Rugby Union
Six Nations Final Round preview
After some incredible antics in the penultimate round of the Six Nations in which Italy secured their first win since 2003 against Scotland, and England’s Marcus Smith scored a drop-goal in the last kick of the game to push them over the line against heavy favourites Ireland, the last round of the tournament is finally upon us to decide this year’s Six Nations victor.
We preview all three games below.
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Wales v Italy – Saturday 2.15pm Principality Stadium
Wales have had a bit of a nightmare in this year’s Six Nations campaign, failing to pick up a win in four games, falling victim to two extremely narrow losses against Scotland and England. On the other hand, Italy are coming off a win against Scotland, securing a 31-29 victory, the first time they’ve turned the tables after 36 straight defeats.
Should the Azzurri defy the odds for a second time and get the better of the Welsh outfit, it’ll be the second time in the history that Wales have failed to win a single fixture – the first being back in 2003. The Welsh have their work cut out, having to win by a margin of at least 12 points and not allow Italy to pick up a single bonus point. Wales are 1/3 favourites heading into the game, but should they manage to win by a big enough margin to avoid the wooden spoon remains to be seen.
Italy sit at 12/5 in the betting, the shortest they have been for any fixture thus far in the tournament, and with the possibility of avoiding the bottom of the table for a ninth successive year, the Italians will be geared up to cause the biggest upset of them all. Provided they don’t lose by a margin of 12 points or more and other results go their way, there is a chance of a third-place finish! Italy’s best finish in the Six Nations is fourth which they achieved in both the 2007 and 2013 campaigns and remains a possibility here so we can expect them to throw the kitchen sink at this one.
Ireland v Scotland – Saturday 4.45pm Aviva Stadium
Despite their loss against England last weekend, Ireland are still very much in the driving seat with regards to lifting the Six Nations trophy this year. Andy Farrell and his team will be more than geared up for a strong finish and with a disheartened Scotland as their opponent, they’re unlikely to hold back any punches.
Ireland head into the fixture as heavy 1/10 favourites to get the better of their Scottish opponents, and being in front of a home crowd should benefit them greatly, as the Twickenham crowd proved to have an impact in last week’s loss against England. Even though they fell victim to a drop-goal from Marcus Smith with the last kick of the game, Ireland looked fierce as always and won’t want to tarnish their recent dominant run any further, so we can expect a big showing from them here.
You can never count Scotland out however, as they are capable of pulling something pretty special out of the bag, and at 6/1 seem a hefty price given they beat England earlier in their campaign. On paper, this does seem a tougher ask and may be too big a stretch for them should Ireland turn up to play (no doubt they will). On the off chance that Ireland left a bit of their heart on the Twickenham pitch, Scotland have a chance to take full advantage here away from home and dig the dagger in further.
France v England – Saturday 8.00pm Groupama Stadium
France have not had the campaign this year that many thought they would as they entered the tournament as favourites alongside Ireland. England on the other hand have been the only team to stick it to the Irish giants so far and will be waltzing over to France on a massive high, and full of confidence.
France will be relying on Scotland to do them a massive favour if they’re to be in with any chance at the title. A more likely outcome is Ireland beating the Scots which leaves it up to Les Bleus to do a job against the English to secure second-place this year for a final stab at finishing on a high, and as 4/9 favourites it could be on the cards.
England have been given a pretty generous price of 15/8 ahead of this clash in France, and it looks to be the closest contest of them all in the final round. There’s no doubt that last weekend’s win over Ireland will have pumped their hearts full of pride, but in order to further that feeling they’ll need to produce some top-notch rugby against the French, which is a tall order away from home. England will be praying for the stars to align if they are in with any shout of winning the whole thing, but finishing second in the leaderboard would still be a quality showing from the English and should Scotland lose, a win of any kind against France will see them achieve the runners-up medal.
