England rugby star Mike Tindall believes the Red Rose are the form team going into Saturday’s Six Nations opener and is hopeful the tournament will go down to the deciding game at the Aviva Stadium on March 18.

The 38-year-old, who made 75 caps for England between 2000 and 2011, was speaking to Sport360 at the Abu Dhabi Invitational at Yas Links Golf Club last Saturday.

“Hopefully, in an ideal world, the tournament will come down to a Grand Slam match either way, but I think England’s form they should go on and win a Grand Slam, whether they do, it’s probably in Ireland’s hands more than anything,” said Tindall.

“I think injuries are a problem, but they had injuries in the Autumn series and they still managed to come through it. One thing Eddie’s blessed with is, players who’ve been given chances, have come in and done a job.”