Ireland’s Six Nations odds improve but they are way off the current champions

You could get Ireland as far out as 6/1 to win the 2017 Six Nations before the November Series.

Joe Schmidt's men got through a teak-tough November - against Australia, Canada and New Zealand [twice] - with three impressive wins. They climbed the rankings to fourth and are looking good for a top seeding ahead of next May's 2019 World Cup draw. Having entered the four-game spin with a record of W:3, D:1, L:4, one could get pretty decent odds for Ireland to win next year's Six Nations. They are now at 5/2 to win the championship in 2017. Ireland's form has seen them leap-frog Wales to now be listed as second favourites. Top dogs, in the betting stakes at least, are the 2016 champions England. Eddie Jones' men are at 4/5 at present and 9/4 to win a Grand Slam. England are unbeaten in 11 games so far this year and have a chance to close out an impressive 2016 with a victory over Australia at Twickenham this weekend. You can get Ireland at 6/1, with Ladbrokes, to win all five games for the Slam. Tempting enough when you consider they welcome both France and England to the Aviva Stadium next Spring. Ireland winger Andrew Trimble feels confident going into next year's championship. He told Irish Rugby TV:

"This is a side that, I think, has a lot of potential. We can go and do big things. "It's great, we have a big opportunity, going into next year's Six Nations, to take people on and give it a real go."

Reasons to be really hopeful. All odds courtesy of Ladbrokes Dick Clerkin makes his GAA Hour debut to talk about a wonderful career and argue passionately with Colm Parkinson over Sky Sports GAA. Subscribe here on iTunes.