Six Nations 2008

[traeth]

This season's fixtures

Saturday, 02 February 2008
England v Wales, 16:30
Ireland v Italy, 14:00
Sunday, 03 February 2008
Scotland v France, 15:00


Saturday, 09 February 2008
France v Ireland, 16:00
Wales v Scotland, 14:00
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Italy v England, 14:30


Saturday, 23 February 2008
France v England, 20:00
Ireland v Scotland, 17:00
Wales v Italy, 15:00


Saturday, 08 March 2008
Ireland v Wales, 13:15
Scotland v England, 15:15
Sunday, 09 March 2008
France v Italy, 15:00


Saturday, 15 March 2008
England v Ireland, 15:00
Italy v Scotland, 13:00
Wales v France, 17:00

[traeth]

The odds to win the Six Nations

France @ 2.63 skybet
England @ 3.5 Stan James
Ireland 6.50 bet365
Wales 10.00 bet365
Scotland 15.00 bet365
Italy @101 bet365

I think France will win , but @ 2.63 i'm not tempted
As France are at home against England I think they have a strong possibility of a grand slam which is more appealing @ 4.5 with skybet.

I will have a more detailed look to see if I'm tempted by anything , other than a patriotic bet on Wales

Official RBS 6 Nations here

Official RBS 6 Nations Rugby : Home

Anyone else with an opinion?

[rhys jones]

I would be very surprised if France win the 6 Nations this season. They have a new coach and have had a mass clearout of players. They will use the tournament to try out new players.
England exceeded all expectations in the World Cup by playing a very basic game, they do not have a plan B and will be found out by teams who can match them up front.
The value I believe is with Ireland @ 11/2
Wales are lacking in confidence and could struggle in the first two games.
Scotland and Italy do not have enough strength in depth.

[Pie-chucker]

Hallo Lads... We've had some success over the years on this thread's antecedents. Wales at 50-1 winning the Slam comes to mind. Seems like moons ago. Backing Italy religiously on the handicap was once a licence to print money. And then there was the old 'drop goal first scoring play' heist that never quite came off.

Best way to concentrate the mind is to anticipate bookies. They'll go :

Ireland -27 v Italy
England -13 v Wales
Scotland +12 v France

I think...

Ireland spread wd be about right
Wales winning HT but lose by 2
Scotland to give Frogs a fright. FT draw!

[Pie-chucker]

Hang on!

365 are up with

Ireland - 17
England - 12
Scotland + 5

Ireland look a solid go to put down a 6N marker and be 14 up by HT and run out easy winners. Wales on the handicap. Scotland for small stakes at +5.

[traeth]

great to see you again pie ,
yes that grand slam seems ages ago , i wasn't brave enough and only went on Wales to win the six nations ,
didn't join you on that italian drop goal first score , but had italy on the handicap at h.t. which always seemed to come up especially at home

England v Ospreys

Wales available +14 with Paddy Power

The teams from the BBC

Warren Gatland has named 13 Ospreys players in his first starting line-up for Wales' Six Nations opener against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Scrum-half Mike Phillips replaces the injured Dwayne Peel and James Hook is favoured over Peel's Scarlets team-mate Stephen Jones at outside-half.
Blues flanker Martyn Williams and Scarlets wing Mark Jones are the two non-Ospreys players in the starting XV.

Wales: Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Shane Williams (Ospreys), Sonny Parker (Ospreys), Gavin Henson (Ospreys), Mark Jones (Scarlets); James Hook (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Ospreys); Duncan Jones (Ospreys), Huw Bennett (Ospreys), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Ian Gough (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Martyn Williams (Blues), Ryan Jones (capt, Ospreys).
Replacements: Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Gethin Jenkins (Blues), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Alix Popham (Scarlets), Gareth Cooper (Gloucester), Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Tom Shanklin (Blues).

England: Balshaw, Sackey, Tindall, Flood, Strettle, Wilkinson, Gomarsall, Sheridan, Regan, Vickery, Shaw, Borthwick, Haskell, Moody, Narraway.
Subs: Mears, Stevens, Kay, Rees, Wigglesworth, Cipriani, Vainikolo

Looking at that England team has given me confidence to back Wales on the handicap on Saturday .I realise that Wales do not succeed at Twickers , last win was about 20 years ago.

[traeth]

Paddy power down to Wales +13 , but skybet still offer Wales +14

[Colbro]

I don't know much about Rugby Union but I am going for an England win on the handicap.

The reason is nobody seems to be talking about Lesley Vanikolo who I am sure will feature for at least 20 mins or so.
If the game is still fairly tight I feel sure he will make some sort of impact on the game against a welsh back line who may be tired after 60 mins play whilst he will be fresh.

[slick]

France -4 for me @ 2.10 only because i can't remember the last time the Scots beat the frogs bar 2006.

England v Wales has the makings of a close game as allthough England were World cup finalists they never beat anybody with conviction and Wales have a lot to prove as they never did themselves justice.
It wil be a touch and go game that i expect England to win but that handicap is near the knuckle as i don't think there will be much in this game allthough i expect Englan to win.

Ireland should easily overcome Italy as their playing at home but i'm not so sure about the -16 handicap, saying that Italy are no Argentina and Ireland will want to open their account with a convincing win to blow the cobwebs off from the autumn.
Ireland win -16 @ evens bet365

[slick]

Just been looking for a few stats and found a great site here..

RugbyData.com - International Rugby Union Statistics

[Pie-chucker]

Pretty much agree with Slick. Worried about the 16 for Ireland, mainly because of the forecast of rain/snow. In tough conditions an Italian 9 man game could frustrate the bulk of the 80,000 at Croke Park, and the handicap punters. A safer way in might be:

Ireland win 11-20 @ 11-4

I'm Welsh on the handicap. Both line-outs have a nasty habit of mis-firing. Which one will get it right? It's not perhaps how England line-up, it's the personnel at the finish. Strong England bench gives us in the backs alone at the end..

Cipriani
Strettle
Flood
Tindall
Lesley
Jonny
Wrigglesworth

I'll have a stab at...

HT/FT Wales/England @ 7-1

The odds on both these are more than fair and worth a flutter.

[traeth]

we all seem to think that Wales England will be a close match , I'm on Wales +14 .
I'm considering the h.t. handicaps in all three matches
Italy + 9 at h.t with skybet is very tempting
Wales +7.5 @ 1.75 with betfair ... with Shaun Edwards appointed as defensive coach , Wales should be playing a tight game ,cannot see England feeding their backs until the last 10 minutes, my main worry is that the Welsh player will be so wound up that they give early penalties which will be kicked by Wilkinson. Phillips is a bit of a loose cannon.

some other bets that I consider to be very likely in England Wales match:

Will there be a Sin-Binning? Yes @ 1.73 with bet365
highest scoring half 2nd @ 1.8 with paddies

and an outside chance
Will There Be a Red Card? Yes @ 26 with Paddies

I will probably be on France tomorrow , but will post in the morning

good luck to all the bettors today

[Winrew]

Good shout on the Wales win
Best team won , England were terrible in the second half , and Wales deserved the victory...

[Quandram]

I'm not sure i could say best team won Win, more like least worst team won. Wales were very poor first half but then England were astonishingly bad in the second. I've not seen ineptness like it in many a moon.

Fair play to the Welsh for getting the win but it was kind of left there in a box with a big fucking ribbon on it.

[Pie-chucker]

Murrayfield looks like being wet and windy which rather plays into the hands of the Scotland no-nonsense approach and the kicking from hand of Dan Parks. But, with a bit of a leap of faith, I'm with the Frogs.

10pts France -4 @ evens