I would prohibit penalty kicks direct to touch within this limit And a happy New Year to all.. We all wish them well.If, on any realistic assessment, the Six Nations is between France and England, why start the competition with England v France? True, an April fixture tends to favour France because of the weather. They proceed to win difficult matches – against France, England or even both – only to lose the easy ones and to end up in the middle or towards the bottom end of the table But I wish them well. They have good players; an impressive record; an excellent spirit. Their spirits visibly droop, like a souffl?hat has been left out in the rain.Ireland are the team who may astonish us all But then, at this time of the year, they always are. They can astonish at Twickenham too, as anyone who saw Philippe Saint-Andr? there can testify But Dublin seems to have a different effect on them. What fortifies my view is that France are travelling to Dublin to play Ireland.This is the ground where the French are perhaps the least at home They can scintillate at Cardiff, despite the rain.

This is one match at least that Wales ought to win.If France were playing England in Paris in April, my prediction for the Six Nations would be different. On the same day, slightly later on, Wales have an away fixture in Italy. The two countries meet at Twickenham in February for the first of the season’s internationals. But the other countries, France apart, would be grateful just for him.France are obviously once again the team that can spoil England’s party. In 1988, nearly 6,000 died.
Campaign groups said they expected the downward trend in women to continue for 10 years but they were concerned that the drop in the number of smokers had begun to level off.Smoking among women peaked in the late Seventies and Eighties when tobacco companies directed marketing and advertising campaigns at them. Lung cancer deaths among women have fallen to the lowest level for 30 years in a delayed effect of the backlash against smoking in the Seventies, a survey shows Last year, 4,550 women under 70 died of the disease.

Hootie has dispensed with the tournament’s usual sponsors, while it has been suggested that protesters might disrupt the event.Both the European and US tours left the announcements of their schedules later than usual as economic realities bite and, disappointingly, all four of the World Golf Championships will be taking place in America for the first time.The most inspiring aspect of the season should be to see the continued emergence of youngsters such as Justin Rose, Luke Donald, Nick Dougherty and Paul Casey.Prediction: Tiger Woods goes major-less for the first time since 1998.. In what the late Gene Sarazen called the best day’s championship golf he had seen, Greg Norman edged out Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer in 1993.However, it will be the Masters which is the most high-profile major of the year, because the row about there being no women members at Augusta National has become a huge news story in the United States.The battle between the club chairman Hootie Johnson and Martha Burk, of the National Council of Women’s Organisations, has become as intense as anything on the course. But the depth varies from position to position.At wing, for instance, the manager Clive Woodward can perm any two from Iain Balshaw and Jason Robinson (who can both play at full-back), Austin Healey (can play virtually anywhere), Phil Christophers, Ben Cohen, Marcel Garvey, Dan Luger and James Simpson-Daniel.At centre, by contrast, the pool is relatively shallow, with Will Greenwood its only permanent inhabitant. True, they have greater strength in depth than any other European country. The choice of England is not quite so straightforward as it may appear at first sight. This column will be a bit of both, with a few added grumbles.
To begin with, some predictions: New Zealand will win the Rugby World Cup, Toulouse the Heineken European Cup and England the Six Nations’ Championship. For what would be in the papers if all the predictions were suddenly to disappear? I will tell you what would be in them: reviews of the year that is about to pass.

My old colleague Adrian Hamilton wrote in the Independent yesterday that journalists should stop making predictions at this time of year This was excellent advice Alas, in the world we live in, it is not practical advice. Thank heavens for the rugby.Prediction: Good World Cup for England, but not quite good enough.. The standards rise year on year.The same cannot be said for the standard of political debate, but that will not stop the talking heads jawing the game to distraction.The structural reorganisation in Wales is likely to be sorted long before the relegation issue in England, but expect bloodshed on both banks of the Severn. This season’s major contenders – Leicester, Northampton, Gloucester, Toulouse, Biarritz, Perpignan, Llanelli, Leinster, Munster – would give all but the most accomplished international outfits a run for their travellers’ cheques, particularly on home territory. Some in this country have got over-excited and predicted this before, but 2003 could be the year that Great Britain finally beat Australia in a Test series – honestly. David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen have set impressive times testing McLaren’s development car, but it is not expected to be ready until perhaps the fourth grand prix.Prediction: Schumacher to make it four titles in a row and an outright record of six.. In 2003 it may take him a race or two longer to beat Juan Manuel Fangio’s standard, established in the 1950s.A one-lap shoot-out should make qualifying a spectacle in its own right, and occasionally produce an improbable grid, while a new points system, rewarding the first eight rather than six, ought to bunch up the field and, just as importantly, encourage the smaller teams.The demise of Prost and Arrows leaves only 20 cars, and the perception of a more competitive environment would be invaluable.Both Williams BMW and McLaren-Mercedes are committed to producing more radical cars, recognising that the routine “step forward” will not be enough.