England host Ireland Ireland in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday and Ireland are firm favourites to take another step towards a Grand Slam
England v Ireland, Saturday 9th March, Twickenham, KO 18:45 (South African time)
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
Assistant Referees: Andrea Piardi (FIR), Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Weather Forecast – Twickenham
England
England suffered a first defeat of the tournament when they went down 30-21 in Scotland in Round 3. Furbank's try was the first score of the game but England let a 10-0 slip and trailed 17-13 by half time. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso scored their second try but by then Scotland had daylight on the scoreboard and England failed to stay within the bookmakers handicap which had seen them given 4.5 points start.
England had to dig deep and rely on the boot of George Ford to grind out a 16-14 home win over Wales in Round 2. They started the game as 11.5 point favourites on the main handicap line but were 14-5 down at half time and Ford's 72nd minute penalty settled the match. England opened up their tournament against Italy in Rome, they were around 14.5 point favourites on the handicap but trailed 17-14 at half time before second half improvement saw them edge the contest 27-24.
As far as the current 6N standings are concerned Ireland lead the way with the maximum 15 log points, Scotland are second with 9, England third with 8 and then we have France with 6 whilst Wales and Italy both have 3.
In the outright betting markets with BoyleSports England can be backed at around 49/10 for a top 2 finish.
Fixtures & Results: R1 Italy (a) won 27-24, R2 Wales (h) won 16-14, R3 Scotland (a) lost 30-21, R4 Ireland (h), R5 France (a)
Ireland
Ireland remain on course for a consecutive Grand Slam after a 31-7 home win over Wales in Round 3. Tries from Sheehan and Lowe in the first half followed by Frawley and Beirne in the second, all converted by Crowley, earned another bonus point and the pre-match handicap of 22.5 points proved to be pretty accurate.
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 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 sealed a Six Nations Grand Slam with a 29-16 win over England in Dublin and on their last visit to Twickenham in 2022 they won 32-15.
In the outright betting markets with BoyleSports Ireland are red hot favourites at 7/20 to land another Grand Slam
Fixtures & Results: R1 France (a) won 38-17, R2 Italy (h) won 36-0, R3 Wales (h) won 31-7, R4 England (a), R5 Scotland (h)
Team News
England: 15 George Furbank, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Tommy Freeman, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ollie Chessum, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jamie George (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Danny Care, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Elliot Daly
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 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 (c), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Jack Conan, 22 Conor Murray, 23 Ciaran Frawley
Head to Head (6 Nations Only)
2023 6N Dublin Ireland 29-16 England (Tries 4-1 )
2022 6N Twickenham England 15-32 Ireland (Tries 0-4 )
2021 6N Dublin Ireland 32-18 England (Tries 2-2)
2020 6N Twickenham England 24–12 Ireland (Tries 3-2)
2019 6N Dublin Ireland 20-32 England (Tries 2-4)
2018 6N Twickenham England 15–24 Ireland (Tries 3-3)
2017 6N Dublin Ireland 13-9 England (Tries 1-0)
2016 6N Twickenham England 21-10 Ireland (Tries 2-1)
The Betting
England +12.5 points at 9/10 widely available
Ireland -11.5 points at 9/10 widely available
Note, odds quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
I believe there was -6.5 Ireland floating around when the betting on this match opened, but it has been stable at England +11.5 all week. There is always plenty of feeling in this fixture and with England been written off by the Irish media in particular, I expect them to come out with something extra.
At the end of the day though I feel the handicap and the Total Points line of 46.5 is well set and I am going to get involved in a market that I don’t usually consider. The England bench has some flare to it and I think this could open up opportunities, both for the home team, but also Ireland in the second-half and I am going to back the second-half to be the highest scoring.
BET: 3 Units, second-half, highest scoring at 9/10 at WSB
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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