6 Nations Betting Tips 2017 – Round 1
The wait is almost over. The Six Nations is back and it promises to be better than ever. England are the strong favourites to defend their crown, but a resurgent Ireland pose a big threat to their chances. France, Wales and Scotland are coming into the competition with a renewed sense of excitement and Italy have a huge point to prove under their new boss Conor O’Shea.
To preview the first round of matches, Betsafe have once again teamed up with Planet Rugby and former England tugby captain Lewis Moody for Round One of the much anticipated showpiece!
Scotland v Ireland
It’s first stop Murrayfield on Saturday afternoon as Vern Cotter, entering the twilight stage of his time as Scotland head coach, tries to take a huge scalp by beating a highly-fancied Ireland side. The Scots are 2/1 to get their campaign off to a winning start, while Ireland are 5/11 to win from scratch and 10/11 to overcome a five-point handicap.
The hosts have managed to win just three Six Nations matches against Ireland in 16 years, but a new-found attacking edge will make the Scots a difficult proposition for Ireland.
Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw is particularly excited about the amount of talent he will have alongside him, with their impressive run last November – where they almost toppled Australia in their opening match – a positive indicator heading into this year’s tournament.
“This is definitely the best Scotland squad I’ve been a part of; that’s quite an easy question actually for me to answer,” said Laidlaw.
“We’re starting to get more strength in depth through the squad.
“We’re certainly scoring a lot of tries in November, we can hurt teams on that front.
“If we can back that up with strong defensive performances we’d like to think we’d be hard to beat.”
Ireland, meanwhile, are expected to be a much more dominant force this year. Joe Schmidt has already guided the Irish to back-to-back Six Nations titles in 2014 and 2015, but could only finish in third spot last year as they struggled to overcome a mountain of injuries to key personnel.
However, they are back fighting fit and looked to have laid down a very early marker when beating New Zealand with a stunning 40-29 victory in November, although they will be without key man Jonny Sexton against the Scots after being ruled out due to injury.
Schmidt, though, is trying to keep a firm lid on expectations and would be happy if his Ireland were to go one better than last year.
Schmidt has installed defending champions England as favourites, branding Eddie Jones’ side “indomitable”.
“A top-two finish would be great,” said Schmidt.
“I know last year I said a top-three finish would be good given where we were at the time. But I think we’ve got to strive to get in that top two again now though.
“It’s hard to say anything beyond that, because I think this Six Nations will be the most competitive I’ll have been involved in.
“There’s so many teams that have good reference points from November and good continuity, and the way Glasgow are going for Scotland at the moment, that’s the core of their team with class on top too.”
Teams
15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Ryan Wilson, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 John Barclay, 21 Ali Price, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Mark Bennett
15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadgh Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Cian Healy, 18 John Ryan, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Tommy Bowe
England v France
After Scotland and Ireland go toe-to-toe, we head to Twickenham to see if England can begin their title defence with an historic victory against France. Eddie Jones’ men are on a phenomenal run of 14 consecutive Tests wins and are just one more victory away from eclipsing the record set by Sir Clive Woodward’s England side from March 2002 to August 2003.
And while Jones is eager to retain that winning feeling, he has warned against complacency as they prepare to face a France side who have been reinvigorated and restructured under Guy Noves.
“Everyone here is very hungry to have success again,” Jones said.
“We’ve got to come out of the blocks and play well against France. If we get that wrong, it’s out of the window already so we have to take it game by game.
“Beating France, that’s all we’re worried about. If we beat France then we’ll worry about what happens after that.
“France are going extremely well, they should have beaten Australia and could have beaten New Zealand last year. That’s how well they’re going.”
But that is the problem for France heading into this tournament: the tendency to let line breaks and attacking platforms go begging before narrowly missing out on some famous victories.
They need to become more clinical if they are to build on their fifth-place finish in 2016 and Noves is all too aware of France’s biggest flaw.
“Our expectations this year are to build a team that continues to improve constantly, to get closer to our opponents,” said Noves.
“We’re not that far from our opponents, but we must be more efficient.
“We cross the advantage line more than others, but we do not score, we don’t achieve really, so the ratio is not very good.
“We have to try to reverse this ratio, and we must be killers in some areas so that we can chase wins.”
France are the biggest price of the weekend as 4/1 outsiders at Twickenham, while England are the heavy 1/6 favourites. If you’re on the hunt for a little more value, then the hosts can be backed at 10/11 to beat the 12-point handicap.
The history books show the size of the task that awaits France on Saturday. Their solitary 18-17 victory in 2005 is Les Bleus’ only successful visit to Twickenham in the Six Nations era.
Teams
15 Mike Brown, 14 Jonny May, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Maro Itoje, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Teimana Harrison, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Jack Nowell
15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Rémi Lamerat, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kévin Gourdon, 6 Damien Chouly, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Clément Maynadier, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Arthur Iturria, 20 Loann Goujon, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Yoann Huget, 23 Jean-Marc Doussain
Italy v Wales
The first weekend ends with Italy, once again the clear favourites to finish with the wooden spoon, hoping to pull off an upset against a Wales side in transition. Wales will be playing under the guidance of interim head coach Rob Howley and a new captain in Alun Wyn Jones, who will be tasked with helping seven fresh faces get to grips with the rigours of international rugby.
After an uninspiring autumn, the changes made to the Wales squad were warmly welcomed. But while there is a renewed sense of hope, they are expected to fall into the class below the likes of England and Ireland this year.
Facing Italy first up does represent a great opportunity to get their campaign off to a winning start. Overall this looks to be a year of growth for Wales, but there is genuine intrigue into just how far they can progress in the competition.
“In a way the captaincy is just a label, but I’m ready and able to make decisions as captain when needed,” said Jones.
“But if we can grow more leaders in the team that we have, if we can get to the point where we’re making similar decisions without having to consult with each other, that’s a case of job-done, let’s move onto the next challenge as a group and a team.
“I don’t want followers: followers are for Twitter.
“I’ve got to be comfortable in the people that I’m around, because there will be times when I’m not there.
“If we can get to a point where we’re all on the same hymn sheet, then we’ll be in a good place.”
taly, meanwhile, are coming under increasing pressure as to whether they should be automatically involved in the Six Nations. With their limited resources and their two professional teams struggling so badly, the calls for a relegation system to be introduced are only getting louder.
A shock win against Wales would certainly silence the haters and coach Conor O’Shea knows this year’s campaign is all about proving people wrong.
“Italy has absolutely earned the right, god knows I played against enough Italian sides and was on the wrong end,” said O’Shea.
“We just have to make sure we harness what is great and make sure we don’t have those conversations.
“Because Italy has earned every single right to be part of the Six Nations.
“We just want to earn people’s respect this year, and see where that takes us.”
Italy have beaten Wales just twice since 2003 and their poor head-to-head record is certainly reflected in their quote of 15/4 to win at the Stadio Olimpico.
The Welsh are available at 1/5 from scratch, but they will certainly have plenty supporters at 10/11 to beat the 11-point handicap.
Teams
15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse(c), 7 Maxime Mata Mbanda, 6 Abraham Steyn, 5 George Biagi, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Francesco Minto, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Michele Campagnaro
15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Sam Warburton, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Rob Evans, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Cory Hill, 20 James King, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Jamie Roberts
About Mark Scott
Mark Scott is a contributor for PlanetRugby, widely regarded as one of the biggest rugby websites in the world which offers news, previews, live scores and analysis.
