The final action in the opening round of the 2024 Six Nations comes from Cardiff on Saturday where Wales clash with Scotland
Wales v Scotland, Saturday 3rd February, Cardiff, KO 18:45 (South African time)
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referees: James Doleman (NZR), Angus Mabey (NZR)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZR)
Weather Forecast: Cardiff (only applicable if the roof is not closed)
Wales
In RWC 2023 Wales topped their pool with a 100% record with Fiji runners up, Australia were the big casualties and Georgia and Portugal were also eliminated. They fell at the first knockout hurdle, going down 29-17 to Argentina.
In the 6 Nations last year Wales won just 1 and lost 4 of their matches to finish with only Italy below them on the log. That sole win came in Italy 29-17 whilst other results comprised of defeats at home to Ireland (34-10), in Scotland (35-7), at home to England (20-10) and in France (41-28).
Warren Gatland continues as coach, he can no longer call on Dan Bigger and a number of other stalwarts. Dafydd Jenkins has been named as skipper.
In the outright betting markets with BoyleSports Wales are currently 24/1 to win the title, 28/1 for the Triple Crown and they can also be backed at around 4/1 to finish bottom.
Fixtures & Results: R1 Scotland (h), R2 England (a), R3 Ireland (a), R4 France (h), R5 Italy (h)
Scotland
In RWC2023 Scotland were paired with Ireland and the Springboks and they were comfortably beaten by those big guns which rendered pool stage wins over Tonga and Romania worthless.
In the 6 Nations last year Scotland started with a 29-23 win over England at Twickenham and then beat Wales 35-7 at Murrayfield. Thereafter they lost 32-21 to France in Paris and also finished beaten (22-7) at home to Ireland before a 26-14 home win against Italy saw them finish the tournament in third spot.
Gregor Townsend continues as coach and Finn Russell has been named as co-captain
In the outright betting markets with BoyleSports Scotland are currently 12/1 to win the title, 16/1 for the Triple Crown and they can also be backed at around 4/1 to
finish in the top 2.
Fixtures & Results: R1 Wales (a), R2 France (h), R3 England (h), R4 Italy (a), R5 Ireland (a)
Team News
Wales: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 James Botham, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 3 Leon Brown, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Corey Domachowski.
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Alex Mann, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Mason Grady
Scotland: 15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (captain), 9 Ben White, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Luke Crosbie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Elliot Millar-Mills, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 George Horne, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Cameron Redpath
Head to Head (6 Nations Only)
2023 6N Edinburgh Scotland 35–7 Wales (Tries 5-1 )
2022 6N Cardiff Wales 20-17 Scotland (Tries 1-1)
2021 6N Murrayfield Scotland 24-25 Wales (Tries 3-3)
2020 6N Cardiff Wales 10-14 Scotland (Tries 1-1)
2019 6N Murrayfield Scotland 11-18 Wales (Tries 1-2)
2018 INT Cardiff Wales 21-10 Scotland (Tries 2-1)
2018 6N Cardiff Wales 34-7 Scotland (Tries 4-1)
2017 6N Murrayfield Scotland 29-13 Wales (Tries 2-1)
2016 6N Cardiff Wales 27-23 Scotland (Tries 3-2)
The Betting
Wales +3.5 points
Scotland -3.5 points
Note, odds quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
I understand that the roof is going to be open for this game and it doesn’t look like there is rain about. Temperatures will be cool though and according to the weather forecast I have checked, humidity levels are going to be in the 90’s and this will make handling tough. The humidity levels have put me off the 43.5 currently on offer and at the end of the day I am going to back this Scottish team to be too strong for a very young Welsh outfit.
BET: 4 Units, Scotland -3.5 at 87/100 at Boylesports*
*Read why Boylesports is a must have account for rugby punters & Click Here To Open An Account @Boylesports
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
