The first action in the final round of the Six Nations comes from Dublin on Saturday where Ireland clash with Scotland and both sides are in contention for the title.
Bet: Ireland v Scotland
Posted 13 March 20h27
2 units under 49.5 points at 9/10 at Pokerbet
The winner of this game will need England to beat France to have a chance of winning the Six Nations. That looks unlikely, but it is not impossible.
The weather looks pretty miserable for this one and I am going to swerve the handicap, which is Ireland -5.5, and focus instead on the points line. It opened at 50.5 but has edged down to 49.5.
With conditions expected to be poor and rain forecast, I am happy to take the unders. That would have landed in this fixture at the Aviva in the last five renewals.
Full preview below
Ireland v Scotland, Saturday 14th March, Dublin, KO 16:10 (South African time)
Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (RA), Damian Schneider (UAR)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (RFU)
Weather Forecast – Dublin
Ireland:
Ireland have won 3 and lost 1 of their matches and with 14 log points they are third in the standings, 2 points behind both Scotland and France. In order to win the title they need to win here and then hope England beat France in Paris later in the day.
Ireland saw off Wales 27-17 in Dublin in Round 4. The margin of victory that was well below the main handicap line of -26.5 points, Wales refused to buckle despite always trailing but Ireland got the 4 tries they needed for a bonus point.
Round 3 saw Ireland take on England at Twickenham, they were given around 11.5 points start on the bookmakers main handicap line and they didn’t need any of it as they came away with a record braking 42-21 win.
Ireland had opened their account in Round 2 with a 20-13 win over Italy in Dublin and it was hard work as they had to come from 10-5 down at half time and dig deep for the win but they came up short of a bonus point.
Ireland were given around 13.5 points tart on the bookmakers main handicap line for their Round 1 clash with France in Paris and that wasn’t enough as they finished well beaten 36-14, never recovering from conceding the first 29 points of the game.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have Ireland priced at 7/1 to win the title and 5/10 for the triple crown.
Results and Fixtures: R1 France (a) lost 36-14, R2 Italy (h) won 20-13, R3 England (a) won 42-21, R4 Wales (h) won 27-17, R5 Scotland (h)
Scotland:
Scotland have won 3 and lost 1 of their matches so far and they finished Round 4 in second place with 16 log points behind France on points difference ( +21 vs +79)
In order to stay in contention for the title Scotland were tasked with turning France over in Edinburgh in Round 4 and despite starting as 9.5 point underdogs with the bookmakers they obliged with a thrilling 50-40 victory. It was a game of 13 tries, 7 of which went the way of Scotland including a brace for Darcy Graham and also Kyle Steyn. Scotland led 47-14 at one stage but France salvaged a bonus point with a flurry of tries later in the game and that could yet be significant.
Scotland took on Wales in Cardiff in Round 3 and made very hard work of victory, only taking the lead in the 75th minute and eventually prevailing 26-23 and landing a bonus point.
Scotland were 7.5 point underdogs for their Round 2 clash with England at Murrayfield and they came through with a 31-20 bonus point victory.
Scotland began their campaign against Italy in Rome, they started as favourites at around 8.5 points on the bookmakers main handicap line but they finished beaten 18-15 and had to settle for a losing bonus point.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have Scotland priced at 8/1 to win the title and 17/10 for the Triple Crown.
Results and Fixtures: R1 Italy (a) lost 18-15, R2 England (h) won 31-20, R3 Wales (a) won 26-23, R4 France (h) won 50-40, R5 Ireland (a)
Recent Head to Head
Feb 2025 6N Edinburgh Scotland 18-32 Ireland
Mar 2024 6N Dublin Ireland 17-13 Scotland
Oct 2023 RWC Paris Ireland 36-14 Scotland
Mar 2023 6N Edinburgh Scotland 7-22 Ireland
Mar 2022 6N Dublin Ireland 26-5 Scotland
Team News
Ireland: Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Rob Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Tommy O’Brien, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Tom O’Toole.
Replacements: 16 Rónan Kelleher, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Darragh Murray, 20 Nick Timoney, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Bundee Aki
Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (captain), 11 Kyle Steyn, 10 Finn Russell (vice-captain), 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge (vice-captain), 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Max Williamson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Alex Craig, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 George Horne, 22 Kyle Rowe, 23 Tom Jordan
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
Ireland -4.5 points at 9/10
Scotland +4.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for this week’s will follow here
Bets: To follow
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.
