All Blacks legend

This year's Six Nations was a fantastic tournament.

As a neutral it was great to see three teams still in with a chance of winning it on the final weekend, and the outcome going right to the wire.

But in the back of my mind was always the thought: 'Are any of these teams capable of challenging for the World Cup?'

On any given day they could put in a performance that might beat the best team in the world.

There were glimpses of the quality required, but as a New Zealander, am I quaking in my boots? No.

What the European teams do in the next few months is going to determine how they go at the World Cup but here is where I see them, six months out from the big event.

England are still a long way away but they are showing signs of improvement.

I felt Brian Ashton was just carrying on what Andy Robinson was doing to start with, but he has finally had enough guts to make some changes.

Strettle proved an elusive runner

But it is just too late now. We are six months out from the World Cup!

Guys like David Strettle, Toby Flood, Shane Geraghty and Tom Rees came in and had an impact, but they should have been identified a long time ago.

It is a shame they came in at the end of the Six Nations. Hindsight is a great thing, but they had the opportunity to bring them in from the start of the tournament.

It is going to be critical they get the summer tour to South Africa right now.

Clive Woodward did it before the last World Cup, winning down in New Zealand and Australia, but this team is a bit different - they haven't got the same experience to call upon.

You never know what can happen at a World Cup. There is a possibility they can still get in a position to compete, but I put England in the same boat as New Zealand in 2003.

I thought they were OK, and were making steady progress under John Mitchell, but I don't think they deserved to get to the final. I don't think England will either.

They were typically French weren't they?

Only France could go and win at Croke Park one week, then turn around two weeks later and perform so poorly against England at Twickenham.

I thought they must have all placed bets on the game to lose and made a lot of money!

But sometimes France don't travel that well and you can catch them off guard when they are not in the mood.

England just did the basics well - they beat them up, smacked them around and got a bit physical with them.

We saw what France could do in the opening half-hour in Dublin, and again when they put 46 points on Scotland in the last game. We just didn't see enough of it.

If I was in the Irish camp I'd be a bit concerned. They are a quality side, but they bottled it. France didn't win the competition - Ireland lost it.

Against France, that was their game, despite the fact that France played them off the park in the first half-hour.

I think the Irish blew it against Italy, they choked themselves

That wide, expansive game left Ireland wanting, but they managed to muscle themselves back into the game. They just didn't close it out.

I could swallow the pill of losing to France in the last minute, but they nearly lost to Scotland and conceded two tries to Italy late in the game when they needed to really hammer home their advantage.

Eddie O'Sullivan said they couldn't control what happened because France had the upper hand by playing after them.

But you do have control. Their mission was to score as many points as possible and not allow Italy to score.

No disrespect to Italy, but when you get 46-12 up against a side like that, you have to keep hammering away.

They should have shut the door, but they didn't, like they didn't against France.

I think they blew it against Italy, they choked themselves.

Italy finally got away from the Wooden Spoon and won a game away from home, which should give them a bit of confidence.

They had a great campaign and I was pleased for Alessandro Troncon and Pierre Berbizier, the captain and coach.

Parisse was in outstanding form

Troncon is the life-blood of the team, and shows that typical Italian passion they need.

I think (former coach) John Kirwan can also take credit for laying the foundations there.

My player of the tournament was their number eight Sergio Parisse. He was a real stand-out - a very good player.

He seems a tall, stringy sort of guy, but he is very solid, good defensively and great ball-carrier who makes good yardage.

Italy must fancy their chances of making it to their first World Cup quarter-final now, with Scotland their main group rivals for qualification.

They could place New Zealand under a bit of pressure, but I don't think they have the capability of beating the All Blacks over 80 minutes.

Another team who had a mixed campaign and it could have been different had they beaten Ireland at Murrayfield. They should have won, but two moments of indiscipline cost them.

First there was Simon Taylor doing that slow walk back, when he put his hands up but got in the way of Peter Stringer, who passed the ball into him to get a penalty.

And then replacement prop Allan Jacobsen, who just lay on top of the ball with his hands up, pretending he was not killing the ball but trying to get out the way.

When things like that happen you just want to go up to those guys and slap them round the head.

You are talking about the difference between winning and losing and Scotland needed the sort of confidence they would have got from beating Ireland.

Another mixed bag wasn't it? They should be disappointed because they must have been thinking beforehand 'we have a chance here if we knock over a couple of teams'.

They have a bit of strike power and should have bounced back from the disappointment of not beating Ireland in that first game, but they became the easy-beats.

Give James Hook the fly-half reins and let him go

They were quite sloppy throughout the tournament but then pulled a big performance out the bag against England, which wiped the slate clean to some extent.

They should go into their summer tour in Australia with a bit of confidence now but some of their forwards need to get fitter, particularly the "Hair Bear" props, the Jones boys.

If you are going to stand out like that you have got to back it up on the pitch, but I think those guys eat too many pies.

I think they should get fitness trainer Andrew Hore back from New Zealand because some of them need sharpening up.

Unfortunately for Stephen Jones, I think his time is up. On the basis of what James Hook did against England, he has got to be the fly-half and the captaincy has to move elsewhere.

There is talk of moving Hook back to centre but he is better in the box-seat.

Give him the reins and let him go. He is the man now.