It all comes down to the final round in the 2025 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship, with a three-way fight to decide the destination of the trophy.
France are favourites to regain the crown, needing a win over Scotland in Paris to get over the line, while second-placed England look to pounce on any slip up from Les Bleus when they play Wales earlier in the day.
Ireland can keep themselves in the frame for a third consecutive title, meanwhile, when they head to Italy for the first match of the final weekend in Rome.
Italy vs Ireland – Saturday 15 March
Ireland have one last chance to keep themselves in the frame for the 2025 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship, when they go to Italy for Saturday’s final round.
The reigning back-to-back champions were dealt a hammer blow by rivals France on home turf last weekend.
A monstrous performance from Les Bleus saw them leave Dublin with a 42-27 victory that saw them replace the men in green as title favourites.
It also put paid to Irish Grand Slam hopes, but Simon Easterby’s side know they can put the onus on the French and second-placed England if they can do the business in Rome.
Few would bet against them, with the Italians continuing to ship points at an alarming rate.
A 47-24 loss to the English at Twickenham a week ago followed their 73-24 home drubbing at the hands of Les Bleus.
It’s a far cry from their solitary victory over sorry Wales in round two, which had looked to set the Azzurri up for a campaign of improvement after years in the doldrums.
Instead they remain locked in combat with the Welsh to avoid the wooden spoon, giving an added edge to their final fixture of this year’s edition.
Coach Gonzalo Quesada makes seven changes for their final fling, including the restoration of Tommaso Allan to the full back role.
Juan Ignacio Brex is given the nod as captain, while Martin Page-Relo comes in at scrum half.
It’ll be emotional for the Irish, meanwhile, as Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray make their final appearances on the international stage, in a side skippered as usual by Caelan Doris.
Easterby has dropped Bundee Aki and Sam Prendergast to the bench for the finale, while there’s a welcome return as far as the replacements for Tadhg Furlong, in a boost to the prop’s British & Irish Lions selection hopes later in the year.
Italy Starting XV: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (captain), 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Martin Page-Relo, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Dino Lamb, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosue Zilocchi, 19 Niccolo Cannone, 20 Michele Lamaro, 21 Ross Vintcent, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Leonardo Marin.
Ireland Starting XV: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 James Ryan, 4 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1. Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Jack Boyle, 18 Tadgh Furlong, 19 Joe McCarthy, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Sam Prendergast, 23 Bundee Aki.
Wales vs England – Saturday 15 March
England can dare to dream in the 2025 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship on Saturday, as they throw one last punch in the title race away to neighbours Wales.
They’ve done it the hard way at times, but Steve Borthwick’s men are showing signs of improvement to come into the final round of action second in the standings – a point behind leaders France.
Last weekend’s seven-try Twickenham win over Italy came at the perfect time, leaving the Red Rose with a perfect home record in London after much more hard-fought victories over the French and Scotland.
With Les Bleus coming into round five with a staggering points difference of plus 106, they will almost certainly need to lose to the Scots in Saturday night’s Paris finale for England to stand a chance.
And they will also need to see off a much sturdier Welsh side in the first place.
Interim coach, England-born Matt Sherratt, has overseen an immediate improvement since parachuting in following the shock exit of Warren Gatland midway through the campaign.
Their losing run may have extended to an unprecedented 16 Test matches but they have been infinitely more competitive in defeats at home to Ireland and away to Scotland.
So, with a raucous home crowd behind them inside the Principality Stadium, you wouldn’t bet against them having a right crack at causing an upset and likely avoiding the dreaded wooden spoon in the process.
England have Marcus Smith straight back in the mix after he was dropped to the bench last week, with the Harlequins man preferred at full back.
Tommy Freeman shifts into the centres as Borthwick is forced into a reshuffle thanks to the Achilles injury suffered by star man Ollie Lawrence a week ago.
Sherratt finds a place for Aaron Wainwright on the Welsh flank as captain Jac Morgan switches sides, with Joe Roberts making his first start of this year’s competition on the wing.
Wales Starting XV: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Joe Roberts, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Jac Morgan (captain), 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Dewi Lake, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Nick Tompkins.
England Starting XV: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Will Stuart, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Tom Willis, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 George Ford.
France vs Scotland – Saturday 15 March
The 2025 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship finishes right where it began on Saturday night, with the Stade de France a special venue for a possible coronation as the hosts do battle with Scotland.
It’s been anything but dull this campaign for Fabien Galthie and his charges, as they bid to deliver the silverware to match their undoubted talent.
Last weekend’s headline-grabbing win over Ireland in Dublin thrust them to the head of the title race, having demolished the home side’s Grand Slam dream.
It means a win in the capital to finish things off will see them claim back the crown claimed by the Irish for the last two years.
The men from the Emerald Isle remain mathematically in the hunt as they travel to Italy earlier in the day, as do second-placed England with their visit across the border to Wales.
Only wins will do for the pair to keep the heat on, ensuring Les Bleus would need a fourth victory out of five to seal the deal.
It’s a quirk of the format that their visitors could, if you squint really quite hard, still win the Six Nations themselves.
Sure it would take a brace of defeats for the English and Irish, plus a win by over 50 points at French HQ, but it wouldn’t half make for good TV.
And what a boost for under-pressure coach Gregor Townsend were they to get anywhere near approaching that, with yet another middling campaign leaving the long-serving coach’s future in doubt.
These things hinge on small margins – no smaller than the late conversion missed by Finn Russell to hand England victory at Twickenham.
We would otherwise be looking at a bona fide title showdown, with the Scots having seen off Italy and Wales at Murrayfield while going down to Ireland amid an injury nightmare on the day.
Les Bleus keep it consistent with their destiny on the line, although the absence of Antoine Dupont with cruciate ligament damage necessitates a start for his replacement in Dublin, Maxime Lucu.
Gael Fickou is the only other tweak for Galthie, as he comes into the midfield for Pierre-Louis Barassi.
Matt Fagerson comes back into the Scottish pack in the number eight jersey, while Gregor Brown starts in the Six Nations for the first time in Paris.
France Starting XV: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damia Penaud, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Maxime Lucu, 8 Gregory Alldritt (captain), 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Mickael Guillard, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros.
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Hugo Auradou, 20 Emmanuel Meafou, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Anthony Jelonch, 23 Nolann Le Garrec.
Scotland Starting XV: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (co-captain), 9 Ben White, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge (co-captain), 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Gregor Brown, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Marshall Sykes, 21 Ben Muncaster, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Stafford McDowall.
| Team 1 | Win % 1 | Win % 2 | Team 2 | Predicted Margin | Predicted winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 10.1% | 89.9% | Ireland | 18 | Ireland |
| Wales | 28.4% | 71.6% | England | 8 | England |
| France | 84.5% | 15.5% | Scotland | 14 | France |