ALL Six Nations Championships are important, but some are more important than others. With the Rugby World Cup now less than eight months away, the competition that starts on Friday night with a Millennium Stadium showdown between Wales and England definitely falls into the latter camp.

For some sides, most notably Wales and Ireland, the tournament offers an opportunity to fine-tune World Cup plans that are already pretty much set in stone. For others, most especially England and France, the next two months will see a desperate attempt to make sense of the current confusion over selection and tactics. For all six sides involved, surviving the Six Nations with a degree of momentum intact will be regarded as an acceptable return.

In an ideal world, Stuart Lancaster would be presiding over a settled England side that had been developed with the World Cup in mind for the best part of a couple of years. Instead, he heads to Cardiff this week with more questions than answers. That is a cause for concern, but also provides a window of opportunity that must be exploited before it slams shut.

The main positive to have emerged from last autumn’s internationals was the performance of the pack, and that is the one area of the field where Lancaster has largely completed the process of sorting the wheat from the chaff.

The Northern Echo: ALL SMILES: Stuart Lancaster after the match

Rugby has evolved greatly in the professional era, but a World Cup staged in an English autumn still has the potential for rain, wind and mud. Free-flowing attacking lines are all well and good, but you won’t be lifting the World Cup trophy unless you boast solid set pieces and an ability to at least hold your own at the breakdown.

Nick Easter’s surprise recall reflects a lack of natural ball carriers in the back row, but in the likes of Mako and Billy Vunipola, Dylan Hartley, Dave Attwood, Chris Robshaw and Tom Wood, England boast a forward pack that is unlikely to be knocked off its stride by anyone, whether in a Six Nations Championship or a World Cup.

What happens behind that pack is another matter entirely, and if Lancaster achieves nothing else over the course of the next five games, he has to come away from England’s final Six Nations game against France with a clear idea of his preferred partnerships at both half-back and centre.

Owen Farrell’s autumn loss of form drove a cart and horses through Lancaster’s previous planning even before he was ruled out of the entire Six Nations through injury, and for all that Danny Cipriani’s return to the squad has hogged the headlines, it is George Ford who surely has England’s fly-half destiny in his hands. His relationship with first-choice scrum-half Ben Youngs will be pivotal to England’s chances in Cardiff and beyond.

A fit Manu Tuilagi would be a certainty in the centres, but it is getting to the stage where it is hard to remember when he wasn’t carrying some sort of an injury concern. As things stand, England cannot regard his World Cup participation as anything other than a bonus.

The Northern Echo: Manu Tuilagi

Brad Barritt and Luther Burrell are likely to start at 12 and 13 respectively in Cardiff, and while a combination of Kyle Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph would offer more creativity, Lancaster is right to conclude that a certain amount of midfield ballast is a necessity. Guaranteeing that, while still offering up sufficient scoring options, is the biggest challenge facing the England camp.

Given the choice, Lancaster would surely not have chosen to start with a trip to Wales. The Millennium Stadium is hardly an inviting prospect at the best of times, but Friday’s game has assumed even more resonance because of Wales and England’s presence alongside each other in Pool A of the World Cup. Neither camp will want to bill Friday’s game as a World Cup dress rehearsal, but the fall-out for the loser is sure to be significant.

Given that they will almost certainly have to beat either England or Australia to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, Wales could do with the fillip of a positive result this week.

Warren Gatland has stuck with the core of the side that won back-to-back Six Nations titles in 2012 and 2013, and while his side’s tactics can be criticised for being predictable as a result, on their day, Wales remain an extremely difficult team to contain.

Jamie Roberts’ crashing midfield runs remain as potent as ever, with Leigh Halfpenny’s boot still the most reliable points-scoring weapon in all of the Northern Hemisphere sides.

The Northern Echo: ACCURATE: Wales’ goal kicker Leigh Halfpenny

In the past, Wales’ fortunes have often been dictated by momentum. Win on Friday, and Gatland’s squad will head to Edinburgh and Paris carrying realistic hopes of a third title in the space of four seasons.

Last year’s champions were Ireland, with their success reflecting the depth of options available to head coach Joe Schmidt as well as the success of the transition from a squad dominated by the likes of Brian O’Driscoll and Ronan O’Gara to a new-look side built around the likes of Conor Murray, Devin Toner and Peter O’Mahoney.

Of all the sides competing in the Six Nations, it is Ireland that most resemble one of the Southern Hemisphere’s leading lights. There is a physicality to Schmidt’s side – how could there not be with Paul O’Connell continuing to tower over the second row – but there is also a subtlety to Ireland’s attacking play that was abundantly evident in the autumn victories over South Africa and Australia.

The Northern Echo: Paul O'Connell

A trip to Italy followed by a home game against France looks a reasonably gentle introduction to Ireland’s Six Nations campaign, and by the time they host England in Dublin on March 1, the table should already have taken shape. Ireland start the tournament as favourites, and on the evidence of last year’s matches, deserve to be at the head of the market.

Scotland, currently 30-1 to lift the Six Nations trophy, could be something of a surprise package, although that has been said in the build-up to countless other tournaments, only for them to fail to show any sign of progress.

With the Gray brothers to the fore, the Scots will be well drilled at set-pieces and competitive in the loose. Try scoring has been their problem for what seems like forever, but there were glimpses of creativity in the autumn, most notably in the 41-31 victory over Argentina, that suggest Vern Cotter is willing to be less rigid than some of his predecessors. With Wales, Italy and Ireland all due to visit Murrayfield, Scotland should be targeting a top-three finish.

The Northern Echo: Richie Gray, Scotland

France? To expect the unexpected is a cliché, but it undoubtedly contains plenty of truth. The strength of the French clubs in the European Challenge Cup has been built on expensive overseas imports, and while Phillipe Saint-Andre can call on some hugely talented players, there has been little in his side’s recent displays to suggest he is close to assembling a team capable of competing with the very best.

Italy have regressed in the last couple of years, and after threatening to make a significant breakthrough when they began to clamber up the Six Nations table, the Azzurri have reverted to their previous status as the tournament’s whipping boys. As a result, one win this spring will be regarded as a success.

Given the ancient enmities that are reawakened during a Six Nations Championship, it would be wrong to describe the forthcoming tournament as merely an aperitif to the main course that will be served up in England and Wales this autumn.

Five of the sides will be describing it as such in a couple of months time, and their argument will have merit. For the winners, however, perhaps the road to World Cup glory will also begin next weekend.