Rugby Union
Six Nations Round Three Preview
After a weekend off the Six Nations return for round three, which sees Wales take on Ireland, England welcome Scotland, and Italy face off against France.
We preview all three matches below and take a closer look at where the value is to be found in the betting markets.
In round two we landed three out of five selections, let’s hope we can make it another successful weekend!
Bet on the Six Nations at William Hill
Wales v Ireland
We kick off the weekend with Wales hosting Ireland at 2.15pm on Saturday afternoon. This game looks about as one-sided as they come, with the Wooden Spoon winners in waiting taking on the champions elect. It’s no surprise that Wales are wide outsiders here at 14/1, with Ireland the 1/50 favourites.
It’s very hard to make a case for the hosts and the try-scorer markets aren’t particularly appealing for them. The announcement of Warren Gatland’s departure doesn’t seem enough to inject new life into this team and, as brutal as it seems, the value play here is Wales to score under 13.5 points at 5/6. Although odds-on, it makes for a nice selection that you could even look to include in your weekend accumulators to add some safe value, given they were nilled by France and only just scraped over the 13.5 point mark against Italy.
England v Scotland
Twickenham takes centre stage at 4.45pm on Saturday afternoon as Scotland head to the English capital for the 132nd edition of the Calcutta Cup. This looks like being a tight contest but England remain short-priced favourites at 2/7, with the visitors out at 11/4 looking to make it five straight wins over England in the Six Nations.
Both sides have produced some entertaining game so far, with matches involving the two sides averaging six tries per game in this series. Steve Borthwick’s insistence on starting Marcus Smith at full-back offers increased scoring opportunities for both sides, and over 6.5 tries in what promises to be a thrilling contest looks a decent option at 9/5.
Duhan van der Merwe starred in last year’s contest, touching down three times to secure a memorable hat-trick. It’s hard to see past him going over again. It’s harder to pick a scorer for England but Ben Earl was at the epicentre of their ball-carrying efforts against France and could be again. With these two wearing 11 and 7 for their respective sides, taking a slightly alternative swing at the shirt of the first try scorer to be odd (4/5) might not be the worst idea.
Italy v France
We head over into mainland Europe on Sunday as the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy brings round three to close. Italy have only managed to lift it on two occasions and are underdogs to do so here despite home advantage (15/2). 15-time victors France are heavy favourites at 1/14.
Italy’s low-scoring contest at against Wales saw our prediction of under 4.5 tries land, but this looks set to be a far more open, high-quality contest. They put in a solid enough performance against Scotland before seeing off Wales last week and could be a nice bet at 10/11 in the seemingly wide 18-point handicap margin.
The absence of the suspended Romain Ntamack won’t help the visitors, while Monty Ioane will be a big miss for Italy. With key players missing on both sides, this game is crying out for someone to take the bull by the horns. Step forth France winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who has scored in five consecutive Tests, taking his total to 14 in 16 caps since making his debut in August 2023. His scoring potential as well is the quality sprinkled throughout both sides’ respective back threes makes the 7/4 about the first try to be scored by a winger or full-back an intriguing prospect.
