Six Nations round three preview and tips: Italy vs Ireland, Wales vs England, France vs Scotland
- Simon Wilkes
- 24 February 2023
Ireland and Scotland are joint top of the Six Nations table after two wins from their opening matches. Check out our previews and suggested bets for round three, which kicks off with Italy vs Ireland.
Round one results
England 23 Scotland 29
Italy 24 France 29
Wales 10 Ireland 34
Round two results
Ireland 32 France 19
Scotland 35 Wales 7
England 31 Italy 14
Tries
Max Malins - England 2
James Lowe - Ireland 2
Kyle Steyn - Scotland 2
Duhan van der Merwe - Scotland 2
Ange Capuozzo - Italy 1
Total points
Thomas Ramos - France 28
Finn Russell - Scotland 19
Johnny Sexton - Ireland 19
Tommaso Allan - Italy 16
Owen Farrell - England 12
Italy v Ireland preview and suggested bets, Saturday February 25 (2.15pm)
Italy take on Ireland at Stadio Olimpico and head coach Andy Farrell has handed first Guinness Six Nations starts to half-back pair Ross Byrne and Craig Casey as part of six changes.
Ireland, who remain top of the world rankings, have dominated previous meetings between the nations but were beaten 22-15 in the Italian capital a decade ago.
Fly-half Byrne replaces injured Leinster team-mate Johnny Sexton, while scrum-half Casey comes in for fellow Munster man Conor Murray.
Hooker Ronan Kelleher, lock Iain Henderson, back-row forward Jack Conan and centre Bundee Aki have also been recalled for the visit to Rome.
Henderson's second-row partner James Ryan will captain Farrell's Grand Slam-chasing side at Stadio Olimpico in the absence of Sexton.
Kelleher and Henderson will make their first Test starts since last year's championship, with the latter replacing Tadhg Beirne, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with an ankle issue sustained against the French.
The Irish are bidding to build on victories over Wales and Les Bleus in their quest to secure a first Six Nations title since 2018.
And although Farrell admits resurgent Italy pose a "serious threat" to his side's aspirations of glory, they should be too strong for the hosts, winning comfortably and in both halves.
The world's top-ranked nation head to Rome in title-winning form on the back of resounding bonus-point wins over Wales and France but wary of coming unstuck.
While Italy have been perennial wooden spoon winners, they recorded statement wins over the Welsh and Australia in 2022 before giving reigning Grand Slam champions France a major scare in a 29-24 defeat at the start of this year's championship.
Farrell believes the Azzurri, whose only Six Nations success over the Irish came a decade ago, now have sufficient talent to supplement their passion and is braced for a tricky trip to Stadio Olimpico.
"We've full respect for Italy," he said. "Italy are obviously chasing that win at home and it's a big scalp, so we know the emotion that they've always had, but the skill that they've put in with that now makes them a serious threat to us.
"We're aware of that, and our preparation says so. There's a realisation of what we're up against this week and it'll be a tough one."
After facing Kieran Crowley's side, Ireland continue their campaign against title rivals Scotland on March 12 before finishing at home to England six days later.
Suggested bets
Ireland by 15+ points (or 21-30 points if available)
Ireland to win both halves
Wales v England preview and suggested bets, Saturday February 25 (4.45pm)
Wales take on England at the Principality Stadium, with the visitors third in the table with six points after bouncing back from a 29-23 loss to Scotland with the Italy win, their first victory under head coach Steve Borthwick.
Rock-bottom Wales are without a point after two games of Warren Gatland's return, having lost 34-10 to Ireland and then 35-7 to Scotland.
Fly-half Dan Biggar and centre George North have been left out of the Wales team.
The cap centurions are replaced by Ospreys' Owen Williams and uncapped 20-year-old Cardiff centre Mason Grady, respectively.
With the game going ahead after strike action by Wales players was averted on Wednesday, Gatland's team will aim to avoid suffering three successive defeats from the start of a Six Nations campaign for the first time since 2003.
Wales, though, will be encouraged by winning five of their last seven fixtures against England in Cardiff.
Gatland said: "The message to the players has been, 'let's draw a line in the sand in terms of what has been going on and focus completely on the rugby'.
"For both teams this is a massive game because we win on Saturday and we can get things on track a little bit more."
Anthony Watson will make his first England start in almost two years after being recalled.
Watson replaces Ollie Hassell-Collins on the left wing after the London Irish rookie sustained a knee injury in training after the round two victory over Italy.
Steve Borthwick has otherwise kept faith with the starting line-up that produced the first win of his reign as head coach against Italy.
And we are backing him to bag a second win this weekend, when England should have too much class and power for the Welsh in both halves.
Suggested bets
England by 8-14 points
England HT/FT
France v Scotland preview and suggested bets, Sunday February 26 (3pm)
France take on Scotland at the Stade de France and Gregor Townsend has challenged his players to "go up a few levels" as they bid to deal with the formidable test they face in Paris.
The Scots are joint top of the table after opening their campaign with bonus-point wins away to England and at home to Wales.
However, head coach Townsend feels they will need to show further improvement if they are to maintain their perfect start against the side ranked second in the world.
"We were tough on the players going into the Wales week, and rightly so because in the past we haven't backed up our first performance going into the second week of the Six Nations and also because we believed there was much more to come from the group," said Townsend.
"We feel the same way this week. I think the players realise what a big test this is going to be, playing one of the best teams in the world on their home patch, at a venue we haven't had much success (at) over the past 100 years.
"It's going to be a tough challenge but we can match that challenge. We can improve from the Wales game. Going into a game like this on the back of wins is a much better place to be than if you're coming off the back of defeats.
"You've got that confident feeling about how you're playing and you've also got evidence that what you're doing is leading to good things."
Townsend unsurprisingly has kept changes to a minimum, with just one alteration to the starting XV as 2021 British and Irish Lions squad member Hamish Watson takes the place of fellow Edinburgh flanker Luke Crosbie.
"You want to reward players that are playing well but I've said ever since the Wales and England games, we're not playing at our best yet. We need to go up a few levels."
France will once again look to star man Antoine Dupont to pull the strings against the visiting Scots, and he is likely to do so having stood out against the impressive Irish.
This will likely be a bridge too far for Townsend's troops, who will battle hard but ultimately be edged out by the dominant hosts.
Suggested bets
France by 1-12 points inclusive
Antoine Dupont Player of the Match
