Nothing frightful about England’s Six Nations chances

Given England can be relied upon to bag all five points from their trip to Rome in the second of Saturday’s three Guinness Six Nations fixtures, France and Ireland will know exactly what they have to do to finish top of the table in the concluding match of this year’s stop-start Championship.

France would have to match England with a bonus point as well as wiping out a two-point difference, while Ireland know a bonus-point victory would be enough for them to claim the trophy.

Scots to come of age

It may be a warm-up to the main business of the day, but Wales versus Scotland should be fascinating in its own right.

Out of the two camps, Scotland seem to be the more positive as they chase a long-awaited 50th win in this fixture.

Gregor Townsend and Finn Russell have put their differences to one side and the Racing 92 magician is now back where he belongs in the No.10 jersey and ready to steer Scotland to a first victory on Welsh soil in 18 years.

Wales, on the other hand, are feeling the pressure of a four-game losing streak – their worst run since 2016 – and life under new head coach Wayne Pivac appears to be less than rosy following the dispiriting 38-21 loss to France in Paris last weekend.

Scotland comfortably dispatched an ill-prepared Georgia, as predicted by The Rugby Tipster, and will be confident of ending their barren run against the men in red.

Parc y Scarlets hosts its first-ever Six Nations fixture so doesn’t have the sense of history or fervour – without any fans allowed in – of previous Cardiff encounters when they have returned north empty-handed.

Scarlets flanker Blade Thomson will be playing on his home ground but in the blue of Scotland.

Gray day for AWJ?

Scotland can be backed at 11/5 to ruin Alun Wyn Jones’ big day. The Wales captain will become the most-capped player in Test history when he leads his side out on the occasion of his 149^th cap.

But the 35-year-old’s attention won’t be on milestones, more on how to stop Jonny Gray exerting his influence on the contest.

Gray comes back into the national side with his confidence sky-high following Exeter Chiefs’ double-winning season and can be expected to put in anther trojan performance.

Wales were out-muscled by France at the Stade de France and the fear is that it might happen again even though Pivac has brought in the in-form Shane Lewis-Hughes for his international debut at blindside.

Liam Williams reminded everyone of his talent when playing for the Scarlets against Benetton last week with a scorching run that lit up an otherwise dull game and will clearly boost an attack that spluttered against the French.

George North pays the price for an ineffective performance in Paris and Tomas Francis, a team-mate of Gray’s at the Chiefs, and Will Rowlands also come into the side.

Slade ready to rock

With Italy v England games, it’s always a question of by how many, not if England will win.

Since the sides first met at Rugby World Cup 1991, England have come out on top 29 times to nil, scoring 1,058 points in that time to just 319 against.

The Italians just about exceeded expectations in attack in Dublin last weekend in scoring 17 to 50 against. But closer inspection shows they offered very little with ball in hand.

The Azzurri were gifted the first seven points thanks to Johnny Sexton’s intercept, and the second converted try was only scored right at the death, following a rare moment of individual brilliance, by debutant fly-half Paolo Garbisi. Ireland had let their guard down at this point.

Other than the first two minutes of the match, Franco Smith’s side failed to threaten Ireland’s try line through their own attacking structures.

Matteo Minozzi returns to Italian colours after his heroics with Wasps and is clearly a dangerous player on the counter-attack, but it is hard to see the Azzurri turning the events of Dublin around so quickly, even against an England side without a game since March.

In recent times, England’s midfield have enjoyed themselves against the Azzurri with 11 of the 36 tries scored in the last seven encounters coming from the centres.

Jonathan Joseph has five alone and that’s reflected in his miserly anytime try-scorer odds of 11/10.

While Joseph has the Midas touch against the Italians, and 13 is most definitely their unlucky number, Henry Slade at 11/4 to ghost past suspect defender Carlo Canna and score his 6^th Test try possibly represents more value.

Slade has been in great nick for the Chiefs when attacking the line and ripped the Wasps defence to shreds for the opening try in the Gallagher Premiership final.

Trick or treat in Paris?

With a score or less between the sides in 15 of the last 21 meetings – including two draws – and not much between the teams on paper, France v Ireland promises to be a closely-fought battle despite both teams needing tries to maximise their chances of winning the Six Nations title.

For that reason, avoiding the handicap, and potential heartbreak, is our advice. Our call is to go for a straight win bet on France at 7/12.

Les Bleus appear to have a little more spark about them when it comes to creating something out of nothing, especially with livewire scrum-half Antoine Dupont and outside centre Virimi Vakatawa in such scintillating form.

Vakatawa is partnered by Arthur Vincent in midfield as head coach Fabien Galthié makes just one change to the team that started in the win against Wales.

Even though Andy Farrell has said they have to take care of the result first and foremost, the fact is Ireland will have to go for it in an attempt to stop England being crowned champions, and the French look more than capable of punishing them if they overplay their hand, especially with the jury still out on Jacob Stockdale as Ireland’s last line of defence.