O’Sullivan strongly believes that the two tournaments are beyond comparison, with the Six Nations providing far more excitement towards the end of the competition - rather than the Tri-Nations, which is usually decided by the second week.

"England are the benchmark and being World Cup winners gives us all the chance to compare ourselves with how we are improving over the next four years," O’Sullivan told AFP.

"We are all going to try and turn them over. It is possible and that is the strength of the tournament.

"If you look at it you see that despite England being the best team for five years they took that long to secure the Grand Slam (they beat Ireland in the decider last year).

"It is a very hard thing to achieve and what makes it so exciting - the Tri-Nations, on the other hand, can become mundane.

"A lot of the time the second match between Australia and South Africa involves no tension at all because the tournament has already been decided."

England boss Sir Clive Woodward concurs: "I’m still young enough to remember the (Six Nations) tournament as a player and as a fan.

"I can say categorically I do think the tournament is the No.2 tournament behind the World Cup.

"With France making the World Cup semi-finals (where they lost to England), Ireland should have beaten Australia (in the pool stages) - everyone realises that - to bring the world champions into it elevates it again."

While it may just seem a rant from the northern hemisphere coaches - New Zealand-born Hansen further emphasises the general consensus (in the North at least) that the Six Nations has more to offer.

"I would go further [than Woodward]," said Hansen. "I would say it’s been the second best competition since the inception of the World Cup. It was the best competition, then the World Cup came along.

"The major difference is two-fold: one is that it has got more teams in it (than the Tri-Nations) so obviously there is better competition.

"Two is the travel. It allows the spectators to be part of the competition. That’s a special feature the Six Nations has whereas in the Tri-Nations you are travelling huge distances and because of that there’s big costs so the supporters don’t go en masse to the Tri-Nations Tests.

"New Zealand-Australia, yes, but not so much South Africa-New Zealand or South Africa-Australia."

France coach Bernard Laporte and new Scotland coach - Australian-born Matt Williams - rounded off the assault on the southern hemisphere competition - with Laporte agreeing, perhaps for the first time, with his English counterpart, while Williams suggested that his fellow countrymen did not appreciate the ’enormity’ of the Six Nations.

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