Six Nations

[Drogba's Bitch]

Wales vs England Tom Wood will make his England debut in Friday night's Six Nations opener against Wales at the Millennium Stadium. The Northampton flanker was not included in Martin Johnson's original 33-man squad for the tournament but has been promoted from the Saxons panel following injuries to Leicester's Tom Croft and skipper Lewis Moody. With Moody out, Gloucester centre Mike Tindall has been appointed England captain for the first time. Wood will wear Croft's vacant No.6 jersey to help bolster the English lineout, while Stade Francais' James Haskell will start in the unfamiliar openside berth. Leicester lock Louis Deacon returns in the second-row to partner Tom Palmer, in place of injured Northampton youngster Courtney Lawes. Jonny Wilkinson again makes do with a place on the bench as Leicester's Toby Flood and Ben Youngs are paired at halfback while Saints wing Chris Ashton returns to action following injury to join club team-mate Ben Foden and Sale wing Mark Cueto in the back-three. Wales coach Warren Gatland has gambled by selecting James Hook at fullback. The Perpignan-bound playmaker has ousted Lee Byrne from the starting line-up, with Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies paired in midfield. Davies' Scarlets team-mate, Morgan Stoddart, starts on the wing following an injury to Leigh Halfpenny, with Shane Williams completing the back-three. Halfpenny's ankle problem was the latest to hit an injury-ravaged squad, with Gatland unable to call on British & Irish Lions props Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones as well as wing George North, centres Tom Shanklin and Andrew Bishop and banned scrum-half Richie Rees. As a result of injuries to Jenkins and Jones there are starts for Ospreys props Paul James and Craig Mitchell, while Wasps No.8 Andy Powell is recalled to the starting line-up alongside flankers Dan Lydiate and Sam Warburton. Wales: J Hook (Ospreys); M Stoddart (Scarlets), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), J Davies (Scarlets), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys); P James (Ospreys), M Rees (Scarlets, capt), C Mitchell (Ospreys), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), A-W Jones (Ospreys), D Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues), A Powell (Wasps) Replacements: R Hibbard (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys), J Thomas (Ospreys), D Peel (Sale Sharks), R Priestland (Scarlets), L Byrne (Ospreys) England: B Foden (Northampton Saints); C Ashton (Northampton Saints), M Tindall (Gloucester, capt), S Hape (Bath), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); T Flood (Leicester Tigers), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), D Hartley (Northampton Saints), D Cole (Leicester Tigers), L Deacon (Leicester Tigers), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Wood (Northampton Saints), J Haskell (Stade Francais), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: S Thompson (Leeds Carnegie), D Wilson (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), J Worsley (Wasps), D Care (Harlequins), J Wilkinson (Toulon), M Banahan (Bath) Referee: Alain Rolland (Ire) Assistant Referees: Alan Lewis (Ire), Simon McDowell (Ire) TMO: Jim Yuille (Fra) Big clash friday night, hopefully gonna be a good game. Both teams have suffered injuries but the Welsh have been effected most. With their first choice props are out, England could really use the scrum as a great platform. Gatland has been talking about Hartley in the press and this will be great motivation for him. Im expecting England to dominate the scrum. No Lee Byrne at full back may hurt them too, Hook is a good replacement but i think the Welsh would rather have him in centres. Im going for England to get off to a great start and win. England -3 @ 1.91 Skybet

[Drogba's Bitch]

Re: Six Nations Just looking ahead i will probably go for one larger stake treble on lesser handicaps England to win @ 1.57 Ireland -5 @ 1.33 France -10 @ 1.57 Will look at the other two games in more detail tomorrow

[Pie-chucker]

Re: Six Nations You have to go back to 2003 for an England win in Cardiff, and think it will be very tight. Wales 1-5pts @ 9/2 Scotland are playing with a great deal of self-belief and could well give France a bit of a fright. At least for 65 minutes or so. Scotland HT handicap +7 @ 10/11

[homercleese]

Re: Six Nations betfair very big on the winning margin mate, id look in that direction rather than the 1-5. if they win by 6 youll be sicker than if they lose by 20

[SteveO]

Re: Six Nations Really looking forward to this and England quite rightly favourites I think after the Autumn internationals and recent Heineken cup form. Jenkins and Jones are a big loss in the front row as they give the backs such a platform to attack off. Halfpenny and Byrne also out but Stoddart is an exciting prospect and Byrne has been distasterous for wales in recent times, he fumbles the all too much and kicks that up n under all the time:wall It's just a pity we don't have another replacement at fullback other Hook who is wasted there. I think it'll be a tight scrappy game but will have a patriotic punt on Wales off scratch as the price is too big I feel for a home internatoinal against the old enemy in front of a packed house. Come on Wales!

[SteveO]

Re: Six Nations

Scotland are playing with a great deal of self-belief and could well give France a bit of a fright. At least for 65 minutes or so. Scotland HT handicap +7 @ 10/11

I like the look of this bet too mate. Scotland have improved a lot of late and have picked a big back row to smash into the French so will be looking to spoil and keep it a very tight game.

[Elchubb]

Re: Six Nations Like the look of that treble Drogba's Bitch and will be taking it myself! Looking at the England wales game, i can see England dominating the set piece with Sheridan and Cole destroying a depleated welsh pack! With tom wood coming in to keep plenty of options in the line out to get some driving mauls set up! So because of this i'm looking at the english back row first and anytime try scorers! Haskell and Easter are both avaible at 25's for first and 13/2 and 5/1 anytime, whilst wood is availabe at 33's for first and 13/2 anytime! I think the big dangers for first tryscorer apart from these 3 are the obvious one's in Shane williams and the northampton pair of Ashton and Foden who have been in great form this season! so for me it's: N.Easter First T/S 1pt @25-1(sporting bet) Anytime 3pts @5-1 (Stan james) J.Haskell First T/S 1pt @25-1(Will Hill) Anytime 3pts @13-2 (Sky Bet) T.Wood First T/S 1pt @33-1(Sporting Bet) Anytime 3pts @ 13-2 (Sky Bet) S.Williams First T/S 1pt @11-1(Sporting Bet) B.Foden First T/S 1pt @ 16-1(Corals) C.Ashton First T/S 1pt @9-1(Unibet) 5pts on England win Ireland -7 France -9 treble @2.3-1(Will Hill) Total Staked 20pts

[Drogba's Bitch]

Re: Six Nations Will take Easter on anytime try aswell but at Ladbrokes 7/1 Gonna leave the other games for now and see what happens tonight. The handicap for both games look a little big but have been burnt by the Scots and Italians before so dont wana back them.

[MARTINLAURSEN]

Re: Six Nations i dont no anything about rugby and quite frankly despise the sport, but its my brother in law's birthday, he plays rugby semi pro and tonight wants an indian, a few beers and to watch the game! i thought id have a bet to give me slight if any interest in the match, and have been tipped to bet on england. im assuming the handicap betting is the same as football, so england -3 means they need to win ie. by 4 points?:cow

[Elchubb]

Re: Six Nations Correct and it's probably a decent bet!

[Mirage]

Re: Six Nations

i dont no anything about rugby and quite frankly despise the sport, but its my brother in law's birthday, he plays rugby semi pro and tonight wants an indian, a few beers and to watch the game! i thought id have a bet to give me slight if any interest in the match, and have been tipped to bet on england. im assuming the handicap betting is the same as football, so england -3 means they need to win ie. by 4 points?:cow

Yeah, that is correct. Will be a tight game i think so personally have stayed away from it betting-wise.

[MARTINLAURSEN]

Re: Six Nations i do the same in football, avoid tight games. but im prepared to lose a 10a as it makes a game i cant stand give me some interest! cheers!:beer

[Elchubb]

Re: Six Nations Right gone for a couple for the tournament! firstly top try scorer for the tournament i've gone for Ashton, foden and williams because i rate them very highly and they've been in outstanding form for there clubs and countries this season! just hope i don't regret not putting an irish man in there because i'm expecting a big tournement from them but with tommy bowe out i think their tries might be spread between a few, maybe o'drisscoll leading the count for them! Which leads me on to my next bets, Ireland/England straight forecast! With the French seemingly out of sorts and england injuries maybe costing them(i highly rate Moody, Croft and Lawes) i think the irish can deal with their injuries the best! Also the Irish have both England and france at home! Just in case the English replacements can cover for the missing Moody, Croft and Lawes and get a win in Ireland i've also gone for England/Ireland sraight forecast! C.Ashton Top Tournament T/S @7-1 S.Williams Top Tournement T/S @10-1 B.Foden Top Tournement T/S @14-1 Ireland/England straight forecast @9-1 England/Ireland straight Forecast @7-1 All prices corals but better probably available 5pts on each 25pts Staked

[Pie-chucker]

Re: Six Nations Good game, rugby, eh... MartinLaursen! Welsh backs did close to f all which hardly helped the home cause.

[KennyDelight]

Re: Six Nations What squad are Ireland taking to Italy? I would like to add Ireland 1.13 into a multi but 1.13 seems a bit bigger than I expected which makes me feel a bit hesitant :unsure Is that safe enough to add to a multi to go "large" or not worth the risk

[Pie-chucker]

Re: Six Nations The rugby press, the recent stats and the camel coats suggest an Ireland win by about 15 points, Kenny. Yet 1.13 doesn't seem to me enough of a boost to a multi to run the very small risk of an Italian upset. The Eyeties have a very big and competent pack. They are well coached. There are far better heavy odds on shots out there in the sporting universe this w/e, I reckon.

[MARTINLAURSEN]

Re: Six Nations

Good game, rugby, eh... MartinLaursen! Welsh backs did close to f all which hardly helped the home cause.

i made a £6 profit!! wohoo! i actually didnt mind watching it, but then again i had becks on tap and a lamb madras so id enjoy watching golf!

[Pie-chucker]

Re: Six Nations Scot v Wales is very hard to call. Hook to fly-half for Wales tempts me the Welsh way but Scotland have self-belief and Murrayfield. Bradley Davies at lock put in some good go-forward work for Wales last week. He's 14-1 to score a try anytime. A tickle on that. Ire v France. Frogs put in an eye-opening display in Paris and could carve up the old stodge of Ireland. Time to take France 9-2 for the Slam. v England at HQ in two weeks is the big one. This should be a 12 point away win. Should be, depends which France turns up. France/France HT/FT @ 13/10 should do it. Eng v Italy. A 20pt+ handicap will be hard to overcome by any team this 6N. Despite the 9&10 reshuffle for Italy and Twickenham where they've regularly fallen in a hole in the past, I'm happy with Italy +22.

[SteveO]

Re: Six Nations

Scot v Wales is very hard to call. Hook to fly-half for Wales tempts me the Welsh way but Scotland have self-belief and Murrayfield. Bradley Davies at lock put in some good go-forward work for Wales last week. He's 14-1 to score a try anytime. A tickle on that. Ire v France. Frogs put in an eye-opening display in Paris and could carve up the old stodge of Ireland. Time to take France 9-2 for the Slam. v England at HQ in two weeks is the big one. This should be a 12 point away win. Should be, depends which France turns up. France/France HT/FT @ 13/10 should do it. Eng v Italy. A 20pt+ handicap will be hard to overcome by any team this 6N. Despite the 9&10 reshuffle for Italy and Twickenham where they've regularly fallen in a hole in the past, I'm happy with Italy +22.

Don't know if it's a typo but Totesport are out of line on this handicap and going Italy +28 at 10/11.:ok

[slizorn]

Re: Six Nations Italy put in a good performance against an out of sorts Ireland in their 1st game at home. England will however be too much for Italy after winning their 1st game at Wales. Was thinking of backing the outright handicap on Italy, but I reckon Italy should keep this match close at least in the 1st half before England runs away with it in the 2nd half and so will be backing the following: 3pts Italy +10 Half-time Handicap @ 10/11 StanJames GL all :hope

[Drogba's Bitch]

Re: Six Nations Hard to pick winners with these set of games but lets have a look anyway. All the info is off Sky sports England had initially made just one change to his squad, with Leeds flanker Hendre Fourie named on the bench ahead of Joe Worsley. However a back injury to Andrew Sheridan has meant Alex Corbisiero will come into the side to win his first cap. Italy, on the other hand, have responded to their defeat to Ireland by making four changes. Injuries mean Edoardo Gori and Josh Sole both miss out, with Fabio Semenzato and Valerio Bernabo coming into the starting XV. Luciano Orquera and Carlo Del Fava are also named in the line-up, with Kris Burton and Santiago Dellape dropping to the bench. England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero. Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendre Fourie, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan. Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse ©, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Valerio Bernabo, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini. Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Kris Burton, 22 Gonzalo Garcia Italy maybe should have won last week against a poor Irish side but this week they will have a much tougher task at HQ. The handicap is set at 22 with most which looks about right. If Italy turn up and England don't have their heads on this could be close. Hate betting against England so im gonna take them to beat the handicap of -20 @ ladbrokes Just seen a nice offer with Betfred to 6 NATIONS - If your player scores the first try of ANY 6 NATIONS MATCH and then goes on to score another try, Betfred will double your first tryscorer price. So am gonna have a little flutter with a player in each game. Ashton @ 5/1

[Drogba's Bitch]

Re: Six Nations Scotland go into the clash unchanged following the 34-21 defeat to the defending champions at the Stade de France. Head coach Andy Robinson has made one change on the bench, though, with Scott Lawson named ahead of Dougie Hall. With Hook moving to fly-half ahead of the benched Stephen Jones, Lee Byrne comes in to the side at full-back. Injury to Andy Powell means Ryan Jones starts at No.8, with Tavis Knoyle and uncapped flanker Josh Turnbull named on the bench. Scotland: 15 Hugo Southwell , 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Max Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Kelly Brown, 7 John Barclay, 6 Nathan Hines, 5 Alastair Kellock ©, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray,2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen. Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Moray Low, 18 Richie Vernon, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Sean Lamont. Wales: 15 L Byrne (Ospreys), 14 M Stoddart (Scarlets), 13 J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), 12 J Davies (Scarlets), 11 S Williams (Ospreys), 10 J Hook (Ospreys), 9 M Phillips (Ospreys), 1 P James (Ospreys), 2 M Rees (Scarlets, capt), 3 C Mitchell (Ospreys), 4 B Davies (Cardiff Blues), 5 A-W Jones (Ospreys), 6 D Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), 7 S Warburton (Cardiff Blues), 8 R Jones (Ospreys). Replacements: 16 R Hibbard (Ospreys), 17 J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), 18 J Thomas (Ospreys), 19 J Turnbull (Scarlets), 20 T Knoyle (Scarlets), 21 S Jones (Scarlets), 22 R Priestland (Scarlets) Tough one to call but i think the Scots will just edge it. Wales have been poor recently and that defeat to England at home will have hurt them. Scotland put up a great fight against France and will take alot of confidence from it. That with home advantage should see them win a close match. Scotland -3 @ ladbrokes Gonna take Shane Williams on the first try scorer @ 8/1

[Pie-chucker]

Re: Six Nations Good spot/picks there on that Betfred first try scorer, DB. Juicy. Doubt if they'll try that trick again :lol

[Drogba's Bitch]

Re: Six Nations

Good spot/picks there on that Betfred first try scorer, DB. Juicy. Doubt if they'll try that trick again :lol

Cheers mate. Just wish i put more money on now! They have only paid up at normal odds so far, waiting for them to get back to me about the rest. Bet they are regretting doing it now lol!!!

[Pie-chucker]

Re: Six Nations My tipping strike rate is way off in the first 2 weeks, but now things should get easier with form and performance exposed. But I'll keep it short as I'm not the man to follow. :$ I'm always a big handicap fan of Italy at home, but Wales have at last got a bit confidence up after Murrayfield and in the Rome sun will win this by 15 points. Fance were very ordinary against Ireland and shipped 3 tries against the Scots in Paris. England and their much feted back 3 are really getting up steam, and this is Twickenham. Bookies have it England -5. But one of these days The Frogs' strong experienced pack and talented support/off-loading backs are going to get it together and this could be the day. They have a big advange in the centre pairings. I'm with France to win this one by not a lot, but the straight win price of 17/10 isn't that enticing. There's been only one game in the last 6 years when more than 10 points have separated Scotland and Ireland. The scots make 7 changes to their line-up - with the No. 10 shirt going to Ruaridh Jackson the most interesting - and Ireland come off what should/could have been the beating of France at home a fortnight ago. It points to Ireland by 5 to 10 points, with the safest way in Ireland being 1-12 pts @ 6/4. However. I'm going for that unusual occurence in international rugby - the draw @ 20/1.

[Elchubb]

Re: Six Nations Gonna go with a handicap/results treble this weekend. Firstly Italy +10, Haven't been that impressed with the Welsh so far and i think the Italians can keep it tight and force the welsh into mistakes at home. England -5, The French don't seem to do well at twickenham and if England get on top in the game early i can see them opening up a big score here, failing that both teams cancel each other out and it turns into a tight kicking game but with wilkinson probably coming in for the last 20 minutes i can still see the English beating this line. Finally i'm gonna take Ireland to win, really think Scotland could be on for the wooden spoon this year so i expect an Irish win but i just can't take them on the handicap as they just don't seem to be scoring the points their play deserves at the minute! Also gonna go for Ashton First Tryscorer in the England France game just because he's absolutely flying at the moment and he's been a great bet for me so far this tournament, so i'm gonna keep backing him til he let's me down. small saver on no tryscorer for the above mentioned reasons. Italy+10 England -5 Ireland to win 5pts @ 4.47-1 Ashton First Tryscorer 5pts @7-1 No Tryscorer 1pt @ 20-1

[Pie-chucker]

Re: Six Nations Try time! I think France and England will overcome stiff spreads, and not sure about Wales v Ireland. The pundits say Ireland, the bookies say Wales (just). France in Rome first game, where, since 2003, France have racked up 50, 39, 56, 53 points. I'm buying shirts @ 144 for the weekend 3 games.

[Breakballartist]

Re: Six Nations Ireland to win is going to be my only sports bet 2day @ 13/8 bet365. 6N head to head in Dublin is solid for Ireland going back to 2003; and this England team is not of the same 03 vintage. Tindall's loss as © should be telling, and BOD could have his way with Matt Banahan coming in under alot of pressure. Its been a funny 6N for us, but i can see Ireland finishing on a high going into the rest of the WC year. If they play any, they should be fit to take a narrow win. Not too heavy tho; 5pt bet. :hope