It’s time to crest the halfway mark in the 2024 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship this weekend, as the battle hots up for the Northern Hemisphere crown.
Leaders Ireland take their imposing form into a home tie with callow Wales on Saturday, ahead of the Calcutta Cup clash between Scotland and England at Murrayfield.
Sunday sees the action shift to the continent, with France playing Italy.
Ireland vs Wales – Saturday 24 February
Ireland will take another step towards a Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship grand slam if they can do the business against Wales on Saturday.
You would expect Andy Farrell’s men to do exactly that, after a strong start to the 2024 competition.
An impeccable effort so far has seen them collect two bonus point victories, starting with a statement win in Marseille against supposed title rivals France.
They backed it up a fortnight ago in Dublin, too, with a 36-0 cruise over hapless Italy.
Wales have been nearly-but-not-quite in a campaign that could go down as encouraging or infuriating, depending on your disposition.
A pair of defeats feels like scant reward for Warren Gatland’s regenerated young squad.
They came so close to springing an upset for the ages at Twickenham against England last time out, with a late, controversial yellow card helping to seal their fate in a 14-16 reverse.
A similar story a week earlier in Cardiff saw them roar back from a hefty half time deficit, only for Scotland to cling on to a priceless win.
Sam Costelow returns from the neck injury he sustained in the opener, coming back in for Ioan Lloyd.
Bundee Aki is back in for the Irish to resume a destructive centre pairing with Robbie Henshaw, while Ciaran Frawley is in at full-back in the absence of Hugo Keenan.
Ireland Starting XV: 15 Ciaran Frawley, 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 (captain), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Oli Jager, 19 James Ryan, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Jack Conan, 22 Conor Murray, 23 Stuart McCloskey.
Wales Starting XV: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 George North, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Mackenzie Martin, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Mason Grady.
Scotland vs England – Saturday 24 February
The Auld Enemy go head-to-head once again on Saturday, as Scotland host England for their Calcutta Cup contest at the 2024 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship.
If it’s half as absorbing as the Scots’ stunning success at Twickenham a year ago, we’re in for a hell of a ride north of the border.
And it’ll dictate plenty in this year’s standings, too, with the visitors having won two from two, while the home side are smarting from a controversial TMO decision that chalked off their would-be winning try against France a fortnight ago.
It was a cruel blow for Gregor Townsend and his men, who were denied at the death by referee Nic Berry and his team.
Fortune was on their side the previous week, mind you, as they survived an almighty scare against youthful Wales in Cardiff to cling on for an opening win.
England have eight points on the board without yet having found a way out of second gear.
An opening success away to Italy, albeit with a late wobble, set Steve Borthwick’s side up for their home clash with Wales in front of an expectant Twickenham crowd.
But the 80 000 were left breathing a huge sigh of relief when they final whistle heralded a 16-14 success that fell a long way short of English expectations.
They make a handful of changes including the shock inclusion of George Furbank, who comes in for Freddie Steward.
Captain Jamie Ritchie makes a welcome return for the hosts, while there is space in a refreshed backline for Blair Kinghorn and Kyle Steyn.
Scotland Starting XV: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (co-captain), 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge (co-captain), 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Elliot Millar-Mills, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Andy Christie, 21 George Horne, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Cameron Redpath.
England Starting XV: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jamie George (captain), 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 George Martin, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
France vs Italy – Sunday 25 February
Round three of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship wraps up on Sunday with the contest between France and Italy in Lille.
It comes a fortnight after Les Bleus played their Get Out Of Jail Free card away to Scotland.
A first win of the competition – by 20-16 – was only assured after their hosts were controversially denied a try with the last play of the match by the TMO.
It would have left Fabien Galthie and Co in dire straights had the call gone the other way.
A sluggish start at home to Ireland in front of a raucous Marseille crowd saw them fall to a hefty defeat that has put them firmly on the back foot, even with their Scottish success.
Italy are once again mooching along at the foot of the Six Nations standings.
Their opening weekend loss by just three points to inconsistent England on home turf in Rome really does feel like an opportunity missed.
Hitting the road for Ireland was never likely to yield much and so it proved.
Six tries for Andy Farrell’s hosts and not a single point scored for the Azzurri is an indicator yet another wooden spoon is incoming.
But they will channel the memories of last year’s opening round clash with the French, when they came ever so close to a stunning upset.
Teenage lock Posolo Tuilagi makes his first Six Nations start for Les Bleus, whose only other change sees Paul Boudehent come in at blindside flank.
Their opponents have rolled the dice on a whole host of changes including the return of Federico Mori after almost a two year absence on the international stage.
France Starting XV: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu, 8 François Cros, 7 Charles Ollivon (captain), 6 Paul Boudehent, 5 Posolo Tuilagi,, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Sebastien Taofifenua, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Alexandre Roumat, 21 Esteban Abadie, 22 Nolann Le Garrec, 23 Yoram Moefana.
Italy Starting XV: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Tommaso Menoncello, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Federico Mori, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Martin Page-Relo, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Manuel Lamaro, 6 Riccardo Favretto, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Giosue Zilocchi, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Andrea Zambonon, 21 Manuel Zulaini, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Leonardo Marin.
Predictions
| Fixture | Country | Percentage | Predicted Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| France vs Scotland | Scotland | 50% | 24 |
| France | 47% | 23 | |
| England vs Wales | England | 81% | 20 |
| Wales | 18% | 11 | |
| Ireland vs Italy | Ireland | 96% | 43 |
| Italy | 3% | 9 |