The 2022 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship heads towards the home straight as the European nations battle it out for places in the final standings next weekend.
France set out to take a penultimate step closer to a rare Grand Slam when they play under the Friday night lights at the principality stadium against inconsistent Wales.
England and Ireland are scrapping it out behind Les Bleus and meet at Twickenham for Saturday’s headline clash, while Scotland make the trip to wooden spoon merchants Italy.
The predictions for each match follow below the short preview and team news for each individual Six Nations match this coming weekend.
Wales vs France
The Grand Slam is at stake on Friday night in the Six Nations Rugby Championship, as France hop across the Channel to tackle Wales in their own back yard.
It’ll be a crackling atmosphere inside the Principality Stadium for the contest, with the Welsh having pushed England all the way at Twickenham two weeks ago.
Les Bleus are three from three and had little trouble in dispensing with hosts Scotland last time out, roaring to a 36-17 success at Murrayfield to put them in pole position for the title.
But it’s not all plain sailing for coach Fabien Galthie thanks to a Covid-19 outbreak among the squad.
Electric winger Damian Penaud and lock Romain Taofifenua are both confirmed among the casualties as the French prepare to shuffle their pack in Cardiff.
Josh Navidi makes his first international start in a year after recovering from injury, while veteran Jonathan Davies finds a place among the centres for coach Wayne Pivac.
Wales Starting XV: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar (captain), 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Seb Davies, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Dewi Lake, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Ross Moriarty, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Louis Rees-Zammit.
France Starting XV: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Yoram Moefana, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Gabin Villiere, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (captain), 8 Anthony Jelonch, 7 Gregory Alldritt, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Mohamed Haouas, 19 Thibaud Flament, 20 Dylan Cretin, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Thomas Ramos, 23 Matthis Lebel.
Italy vs Scotland
Scotland are eyeing a late push up the Six Nations Rugby Championship table on Saturday as they travel to tournament whipping boys Italy.
Home defeat to France was a decisive blow to coach Gregor Townsend and his side a fortnight ago, compounding their second round loss to Wales that popped the optimism stirred by a famous win over England on the opening weekend.
But it’s a damn sight less gloomy than for the Italians, who once again look nailed on to finish bottom of the pile.
Callum Braley and Giacomo Nicotera are fresh faces for the Azzurri following their hammering in Dublin.
Duhan van der Merwe misses out for the Scots after being red-carded in domestic action last week, while eighth man Matt Fagerson is among those to return to the starting line up.
Italy Starting XV: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Giovanni Pettinelli, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccol? Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Giosu? Zilocchi, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Marco Zanon, 23 Ange Capuozzo.
Scotland Starting XV: 15 Stuart Hogg (captain), 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Kyle Steyn, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Rory Darge, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Sione Tuipulotu.
England vs Ireland
England and Ireland lock horns at Twickenham on Saturday, as the battle to pip France to the Six Nations Rugby Championship title intensifies.
It has been dubbed a semi-final for the pair, with only the winners of the London clash standing a realistic chance of lifting the trophy next weekend.
Eddie Jones’ hosts have cobbled together victories over Italy and Wales after their opening round defeat at the hands of Auld Enemy Scotland.
Ireland have succeeded against the same two opponents, albeit more convincingly, either side of an agonizing defeat away to Les Bleus.
Jones will be delighted to welcome back the likes of Courtney Lawes and Tom Curry to his starting line up, with Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler either side of Jamie George in a boisterous front row.
Legendary Johnny Sexton is the predictable recall for Andy Farrell’s Irish, after the fly-half was named among the replacements two weeks ago.
England Starting XV: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Max Malins, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Courtney Lawes (Captain), 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Alex Dombrandt, 21 Ben Youngs 22 George Ford, 23 Elliot Daly.
Ireland Starting XV: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Jamison Gibson Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O?Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Robbie Henshaw.
Six Nations 2021: Predictions for 11 – 12 March
Prediction methodology explained: The expected win percentage is based off publicly available odds. For example, if a team’s odds are 2.30, the expected chance of winning is 43%. If the odds are 1.62 the expected chance of winning is 62% and so on. These are accurate at the time of writing but are subject to change. Where there is no value listed, the odds were not available at the time of writing. Score margins use the methodology developed by Rugby Vision.
| Chance of winning (%) | Points margin | |
| Wales | 47,9 | |
| France | 52,1 | 1 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Points margin | |
| Italy | 9,8 | |
| Scotland | 90,2 | 18 |
| Chance of winning (%) | Points margin | |
| England | 56 | 2 |
| Ireland | 44 |