Sports Blog 29/01/2018: Rugby Union Preview – Six Nations, Saturday 3rd February to 17th March 2018

Will England become the first country to ever win 3 consecutive Six Nations Championships?

Eddie Jones’ men are yet to lose a game since their Grand Slam-denying defeat to Ireland last March, with an Old Mutual Wealth Cup win over the Barbarians, a trio of victories against Argentina, and test triumphs against Australia and Samoa. That’s the kind of form that would easily make them favourites for the 2018 tournament, and indeed England have an Outright Index spread of 43-46 and even fixed odds.



Yet a seriously long injury list – England are potentially missing 14 players, including Chris Robshaw, Mike Brown and Billy Vunipola – has allowed Ireland to creep up on their rivals, with Joe Schmidt’s side at a fixed odds price of 6/5 and an Outright Index spread of 42-45. Despite their own injury issues Ireland on a similar unbeaten streak to England, winning their last 7 fixtures on route to the Six Nations, hence the near enough neck-and-neck Outright Index spreads.

Looking beyond those 2 frontrunners and things drop off quite sharply. Thanks in large part to a gutted squad – Warren Gatland has to make do without the likes of Rhys Webb, Liam Williams, Dan Biggar, Jonathan Davies and Rhys Priestland – Wales trail Scotland at an Outright index spread of 15-18 to 17-20. Led by the (very) recently appointed Jacques Brunel France, who failed to win a single one of their end of year internationals, are then at 11-14, while Italy, point-less in the 2017 Six Nations, are at 0.1-1.

As for the weekend’s competition-openers, the most interesting tie is arguably the first, when Wales host Scotland at 2.15pm on BBC Two. For Gatland’s guys this could act as a confidence-boost before they travel to Twickenham in week 2; for Townsend, meanwhile, it’s a chance to show how far the Scots have come. It’s going to be tight, with Spreadex offering a very slender Wales/Scotland Points Supremacy spread of 0-3.

At 4.45pm on BBC One Ireland hop over to Paris to take on an inchoate French side. If Schmidt is to lead the Irish to their first title since 2015 then anything other than a win in Saint-Denis is unthinkable, with Spreadex offering an Ireland/France (h) Points Supremacy spread of 5-8.

Finally on Sunday England will be looking to extend their current streak with a convincing win in Italy, at 3pm on ITV 1. The defending champions should absolutely destroy their hosts, with Spreadex offering a pretty conclusive England/Italy (h) Points Supremacy spread of 20-23.