The final action in the opening round of the Six Nations matches comes from Twickenham on Saturday where a much fancied England side open their campaign at home to Wales
England v Wales, Saturday 7th February, Twickenham, KO 18:40 (South African time)
Referee: Pierre Brousset (FFR)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (RA), Morné Ferreira (SARU)
TMO: Tual Trainini (FFR)
Weather Forecast – Twickenham
England:
England won all four of their Nations Series matches in November, getting the better of Australia (25-7), Fiji (38-18), New Zealand (33-19) and finally Argentina (27-23). England were in Argentina in July and they won both test matches (35-12 and 22-17) before they thrashed USA (40-5).
England had a solid 6 Nations last year, winning 4 and losing 1 of their matches to finish in second spot, just 1 point behind title winners France. They lost their opening match of that tournament in Ireland (27-22) before narrow wins at home to France (26-25) and Scotland (16-15). They also put Italy away (47-24) in another home fixture before a thumping (68-14) victory in Wales.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have England priced up as 14/10 second favourites
Results and Fixtures: R1 Wales (h), R2 Scotland (a), R3 Ireland (h), R4 Italy (a), R5 France (a)
Wales:
Steve Tandy took over as coach of Wales for their November series matches which started with a defeat Argentina (52-28) before they edged out Japan (24-23). After that they went down to New Zealand (52-26) and South Africa (73-0). In July Wales were in Japan where they lost the first test 24-19 before snapping an 18 match losing streak with a 31-22 victory in the second test.
Wales had a really poor 6 Nations in 2025, finishing with the wooden spoon after losing all their matches, in France (43-0) and Italy (22-15), at home to Ireland 27-18) and in Scotland (35-29) before being thrashed by England in Cardiff (68-14).
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have Wales priced as 150/1 outsiders to win the title.
Results and Fixtures: R1 England (a), R2 France (h), R3 Scotland (h), R4 Ireland (a), R5 Italy (h)
Recent Head to Head
Mar 2025 6N Cardiff Wales 14–68 England
Feb 2024 6N Twickenham England 16–14 Wales
Mar 2023 6N Cardiff Wales 10–20 England
Feb 2022 6N Twickenham England 23–19 Wales
Feb 2021 6N Cardiff Wales 40-24 England
Team News
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Marcus Smith
Wales: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Eddie James, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Liam Belcher, 17Rhys Carre, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Taine Plumtree, 21 Harri Deaves, 22 Kieran Hardy, 23 Mason Grady
The Betting
Updated 07 Feb 08h18
England -28.5 points at 9/10
Wales +29.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Wales to beat the handicap
Posted 07 Feb 08h25
I have been battling with this game all week but have finally come down on Wales to beat the handicap. They have been poor for a long time but the new coach has had some time with them now and I think they are putting out a decent starting XV. I reckon they can stay in touch although I am a bit worried that England will cut them apart when the game loosens up in the final quarter.
There is some rain forecast though so hopefully that can play a role in delivering this handicap.
The points line is 53.5 and with rain forecast I think its spot on and won't get involved.
I will likely be back with a try scorer or winning margin bet later for those looking at a small stakes interest.
BET: 2 units (1-5) Wales +29,5 at 10/11 at WSB
Handicap firm at 28.5, Points 53.5
Posted 06 Feb 16h21
Having touched +30.5 earlier in the week the handicap has been stable at +28.5 Wales over the last 24 hours.
The points line is 53.5 and with rain about it looks about right.
I will be back late Friday or early Saturday with my 1st bet.
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