s final game of the Autumn Nations Series against Japan and is a self-confessed scrum-freak.
In the first half of this Premiership season, he was involved in 19 penalty-winning efforts at the scrum (15 on own feed, 4 on opposition feed). This equates to a rate of 3.2 scrum penalties per 80 minutes, the best of any prop to be involved in 60+ scrums.
Taking those penalties as a percentage of his overall scrum involvements, the young Sale prop saw his side win a penalty from 33% of the Sharks’ scrum feeds – a league high – and 9% of opposition feeds.
Overall, just over one in five of his scrum involvements yielded a penalty for Sale (21%). No prop bettered that in the first half of the 2024-25 campaign (60+ scrum involvements).
Winning scrum penalties can often be a high-risk, high-reward endeavour, as teams who win a lot of penalties sometimes concede a lot too.
However, with Sale winning seven more penalties than they’ve conceded when Asher Opoku-Fordjour has been on the pitch (the third best differential of any player this campaign), the reward vastly outweighs the risk.
Alessandro Izekor
Italy
2024 was somewhat of a breakthrough year for Italy in the Six Nations. Two wins and a draw (L2) was certainly better than their record of one win in 42 matches going into the tournament.
This should have come as no surprise to faithful fans of the Azzurri however. Their U20s have been consistently competitive against top sides for a number of seasons and Benetton’s form in the URC has also impressed.
Central to Benetton’s rise is 24-year-old Alessandro Izekor. Born in Brescia, the flanker cut his teeth at Calvisano before switching to the Lions in 2022. Italy have a wealth of talent in the back-row at the moment and Izekor only adds to this.
In defence, Izekor is a wall. Since the start of the 2023-24 URC season, he has made 28 dominant tackles – 12 more than any of his Benetton teammates. League-wide, only Ben-Jason Dixon and Ruben van Heerden (both 31) have recorded more.
Going forward he’s a valuable ball carrier too. His 57% gainline success rate, combined with a dominant carry rate of 33%, put him among the best forwards in the league.
Given his all-round contributions, it’s no surprise that Izekor has been Benetton’s most-used player this season, clocking up 520 minutes – more than anyone else in the squad. He’ll now be looking to translate that form from his green club jersey to the blue of his national team as Italy aim to build on their 2024 success in the 2025 Six Nations.
Josh Hathaway
Wales
One of many inexperienced players in Wales’ 2025 Six Nations squad – 17 of their 34-man squad have fewer than 10 caps – Josh Hathaway has finally nailed his colours to the Welsh mast following a flirtation with England at U20 level.
Despite having only turned 21 last October, it seems that Warren Gatland has full faith in Hathaway to make good on his undoubted potential given the somewhat surprising omission of Rio Dyer from his squad.
Gatland’s faith should pay dividends if Hathaway brings his Gloucester form to Wales. Eight tries in 11 Premiership starts since the start of 2024 are impressive figures, and the speedster has also gained 100+ metres on two occasions in that time.
Comfortable in any of the back-three positions, he has also notched up three try assists since his first Premiership start last March. His tally of 11 try involvements is the most of any Gloucester player in that period.
Hathaway has a knack for making a big impact on debut. He scored a hat-trick on his first England U20 appearance vs Scotland in Round 1 of the 2023 U20 Six Nations and a try in his first Premiership start at Kingsholm for Gloucester. He followed up the latter with a hat-trick away to Saracens in his next start.
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