“Who will win the Six Nations?”
GETTING A sense of déjà vu? More than six months have passed since we were building up to the final rounds of the Guinness Six Nations; now the long-awaited championship climax is upon us.
While a win in Italy will seal a Slam for England’s women, the men’s tournament is wide open, with four sides in title contention.
This needs a ‘mathematically’ caveat as Scotland’s chances depend on Italy beating Ireland and England this month. Given the Azzurri have never beaten England and have conceded 94 points in three games this year, it’s unlikely they will be able to assist in the Scots’ trophy bid.
Effectively it’s a three-way title battle between England, France and Ireland. Two bonus-point wins for Andy Farrell’s side would guarantee them the trophy. They should complete half the requirement against Italy, but can they score four tries to beat the French in Paris? They may not need to.
England play Italy in Rome earlier on Super Saturday (31 Oct) and even with a little rustiness they will be expected to win big. Let’s assume England and Ireland both get BP wins against Italy. That would put England on 18 points ahead of the final match, when Ireland would be on 14 and France on 13.
So we could have a scenario where two teams finish level on 18 and it comes down to points difference. Eddie Jones’s side should have a healthy tally in that column after the Italy match, but Ireland and France will have the advantage of knowing exactly what they need to do going into that last match.
Remember 2015 when Ireland pipped England to the title with a better points differential of just six? There were 27 tries scored across the final three matches that year. Let’s hope Super Saturday lives up to its name and we have a similar dramatic finish in 2020. After all, we need some cheer.