In the same way last summer's Ashes victory brought a legion of fair-weather cricket fans crawling out of the woodwork ("No, I've always been a very keen follower of our proud nation's summer sport I think you'll find"), so the Six Nations competition is generating a new breed of fervent rugby fans. Unless you happen to be Welsh (in which case the game's already in your blood - just ask Charlotte Church, she's full of rugby player at the moment), chances are you're currently 'mad for a bit of rucking and mauling', so let's all give a EA a nice big round of applause for the timely appearance of its first rugby game since, well, this time last year. Hurrah!

Put simply, Rugby 06 (as it's cunningly been titled to fit in snugly with the EA 06' sports range) is as good an update as we've seen EA produce in a long time. For one, it looks stunning. FIFA-stunning, in fact. With player likenesses and television-style presentation easily on a par with EA's footballing megalith, it comes as no surprise that Rugby 06 is one of the best-looking sports games on Xbox.

The first time you see an angry scrum actually steaming on screen it becomes clear that an awful lot of work has gone into the visuals. Even the cauliflower ears look good enough to eat.

But that's only the start of it. Apart from just looking good, Rugby 06 has really refined what it is to play rugby on a console - no easy task by any stretch of the imagination. Like last year's game, the controls are tight and responsive, and once mastered let you play a fast, intelligent game, but it's the new moves that really add to the game.

Alright, so it's one new move in particular that adds to the game, but being able to offload the ball to a nearby player just as you're being man-handled to the ground allows you to really rip through the defences. More than that, it keeps the ball moving so you never feel like you're slowing down every five seconds just to scrap for the ball in the mud.

Likewise the ability to take quick penalties and line- outs before the opposition have fully got their heads together keeps the game flowing and unpredictable. Clearly the emphasis on this year's EA rugby game is on attack, but defence hasn't been forgotten entirely, with damaging - barely legal - high tackles giving overeager full-backs something seriously painful to think about. Not to mention that both attack and defence benefit from new set-plays that can be activated with a flick of the D-pad during mauls and scrums. Plus, each team now boasts a number of 'star' players, which makes squad management a far more important aspect than it ever was before. Okay, so with all these new features to think about it's still nowhere near as easy to get to grips with as Rugby Challenge 2006, and you still can't assign the trigger buttons to pass the ball, but there's far more depth here than anything offered by Ubisoft's game.

And that's about the crux of it. Rugby 06 may not be as beginner-friendly as Rugby Challenge 2006, but the chances are if you're smart enough to follow the sport you're probably smart enough to cope with Rugby 06's additional layers of depth, which is why EA's game is clearly the better of the two. It looks better, it plays better and although the list of teams and competitions are very similar between the two games, it's Rugby 06 that carries the official Guinness Premiership and RBS Six Nations licences (but then what else would you expect from moneybags EA?). The career mode is suitably life-sapping and the annoying way players constantly strayed offside in last year's version seems to have been finally ironed out. Now all EA needs to do is add some Live support and it really will have the perfect game for egg-chasers everywhere.

It's not often we get excited about sports games that aren't Pro Evolution Soccer or Tiger Woods, but then rugby fans have traditionally had very little to get excited about on Xbox in the past. The fact that it takes some patience to get all the rules and rugby quirks down means that it's still unlikely to draw any of the football massive over to the 'public-school' side, and there are a couple of issues we'd like to see sorted for next year (it's far too easy for a good side to exploit holes in a poor team's defence), but on this form, Rugby 06 certainly looks the Union effort to beat this season.

1. Amazing graphics and TV presentation. Not just the best looking rugby game on Xbox, one of the best looking sports games ever.
2. Loads of teams and competitions to keep fans occupied. Only crap teams like Harlequins don't make the cut (bring on the hate mail!).
3. New attack and defence moves add more depth to the already well designed and relatively simple to master controls.
4. Commentary from All Blacks legend Grant Fox adds knowledge and authority to the predictable licensed rock soundtrack.

1. There's still no kind of Live support which is a real shame, although the game will support four players at once on the same screen.

A stunning-looking and equally playable rugby effort. Rugby 06 is a must-own if you're a committed fan of the sport.