ALL OVAL BAR THE SHOUTING AT AVIVA

only complacency can stop Ireland winning the Grand Slam – the win over France was well over half the job.

Nobody expects Italy to stop Ireland winning at the Aviva tomorrow afternoon and it really should be a five-point success, although Andy Farrell’s men don’t need any bonus points as long as they win the rest of their games.

And the other four teams are a massive step down from France so there should be no fears about losing.

Italy should really have beaten England in Rome last weekend, the outscored them in terms of tries and would have drawn only for a bad penalty miss.

Appalling

Be in no doubt, though, England were truly appalling, so even an increase on their level last week by the Italians will not cut it.

Italy are 50-1 to win and even that wouldn’t be enough to tempt many given Ireland’s play.

Hopefully Ireland’s World Cup will be properly rated as so near and yet so far, rather than just another quarter-final defeat - they did beat the eventual champions.

The loss of Johnny Sexton is huge, but that single loss looks like it is being absorbed with the likes of Peter O’mahony still around.

There may not be a replacement at No.10 yet, but Ireland are a true team and can score from anywhere.

They can also stop the Azzurri from doing the same and so while Ireland should get six or seven tries, Italy might not get more than one, so a little on Under 8.5 total tries at Evens is worth doing.

The handicap marks look about right to me – Ireland are rated at Evens with a -34 start and I expect them to cover it, but only just so I’ll take that price.

I think Ireland will get the bulk of their work done early, so I will have a little bit on Italy at +18, which is 10-11, on the second-half handicap.

Scotland are in the first of today’s games at Murrayfield against France and they are probably still wondering how they nearly blew it against Wales.

Yet they are the unbeaten team, not Les Bleus, who must try to bounce back with the wind having been taken out of their sails.

Scotland at home are a decent proposition and it is not beyond the realms to think that they could win this game, certainly at 9-5 they are surely worth an interest bet.

It’s quite sad to see how far England and Wales have fallen and one of them may yet ‘win’ the Wooden Spoon.

The home side should claim victory here at Twickenham but Wales might run them closer than many

SIX NATIONS EVENS Under 8.5 tries Ireland v Italy EVENS Ireland -35hcp victory 10-11 Italy +18hcp second half 9-5 SCOTLAND to beat France 10-11 WALES +12hcp v England SUPER BOWL 21-20 Under 46.5 points 8-1 KELCE first touchdown PREMIER LEAGUE 15-2 MAN CITY 3-0 Everton 3-1 BRIGHTON to beat Spurs 6-1 DIOGO JOTA two or more goals 7-5 Arsenal v West Ham DRAW 23-20 NEWCASTLE to beat Forest