RBS Six Nations - Round Three

By Crafty Stan

Wales v France



26th February 20:00 GMT
BBC1 (19:30-22:00), BBCHD (19:30-22:00), BBC Red Button (19:30-22:00), S4C (19:45-22:00)

The French will arrive in Cardiff buoyed by their emphatic victory over Ireland and an impressive start to their six nations campaign and they will be greeted by a Welsh side desperately fortunate to be one win and one loss after a pulsating victory over Scotland.

The roof is likely to stay closed as the French side stated this preference and that should make for an incredible atmosphere on what will no doubt be a bitterly cold Friday night. I'm not sure it will prove to be a good decision by the French to opt for the closed roof but time will tell. Hopefully there will be no petty spats like there was with the Scotland game.

I believe this game could be won and lost in the battle of the scrum halves Richie Rees and Morgan Parra. Parra has been in good form recently and certainly doesn't lack big game confidence but if the Welsh can keep him quiet it could go some way to them pulling off what would now be considered a mini-upset.

If you ask me who I think will win I will say probably France, they deserve favouritism given their performances thus far and their general quality but they are notoriously difficult to trust away from home and it has to be all about the price here. I make the French about a 1.57 shot off scratch so I think they are certainly there to be laid @ 1.46 on Betfair given that the draw will also be a factor for consideration.

 
England v Ireland



27th February 16:00 GMT
BBC1 (15:30-18:00), BBCHD (15:30-18:00), BBC Red Button (15:30-18:00)

Both sides fared dismally in their last outings but I felt Ireland were extremely disappointing given their early promise in the game and high expectations of them in this year’s competition. France dominated them in the Forwards and Backs battle and whilst England were uninspiring in Rome, they did the job they had to do by seeing off their inferior opposition.

It would take a brave man to tip Ireland for this match as they got hammered by England last time at Twickenham in 2008, they come in to this game off the back of two very poor performances and whilst I applaud and advocate the decision to bring Jonny Sexton in for Ronan O'Gara, this may not be an ideal game for him to settle into his work.

I make England 1.8 Shots for this one and would tip them to take this game with home advantage. I didn't think I would be saying this a few weeks ago but England look a cracking bet here.
 
RECOMMENDATIONS:

2 Points Liability LAY of France @ 1.46 (Betfair)

4 Points England @ 2.1 (Betfair)

Crafty Stan