People are very enthusiastic and excited about what the new coaching team - Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley - can add to this Welsh squad.

The three have worked before at Wasps and it will sit well with Wales to take on an element of that - the boldness that Wasps always bring, the aggressive brash mentality. It suits Wales to be positive and take the game on.

One of the key areas and where there's a lot of initial gain to be made - and a lot in the long-term as well - is on the psychological side of things. Wales have lacked mental toughness for several years.

It was a very disappointing World Cup campaign, but what you want as a sportsman is a shot at redemption. It's been a very disappointing couple of years for Wales - it’s been a downward spiral ever since the 2005 Grand Slam success.

We seem to handle success quite badly but I think that's a UK trait rather than purely a Welsh trait... We handle failure particularly well and success appallingly!

Wales have three home games in this year’s RBS 6 Nations, which is a plus. There’s a lot of doubt attached to this year's tournament on the back of the World Cup.

A lot of young players have been drawn into various squads and there have been a lot of coaching changes as well. Change seems to be the order of the day - other than in Scotland, which is a paragon of stability!

I'll go out on a limb and pick France as favourites for this year’s championship. It will be interesting to see how they go with Marc Lievremont, who has drafted in quite a lot of the youngsters that he took to the Under-21 World Cup in 2006.

England away is an ideal start for Wales - as bizarre as that sounds. The pressure is all on England. Expectations aren't high after the last few years of performances.

The pressure is off and I'm really looking to seeing what Gatland, Edwards and Howley can do.