Compiled by Johnny Watterson

Zeroes to heroes in two years

When viewing the above graph, you'd have to seriously ask what professionalism did for Wales in the early years. When the game went open after the famous meeting in Paris in 1995, Welsh rugby imploded.

Too many teams from traditional strongholds around the principality and not enough money to sustain them had such a negative effect on the international game that Wales only came above the "respectable" line (ie third place or above in the Championship) in 2004.

For nine years they championed against the odds and then from 2003 when they finished last - yes, even behind the Italians, who had officially come into the competition in 2000 - an improvement was perceptible.

In 1999 Wales were third, in 2000 fourth, fifth in 2002, sixth in 2003 and then third in 2004.

Last year Wales did what they had not done for 11 years and won the championship. From zeroes to heroes, all in two years.

Betting can be a right hiccup

Betting is a mug's game. Last week, as the Irish squad to face Italy in the opening Six Nations match was announced, a quick visit to the betting website, Oddschecker, revealed that according to Skybet Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan were the top fancied Irish players to score the most tries in the championship. The only difficulty with that is the Leinster winger Hickie has been omitted from Eddie O'Sullivan's first squad for Ulster's Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble.

Brian O'Driscoll, who appears to be finding a vein of form with Leinster, is 20 to 1 with Horgan and Hickie 16 to 1.

Bowe figures further down the pecking order and along with Gordon D'Arcy is 40 to 1 to emerge as the tournament's highest try scorer. Mark Cueto of Sale and England and Christophe Dominici of France are among the most fancied at 8 to 1.

To win the championship, Ireland are behind England and bookie favourites France. Odds across a dozen bookmakers range between 14 to 1 and 20 to 1 for an Irish win.

Incidentally, Totalbet have Italy at 1,500 to 1 to win the series. Given they have come no higher than fifth since they officially joined the Championship in 2000, it's a safe one for the bookies.

Paddy Power believe Ireland will win three matches and were giving odds of 25 to 1 for a Grand Slam.

Where are they now?

A product of Blackrock College and UCD rugby academy, Ciarán Scally entered into public consciousness when he came on as a substitute for his first senior international cap against Scotland at Murrayfield before earning his second cap against Romania in a World Cup qualifier at Lansdowne Road in November 1998.

Replacing Conor McGuinness and lining out with Eric Elwood at outhalf and Pat Duignan and Jonathan Bell in the centre positions, Scally went on to tour Australia with the Irish squad but was not selected for the 1999 World Cup.

The talented scrumhalf earned four Irish caps before his promising career was cut short at the age of 20 by a chronic knee injury. Scally had sustained cruciate ligament damage to his right knee in April 1997 and was out of the game for six months.

He was soon to be troubled by the same knee and following an exploratory operation was informed that there was also bone damage which could not be fixed. The medical opinion was that he should not play again.

Scally now works in the Dublin city centre office of financial house, KPMG, as manager of corporate finance.

Dublin is the winner

A lot has been said of the social side of the Six Nations Championship with the shopping, drinking and eating every bit as important as the 80 minutes of playing time.

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce have done surveys on just what the influx is worth to Dublin and have come up with what they believe is an accurate formula based on a survey they conducted in 1998 for an Ireland v Scotland game.

They took out the Irish spending but did include money coming in from Northern Ireland as well as the overseas pound.

One third of the spend was on hotels, one third on food and drink, one sixth on entertainment and one sixth on other sundry items.

The match on Saturday, assuming Lansdowne Road is full, will be worth around a15 million to the Dublin economy.

But allowing for the increased capacity of Croke Park in 2007 (80,000 as opposed to 40,000), a conservative estimate for the total spend in the Dublin economy is expected to be €30 million per match.

Old ones are the best

"Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the centre of the city."

- Oscar Wilde. In them days Lansdowne Road was two bus rides and a steam train from the city centre.

"I'm still an amateur, of course, but I became rugby's first millionaire five years ago."

- David Campese in 1991, about four years before professionalism was permitted in the game by the International Rugby Board.