Six Nations 2013: Six players to watch - in pictures

Ireland: Craig Gilroy If we just look at the straight 15 as it stands at the moment, it would be Gilroy, as there's just a spark about him. His strengths are his incredibly quick feet and that he's got an eye for the line and even though he's pretty small he doesn't seem to mind getting beaten up. His reaction to getting smashed is to look for the ball again which, when you are a fairly diminutive winger, is pretty impressive. A guy from the bench to look out for as well is Dave Kilcoyne, who not everyone will know. He's a loose-head prop and only just in to the Munster team, but he's made the position his own. He's a very traditional prop with the one exception that he's a phenomenal ball carrier. He's a very young guy, not a lot of miles on the clock and he scrummages well, but mainly is a brilliant ball carrier Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters

Scotland: Stuart Hogg At fullback or even at centre, this is a guy who has got pure gas. He isn't especially big but it's his pure speed that I like and it's rare you get the amount of space to be able to see that properly. He's someone I just think is a really, really good player. He is still very young and very raw, but I'm excited to see a guy of that pace playing in Scotland and I'm looking forward to see how he develops in the team under Scott Johnson, who is pretty shrewd. Scotland two or three years ago were so poor it was frightening, the last couple of years they've looked more like they are able to do something and should have beaten England last year. Putting Greig Laidlaw back at scrum-half is the right thing to do and I'm also very excited about seeing Sean Maitland play, he's got a decent pedigree and with Tim Visser and Hogg as well that's a pretty fast Scottish backline. Photograph: John Clifton/Action Images

England: Owen Farrell I would happily say Joe Launchbury but to be honest, it's Farrell. I was really impressed with him in the Heineken Cup. He played Munster at Thomond Park and was poor – he just could not get it right – but then the following week and the week subsequent to it he seemed to have learned so much from that experience. He seemed to have matured and didn't react to having a bad week, he came back and progressively got better and I was very impressed by that. At times he reminds me a bit of Jonny Wilkinson, he seems incredibly focussed in the same manner. He's not the finished article yet, but at 20 or 21 years of age you're entitled to be bad at some stuff. The amount of pressure that is on the big players nowadays is so much that the need for a mentor and someone you can trust is becoming more important all the time, so having his dad on the coaching staff must be a help Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Wales: Sam Warburton I'm struggling a bit with Wales to pick a real stand-out player, but the two most important for them at the moment are Justin Tipuric and Warburton; I've said for ages that I would be picking both of them. They are fantastic ground hogs, always on the ball, always in the position of where the breakdown is going to be, both of them are truly world class at No7. Warburton's particular strength is turnovers, slowing down the ball and speeding up his own ball. He does those very well as does Tipuric; both are class acts and make up what is probably the Welsh's strongest department. Wales's great strength is throwing the ball around and having a cut from everywhere and the only way you can guarantee that is by winning the ruck ball and with two sevens of that quality I think they could do that. If I was pushed to pick one, it would be Warburton. He is important as a captain but I really would not want to choose! Photograph: Ian Smith/Action Images

France: Wesley Fofana With France I could pick absolutely anybody – they're my favourites to win and they consistently are because they've got such unbelievable quality. To pick one out of the bunch ... well, having done well last year it might be time for Fofana to come through even more this time around. He's the guy I'll be looking out for because he's young, fast, strong and powerful. He still is not the finished article but he runs with a lovely sense of balance and it is that rather than his speed that I like. He looks unhurried when carrying the ball, which is unusual for a man of his power. The French will be expecting him to do a fair amount of damage at centre. In some ways it is Phillipe Saint-André who is the main man for France, in terms of the way they play. He's a pragmatic and some would say boring coach but an awful lot of French rugby is incredibly brutal with good scoring at the end of it. If France play like that they will win the title Photograph: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images

Italy: Sergio Parisse For Italy I can't avoid being boring by going back to a guy who I would spend money to watch every single day of the week. I just think he is an absolute class act. Defensively he's excellent, offensively he's superb and he captains and leads very, very well; he's got a skill set that all other No8s in this championship would wish they had. Without a shadow of a doubt he is the best player in his position in this tournament. I'd love to pick one of the younger guys but they just haven't made the breakthrough yet. I looked at the scrum-half Edoardo Gori last year and he's pretty decent but when you're at a ground and you hear an intake of breath because a player has got the ball, they are the ones to watch and Parisse is exactly that kind of player. Keith Wood is an expert analyst for the BBC's Six Nations coverage, starting on February 2nd on TV, radio and online. Photograph: Claudio Villa/Getty Images