Sports Blog 11/02/2016: Rugby Union Preview – Six Nations 2016 Week 2, Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th February 2016

It’s week 2 of the Six Nations 2016, with an away trip to Italy giving Eddie Jones the chance to work out some of England’s kinks ahead of next Sunday’s visit from Ireland.

Before all that, however, sees the weekend’s biggest (and arguably best) game on Saturday afternoon, as a frustrated Ireland travel to a troubled France at 2.25pm on BBC One. It what should have been the softest start to a Six Nations possible Les Bleus hosted Italy at the Stade de France, a team they had comprehensively beaten 32-10 at the World Cup last September. Yet the underdogs pushed the home side every step of the way, with a 75th minute penalty kick from Jules Plisson seeing France narrowly miss an embarrassing defeat, the game eventually finishing 23-21.

It will be to see how France cope with a side made of much sterner stuff than Italy, a side, incidentally, that Les Bleus lost to 24-9 at the World Cup. Not that Ireland were flawless last weekend, not by any stretch of the imagination. Taking a quick 13-0 lead against Wales the Irish threw away their advantage as the game went on, and were in danger of a 16-13 loss until Johnny Sexton’s 74th minute penalty saved Irish bacon to see the points shared. At least this Saturday Ireland should be boosted by the return of Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney, both of who missed the opener in Dublin.

So, two giants of the sport kicking late to save face against sides that they should (to varying degrees) have beaten. Both, then, will be hungry to prove themselves, and given the nature of their opening games our Spreadex traders have found this just too hard to call, offering a choice France/Ireland Supremacy spread of -1.5-1.5.



Saturday afternoon’s match-up then sees Scotland travel to Wales at 4.50pm on BBC One. Scotland extended their Six Nations winless streak to 8 games last weekend, their 15-9 loss at home to England (and their 9th straight Calcutta Cup defeat) immediately dampening the post-World Cup optimism that had been building since Vern Cotter’s men ran Australia so close in the quarter-finals last October. Greig Laidlaw (the only European in the World Cup’s top 5 points scorers) was arguably one of the few bright spots from the opener, scoring 9 points from a possible 12 to keep Scotland in the game.

Wales, on the other hand, will be just as frustrated as their Scottish opponents, if not more so. The Welsh grumbles are two-fold; firstly, they shouldn’t have let themselves get 13-0 down against Ireland in the first place; secondly, they should have thrown away their 16-13 lead in the final few minutes of the game. Saturday provides a chance for a swift comeback, and interestingly Warren Gatland has chosen to replace Rhys Priestland (as faultless as his Irish counterpart Sexton last weekend) with the returning Dan Biggar, so strong in the World Cup.

There wasn’t much for Scotland to cling onto after their opening defeat, whilst the Welsh managed a far more respectable, if ultimately disappointing, result against Ireland, leading Spreadex to offer a Wales/Scotland Supremacy spread of 11-14.

Finally Sunday sees Eddie Jones’ England travel to face a far stronger than expected Italy at 2pm on ITV. Though victorious England’s performance in Scotland wasn’t the kind of revolutionary display some may have hoped for following the limp exit to last year’s World Cup. However, it was only Eddie Jones’ first game in charge and his risk-averse approach may not have excited, but it did work, with England now sitting at the top of the table on a superior points difference to the (incredibly lucky) France and a good chance of staying there after the end of week 2.

Not that Italy appear to be the walk-overs they have been for the last few years. A strong showing against France, ending in heartbreak with national hero Sergio Parisse missing a last minute drop-goal in Paris, the Azzurri will be looking to rattle a still fairly unsettled England when they host Eddie Jones’ men on Sunday. One of the major take aways from last weekend was Carlos Canna; scoring 13 of Italy’s 21 points (and that could have been more if he hadn’t missed a penalty and a conversion) the youngster out in an eye-catching performance against France, even prompting Eddie Jones to praise the fly-half ahead of England’s trip to Rome.

Yet for all of Italy’s tenacity last Saturday this is still arguably England’s game to lose, with Spreadex offering an England/Italy (h) Supremacy spread of 15-18.

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