12 Jun 2019
The build up to this year’s Six Nations has been dominated by talk of an injury crisis across rugby union. To illustrate that, defending champions England travel to Rome without more than 16 first-team players. They are not alone in their injury problems, however. Putting all of that to one side, we have some cracking fixtures in store for the first weekend of the 2018 Six Nations.
Kicking off this weekend’s action in Cardiff is Wales vs Scotland. The home side will be looking to bounce back from a very disappointing Championship last year, where they finished a measly fifth. Coach Warren Gatland will have to do without an integral trio this time around; with Jonathan Davies, Sam Warburton and Rhys Webb all ruled out for the duration of the tournament. There is reason for optimism, however, with a Scarlets-dominated front row arriving off the back of a terrific spell at club level.
Confidence will be key for this Wales side and their fate in this year’s Championship could rest on the outcome of their opening game. If they beat a high-flying Scotland side they could definitely shake up the predicted rankings. Scotland will be hopeful of bettering their 4th place finish last year. Brave performances in the Autumn Internationals against the All Blacks and Australia demonstrated the attacking flair Gregor Townsend’s side possess. Despite playing at home, we see Scotland getting their campaign off to a winning start against an injury-ravaged Wales team at rugby union betting odds of 5/4.
Next up is France against Ireland at the Stade de France. Les Bleus are arguably the perennial underachievers in the Six Nations ? often not able to capitalise on the promise of their exciting squad year after year. They are coming off a 3rd place finish in last year’s tournament, and the outlook heading into this year’s Championship is good. They must contend with a very difficult start though, travelling to Murrayfield after their opener against Ireland. However, head coach Jacques Brunel has a good selection headache ahead of this game, and his opposite number has even indicated he is not sure what France’s starting XV is going to look like. Ireland, meanwhile, are favoured by many to be crowned overall winners this year. Looking at this first game, though, Ireland have not travelled well in recent years. They have just one win away from home in the last two tournaments combined. A dream start for France could be well worth a bet at 15/8 in this one.
Concluding this first weekend’s round of games is England’s matchup against Italy. The strength in depth head coach Eddie Jones has at his disposal means the seemingly never-ending injury list has not affected his preparations for this game too much. Timely returns to fitness for Chris Robshaw, Mike Brown and Maro Itoje will give the squad a welcome boost too. Whilst no one is giving Italy a chance in this one, it’s worth noting that England were winning at half time just once in last year’s tournament. They had to come from behind four times, including against Italy. If you think the Azzurri can repeat that feat on Sunday, you can back them at 5/1.
Looking ahead to the tournament in general, it’s difficult to pick a winner with any certainty. We can?t see there being a Grand Slam winner, and backing that to be the case at 5/6 seems worthy of a punt. In terms of top try scorer during the tournament, Stuart Hogg offers good value at 16/1. Despite the injuries, this tournament could be one of the best we’ve seen in recent years.
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