Six young guns to light up the Six Nations

STUART HOGG

Club: Glasgow Warriors

Age: 19

Position: full-back or outside centre or stand-off

Height: 5ft 11in

Weight: 13st 2lb

Caps: none yet but expect that to change during the Six Nations

LISTEN to Sean Lineen wax lyrical about his young charge and you half wonder why he hasn’t been capped already. Hogg has pretty much everything going for him; a blistering turn of pace, a decent pair of hands and a kicking game from junior rugby, at least some of which was played at stand-off.

All he lacks is the experience and perhaps a little bit of added muscle on his slight frame, but that’s not to say he is faultless. He made a couple of errors in Glasgow’s recent match against Leinster that might have cost his side the win, and playing full-back in Montpellier he couldn’t catch a high ball for love nor money.

Despite starting him at full-back for most of the season, Lineen insists that Hogg is a more natural 13 and, if he’s right, the young Hawick man will solve a problem position that has been dogging Scotland for a decade or more. He seems unlikely to start against England but, given Andy Robinson’s lack of options out wide, you never know.

FERGUS MCFADDEN

Club: Leinster

Age: 25

Position: chiefly outside centre but can also play wing

Height: 5ft 11in

Weight: 14st 6lb

Caps: six, making his debut v Italy in last year’s Six Nations

IT can’t be easy to understudy BOD himself but Fergus McFadden has made a decent stab at it so far, both for Leinster and for Ireland. Although he hails from Kilkenny, and concentrated on Gaelic football until his late teens, a stint at college in Dublin persuaded him to join Leinster and he’s never looked back.

The 25-year-old was first capped at centre against Italy in last year’s Six Nations and he has steadily added to his tally, with more surely on the way following the injury to Brian O’Driscoll which rules him out of this year’s tournament.

Less flashy on the field than the great man, McFadden has had to work hard for the success he’s got and last year was a breakthrough season, gaining his first full cap after appearing for the Wolfhounds (Ireland A team) 19 times. He has the happy knack of doing the right thing at the right time, he’s a strong, direct runner and a very useful back-up goal kicker should any misfortune befall Johnny Sexton.

WESLEY FOFANA

Club: Clermont Auvergne

Age: 24

Position:

centre or wing

Height: 5ft 10in

Weight: 13st 8lb

Caps:

nul

THE Clermont centre is one of just two uncapped players in Philippe Saint-André’s squad (the other is lock Yoann Maestri) as the new coach retains the services of many of those players who got to the World Cup final. Fofana’s father hailed from Mali but the player grew up in Paris where he played football and basketball. When he first made the change to rugby his mother sent her slight son off to training clad in American football kit for his own protection.

He has been rewarded for several outstanding displays for his club side, especially in Europe. He announced his arrival in the Heineken Cup by scoring a brace of tries against Leicester in December.

While he is not huge Fofana can step off both feet and he is deceptively strong in the tackle. The midfield remains a problem area for Les Bleus and Saint-André was said to be considering moving Francois Trinh-Duc one wider, but Fofana has put his hand up and he well may form half of a Clermont double-act with Aurélien Rougerie.

LLOYD WILLIAMS

Club: Cardiff Blues

Age: 22

Position: scrum-half

Height: 6ft

Weight: 13st 9lb

Caps: five, but just one start, against Australia last month

HIS dad Brynmor is in the odd position of having as many Lions caps as he has Welsh ones (three), which was the result of sitting on the bench behind Gareth Edwards for too many long years.

Junior is probably behind Mike Phillips in the pecking order right now, especially after the World Cup, but Lloyd is the coming man, less athletic than Philips but with better scrum-half skills and a searing break. Williams has already pushed past his Blues rival Richie Rees, he went to the World Cup and scored a try in only his second Test.

Williams has five caps, although just one start, but he will add to that number in quick order. Phillips was his boyhood hero so it is a little ironic that it was only thanks to the older man’s suspension last season that Williams was called up by Wales. But he won’t hesitate to elbow his hero aside in search of his dad’s old shirt.

OWEN FARRELL

Club: Saracens

Age: 20

Position: stand-off or inside centre

Height: 6ft 2in

Weight: 15st 2lb

Caps: none as yet but they are on the way

HE is the multi-talented son of the England backs coach and dad/coach Andy won’t be shy of picking the boy if he thinks it’s the right thing to do. Owen is the heartbeat of the English champions and at the tender age of 20 he has the world at his feet.

Some pundits have already likened him to Jonny Wilkinson, perhaps because he is comfortable slotting in at ten or 12, perhaps on account of his nerveless goal kicking. But, in reality, the comparison is misguided. While Wilkinson was a hugely physical and whole-hearted opponent, Farrell junior has a touch of the David Beckhams about him, a little rash, a tad petulant and always ready to argue the toss.

His attitude wound up Gloucester’s Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu who accused the young Farrell of “fake toughness” on his Twitter feed.

Even if the Samoan is never far from controversy, Farrell jnr needs to keep his head down and let his rugby do all the talking.

ANGELO ESPOSITO

Club: Ruggers Tarvisium/FIR Academy

Age: 18

Position: winger

Height: 6ft 2in

Weight: 14st 3lb

Caps: the boy has yet to play Pro12, never mind Test matches

ITALY need something or someone on which to rest their hopes, so the angelic Esposito is as good an option as any. The uncapped winger is just 18 years old and, should he make his debut in the Six Nations, as many expect, he will become the youngest Italian player in history.

The teenager has yet to play in the RaboDirect Pro12 league but instead he has been turning out in Italy’s second division for the FIR U20 academy team; so much for the benefits of joining the Celtic League! At least he played in last year’s Churchill Cup and scored a brace of tries in a warm-up match ahead of that tournament.

He is quick and pretty well built at 14st 3lb but it’s asking a lot of the 18-year-old to make an impact at Test level when he’s been playing second division rugby.