It’s the week before the start of the 2011 6 Nations Championship and as always there is an air of expectation.

Although, as I mentioned on the air earlier this week, there isn’t the anticipation or the pre-tournament atmosphere there has been in the past, in my opinion.

This could be down to the combination of a poor autumn series and a dismal showing by the regions in the Heineken Cup.

It could be the thought of starting against England with a team that is missing quality players through injury.

It may be that since the 2008 Grand Slam it’s all been a bit uneventful for Welsh supporters.

I run an annual predict-a-score contest on my daily show; correspondents from this fine newspaper take part each year with the other contributors to my show.

I mentioned on Monday’s show that I was thinking of predicting an England win as I have a bad feeling about this year’s tournament, and because I’d like to win my little competition.

This caused a reaction with calls to “be positive” and “always tip Wales to win”.

That may also be the problem, we are optimistic and hopeful and of course we want our country to win every time they play.

However, the lack of realism that we sometimes show means the defeats, when they happen, are harder to accept.

In the end, of course, I went for a Wales win with my prediction and I hope they do. You can be sure of one thing though.

Whatever the result on Friday evening, the post-mortem will be long, drawn-out and interesting.