The first action in Round 3 of the Six Nations comes from Dublin on Saturday where Ireland clash with Wales and with the hosts in top form the pre-match handicap is a pretty big number.

 

 

 

Ireland v Wales, Saturday 24th February, Dublin, KO 16:15 (South African time)

 

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)

 

Weather Forecast – Dublin

 

 

Ireland

 

After two rounds of matches defending champions Ireland have the full house of 10 log points and they are 2 points clear of England at the top of the standings.

 

In Round 2 Ireland thrashed Italy 36-0 in Dublin, a margin of victory which was a touch higher than the main pre-match handicap line. Dan Sheehan scored 2 of 6 Irish tries against Italy in a one sided contest.

 

In Round 1 Ireland (+4,5 points on the handicap) beat France 38-17 in Marseille. Les Bleus had a man sent off in the first half and Ireland ran in 5 tries to land a bonus point

 

In 2023 Ireland pulled off a Six Nations Grand Slam, finishing 7 points clear of France at the top of the standings and their clash with Wales in Cardiff ended in a 34-10 victory.

 

In the outright betting markets with BoyleSports Ireland are red hot favourites at 1 / 10 to win the title, 0.53/1 for the Triple Crown and also 0.53/1 to land another Grand Slam

 

Fixtures & Results: R1 France (a) won 38-17, R2 Italy (h) won 36-0, R3 Wales (h), R4 England (a), R5 Scotland (h)

 

Wales

 

Wales have lost both their matches so far although the scoreboard was close on each occasion.

 

In Round 2 they led England 14-5 at half time at Twickenham but they failed to score a point in the second half and they went down (16-14) to a late penalty. Wales were given around 11.5 points start on the handicap for that game and they had to settle for a losing bonus point.

 

Wales were 3.5 point underdogs for their opening round clash at home to Scotland. The first half was a disaster and they trailed 20-0 at half time. That deficit became 27-0 and then Wales conjured up an amazing fightback which came up agonizingly short as they lost the game 27-26. Their 4 tries saw them earn 2 bonus points.

 

In the 6 Nations last year Wales won just 1 game (against Italy) and lost their 4 other matches to finish with only Italy below them on the log.

 

In the outright betting markets with BoyleSports Wales are currently 5/10 to finish in the bottom 2 and and they can also be backed at around 4/1 to finish bottom.

 

Fixtures & Results: R1 Scotland (h) lost 27-26, R2 England (a) lost 16-14, R3 Ireland (a), R4 France (h), R5 Italy (h)

 

 

Team News

 

Ireland: 15 Ciaran Frawley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony (captain), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter.

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Oli Jager, 19 James Ryan, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Jack Conan, 22 Conor Murray, 23 Stuart McCloskey.

 

Wales: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 George North, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rio Dyer; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Tomos Williams; 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Alex Mann; 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (captain); 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Elliot Dee, 1Gareth Thomas.

Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Mackenzie Martin, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Mason Grady

 

Head to Head (6 Nations Only)

 

2023 6N Cardiff Wales 10-34 Ireland (Tries 1-4 )

2022 6N Dublin Ireland 29-7 Wales (Tries 4-1)

2021 6N Cardiff Wales 21–16 Ireland (Tries 2-1)

2020 6N Dublin Ireland 24-14 Wales (Tries 4-2)

2019 6N Cardiff Wales 25-7 Ireland (Tries 1-1)

2018 6N Dublin Ireland 37-27 Wales (Tries 5-3)

2017 6N Cardiff Wales 22-9 Ireland (Tries 3-0)

2016 6N Dublin Ireland 16-16 Wales (Tries 1-1)

 

The Betting

 

Ireland -22.5 points at 9/10 widely available

Wales +22.5 points at 9/10 widely available

 

Note, odds quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.

 

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Betting Angle 

The handicap seems big for a clash between 2 great rivals but the way Ireland is playing at the moment it would be a brave man to bet against them.

Good news is there are plenty of other betting options including total points where the general consensus across our 2 rugby shows is that the 52.5 won’t last.

The weather doesn’t look too bad but rain is possible and the humidity levels look to be fairly high.

I am steaming into the under 52.5 while it lasts

 

BET: 6 units Under 52.5 at 9/10 at WSB

 

 

Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

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