Scotland have Six Nations hopes written off ALREADY as supercomputer dismisses chances

Scottish hopes of a first ever Six Nations crown look limited at best as stats gurus crushed the numbers ahead of the tournament

The Six Nations might still be a week away - but Scotland's chances have already been written-off by stats gurus Opta.

Gregor Townsend's men start their quest for a first ever Six Nations title when they welcome Italy to Murrayfield on February 1, but would cause a major shock if they had something to celebrate in March - with Opta giving the national team just a five percent chance of winning the tournament. Scotland last won the tournament in 1999, the final year of the Five Nations, but have at least had four straight Calcutta Cup triumphs to celebrate in recent times.

And the Opta supercomputer isn't fancying England's chances this time around either - they are ranked as fourth favourites, with a two percent chance of victory. Ahead only of Italy on 0.5 percent and a woefully underperforming Wales side, given just a 0.2 percent chance of success.

To compile the data the supercomputer crunched key data, simulating the tournament 10,000 times to produce the most likely outcomes. Last year they got the big call spot on by tipping Ireland for success, and once again they are hot favourites - winning 63 percent of the simulations, well ahead of France on 29 percent.

Opta predict: "Ireland are strong favourites to become the first side to win the men’s Six Nations three times in a row (63 percent chance), while Wales are heading for back-to-back Wooden Spoons. Although it definitely feels like any side could beat any other on their day, it also seems like there are three defined battles in this year’s Championship. Ireland and France will fight for top spot, Italy and Wales will try to dodge the lava and Scotland and England will vie for third behind the two favourites."

In total 13 of the previous 25 editions of the Six Nations have seen a side claim a Grand Slam, but this time around the data points to no side being able to achieve that. Ireland are given 32.71 percent chance, ahead of France on 12.62 percent. Scotland's hopes are just 1.85 percent - but at least they are far stronger than England's minuscule 0.49 percent.

Opta's Six Nations win predictor

• Ireland - 63 percent
• France - 29 percent
• Scotland - 5 percent
• England - 2 percent
• Italy - 0.5 percent
• Wales - 0.2 percent