International Rugby

[nigel]

So Round 1 predictions ladies & gents if you please............

Wales v Scotland Saturday at 2:15 too close to call for me, if I had to pick a winner, a very close win for Scotland.

France v Ireland Saturday 17:45 another close one, Ireland by 6.

Italy v England Sunday 15:00 England by 20. I'll wave at you on the telly box.

With the Welsh injury list you'd have to go for Scotland, but, I've a feeling it will be close. I might have a cheeky couple of quid on a surprise Wales win.
Can't see beyond an Ireland win.
It wouldn't surprise me if Italy keep this fairly close, but again, I can't see beyond an England win

[aev]

Wales
Ireland
England

[cdbearsfan]

The Scotland fixtures seem to be absolute shite for me. The only Sunday we are playing on is when Villa are on Sunday, too. Why can't Scotland ever play a Friday night game?

[SteveN]

The interesting teams will be Wales and France.  The Welsh injury list gives chances to a lot of new young players and I've a feeling they will play an open expansive game.
France, who knows?  Could be anything, they have the players just whether they can be organised.
I'm going for Wales, just, Ireland, just and England but not as comfortable as it should be, by 10 points.

[Jon Crofts]

The Scotland fixtures seem to be absolute shite for me. The only Sunday we are playing on is when Villa are on Sunday, too. Why can't Scotland ever play a Friday night game?

Have Scotland ever played on a Friday night?
I think France have & Wales have a couple of times and at least once against England I'm sure. Knowing the petty, bitter sheep worriers done deliberately in an attempt to limit the number of England fans who could get to Cardiff on time over the Severn Bridge.

[cheltenhamlion]

England, Scotland and Ireland.

[cdbearsfan]

Best of luck to England, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy in their pursuit of the runners-up spot.

[PaulWinch again]

Te'o starts which is interesting.

[taylorsworkrate]

Te'o starts which is interesting.

Makes sense in my opinion. With the injuries to Vunipola and Hughes, we have a lack of ball carriers in the pack, so a bit of grunt at centre is needed.

[Rudy65]

Best of luck to England, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy in their pursuit of the runners-up spot.

I know little about Rugby but the media are saying this is the best Scots team for many a year. Can they win the 6 nations?

[cdbearsfan]

I dunno really. I'd like to be in with a chance of winning going into the last weekend. Don't think that has happened since it changed to six teams. I confess I'm scared of our dreadful record in Wales but if we win today I might start to believe.

[paul_e]

This is the best scotland team for a long time but they are still drawing from a very shallow pool of talent.  If they were coming into this with an injury record like England or Wales no one would give them a sniff so they've still got a long way to go.  Far and away the most important thing in their rise though was actually an injury because they'd never have dropped Laidlaw otherwise and a 9 who isn't great at attacking round the fringes and who has the passing quality you'd expect of a front 5 or winger would never have worked for the high tempo game they're now playing.

I think Scotland will win today and I think they'll be fighting for 3rd with France overall but that's still a massive progression from being the team that looked like falling aside for the italians for a long time.  England and Ireland have squads that are much stronger which means their 'finishers' from the bench will make the difference in the big games.

[nigel]

Many think Scotland could beat England at Murryfield.
If that happens, then they have Ireland in Dublin, next game, which I think Ireland will win.
England would need to beat Ireland at Twickenham and we have a 3 way tie. So bonus points will be vital

Assuming, of course, that the 3 win their other games.

I think Wales could beat the Scots today which would derail their 6 nations straight away.

[cdbearsfan]

I've just remembered rugby is shite.

[paul_e]

The scots have frozen under the expectation here.  Russell looks like a shadow of the player he can be.