Many pundits have dubbed the clash between arguably the tournament’s two heavyweights as a title decider, but Alldritt refused to believe the hype.
“The beauty of this competition is that every weekend is a tough weekend,” said the La Rochelle No 8 who has led his club to back-to-back Champions Cup titles.
“It will be a bit too early to say that (it is the decider).
“Of course, it’s a really important game for the tournament. But I remember four years ago we didn’t get a bonus point against England and we lost the Six Nations with that.
“That’s the beauty of the Six Nations. You need to be consistent every weekend, so we just go step by step and the first one is a massive step for us... a massive challenge.”
Alldritt said coach Fabien Galthie had gathered a “great squad”.
“We’re in the zone of what we’ve been doing for the last four years,” he said.
“I feel the same pressure as before any Six Nations, any cap... But there’s no negative pressure, we’re confident of our gameplan, we’ll just have to be very accurate and really front up tomorrow.
“We’ve trained well and we’re ready for a big match. You need this pressure to have knots in your stomach the day of a game!”
Giant Tuilagi ‘ready’
Perpignan teenager Posolo Tuilagi was a late call-up to the squad to replace fellow lock Romain Taofifenua on the bench, the latter ruled out with sickness.
The 19-year-old Samoa-born Tuilagi, whose father is former Samoa international and Perpignan player Henry Tuilagi, represented France at the under-20s World Cup last year.
Posolo Tuilagi is also the nephew of England centre Manu Tuilagi and former Samoa internationals Freddie, Alesana, Anitelea and Sanele Vavae Tuilagi.
France forwards coach William Servat was in no doubt that Tuilagi, a giant who weighs in at 150kg and stands 1.94m tall, would fit right in.
“Posolo took part in a training session last week,” Servat said.
“He’s ready. He’s integrated pretty well.”
Servat also insisted neither the backroom staff nor squad were harking back to the absence of talisman Antoine Dupont.
France’s regular captain has opted to miss the Six Nations to turn his attentions to rugby sevens ahead of this summer’s Paris Olympics.
Maxime Lucu instead starts at scrum-half, with Nolann le Garrec on the bench.
Lucu, Servat, said, had been “quite exceptional” while Le Garrec had underlined his potential to be a “great player”.
Gatland wants ‘no fear’ Wales as Scotland bid to end Cardiff curse
Meanwhile, Warren Gatland has urged a new-look Wales to “go out there with no fear” when they launch their Six Nations Championship campaign at home to a Scotland side desperate to end a 22-year losing streak in Cardiff.
Injuries, post-World Cup international retirements - and in the case of wing Louis Rees-Zammit a decision to try to forge a career in American football - have deprived Wales coach Gatland of several senior players, with George North, Liam Williams, Dan Biggar and Taulupe Faletau also among those who will be missing at the Principality Stadium this weekend.
Gatland has responded by handing Cardiff full-back Cameron Winnett a Test debut after just 15 games of professional rugby and by appointing 21-year-old lock Dafydd Jenkins as Wales’ youngest captain since scrum-half great Gareth Edwards back in 1968.
Wales reached the quarter-finals of last year’s World Cup in France, losing 29-17 to Argentina, whereas Scotland failed to get out of a tough pool also featuring eventual champions South Africa and reigning Six Nations Grand Slam kings Ireland.
But more significantly in a Championship where away triumphs are traditionally tough to come by, Scotland have lost their last 11 games against Wales in Cardiff - a run that includes nine Six Nations clashes, a World Cup warm-up fixture and an Autumn international.
‘Excited’
“We are at home and Scotland haven’t won here in Cardiff for a long time,” said Gatland.
“I am really excited about this group that we’ve got, building with some youngsters who I think are really going to grow, develop and impress... I think they can go out there with no fear with the way they have prepared.”
Owen Watkin and Nick Tompkins will form Wales centre pairing in the absence of the injured North, while back-row forward Jim Botham - grandson of England cricket great Ian Botham - is set for a first Wales appearance in nearly three years.
Scotland last defeated Wales in Cardiff back in 2002, when head coach Gregor Townsend was their fly-half in a 27-22 success he recalled “wasn’t a great game to play in, but I have more fond memories of now”.
The Scots, however, did triumph on Welsh soil with a 2020 win in Llanelli in a COVID-affected contest.
“You have defeats and wins in your Test career and the one against Ireland (the 36-14 loss at the World Cup in October) is more in our minds than the one two years ago (a 20-17 reverse in Cardiff), and certainly those 10 or 20 years before that,” said Townsend.
The retractable roof at the 74,500 capacity Principality Stadium will be left open at Scotland’s request - Six Nations regulations state both sides must agree to have it closed.
There is a belief that rain forecast for the 4:45pm GMT kick-off could aid Scotland but Townsend, who favours dry conditions, said there were other factors in his decision.
“It’s noisier when the roof’s closed, that’s why they (Wales) are disappointed. They don’t get that (advantage),” he explained.
Townsend added: “You play rugby at every other ground that doesn’t have a roof. So you play in the dry and the wet.
“If it’s a wet day it will be trickier to move the ball, but I have confidence our players can do that, or find another way to put pressure on the opposition through defence and a kicking game.”
Scotland will be without full-back Blair Kinghorn, who suffered a knee injury playing for Toulouse, with Kyle Rowe - normally a wing - making his first Test start.
Fly-half Finn Russell will lead Scotland after recently-appointed co-captain Rory Darge was ruled out with a knee injury.
George and Quesada lead England and Italy into new Six Nations era
Elsewhere, Jamie George and Gonzalo Quesada are hoping to lead England and Italy into new eras as the countries face off in Saturday’s Six Nations opener in Rome.
George will skipper England for the first time after Owen Farrell decided to skip this year’s edition for the sake of his mental health.
The hooker will lead out a young team with five new faces in Steve Borthwick’s 23-man matchday squad as England try to win the Six Nations for the first time in four years.
“I’ve tried not to think about it too much. It’s going to be an emotional day. I’m quite an emotional person anyway,” George told reporters yesterday.
“I’ve got some family flying over, some who aren’t able to fly, so to be able to put a smile (on the faces) of my family back home is going to mean a lot.
“The obvious statement is that it’s a dream come true. I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for moments like that so I want to be in the moment as much as I can.”
George said he wants to help the new boys, including centre Fraser Dingwall who will start his first ever Test match, to enjoy the novelty of international rugby and not let it all fly by.
“Similar messages to the guys having their first cap, because that was the best piece of advice I got before my first cap. It goes like that,” added George, clicking his fingers.
Tomorrow’s match should, in theory, be relatively simple for England who have never lost to Italy, but the Red Rose have not won an opening match in a Six Nations campaign since 2019.
Head coach Borthwick is trying to build on England’s third-place finish at last year’s World Cup and push the pre-tournament favourites France and Ireland.
“I talk to the players a lot about the mindset and intensity we need to bring to this,” Borthwick told reporters.
“Because that has to be different to what’s happened at the start of previous Six Nations tournaments. So I am certainly looking for that.”
Quesada begins his reign as Italy coach with a huge test after only a few weeks with his new team, one which was largely developed by his predecessor Kieran Crowley.
At last month’s Six Nations launch in Dublin former Argentina fly-half Quesada said that he has “a lot of respect for stuff that has been done before” under Crowley. His team for the England game reflects that.
The Azzurri were mauled by France and New Zealand at the World Cup and lost all five matches in last year’s Six Nations, but have at times looked capable of dishing out a bloody nose.
“We know that England will put us under lots of pressure. Not everything we do will be perfect due to the small amount of time we’ve had together, but the preparation for the match has been good,” Quesada told reporters yesterday.
“What is certain is that we will see an Italian team with extraordinary amount of will, passion and desire to do well.”