STAR RUGBY PREVIEW Sat: Ireland v Italy & Scotland v England

Week 2 of the Six Nations often has a massive effect on the championship, and this year will be no different, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

The most competitive game of the championship, according to starsports.bet takes place at Murrayfield, with Scotland reeling from defeat to Italy on the opening weekend, whilst Ireland will be desperate to have more impact against Italy, who were deserving of their opening upset win against Scotland, than they did against France, who travel to Wales as the strongest favourites of the weekend.

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🇮🇪 Ireland v Italy 🇮🇹  (2.10pm, Aviva Stadium)

There was much trepidation amongst Irish supporters before their opener against France last Thursday and when France were 22-0 up and pummelling the men in green, much of those worst fears were realised. A second half fightback from Ireland thanks to tries from Nick Timoney and Michael Milne will have given some confidence and prevented the scoreline from being a total embarrassment, but they weren’t anywhere near to marching the speed, skill or variation of the hosts – Ireland slipped off 35 attempted tackles in the game, which is only the fifth time in Six Nations history that has happened, according to Opta sports.

Italy arrive on a high, after a deserved victory against Scotland, where they simply handled the monsoon that hit Rome far more efficiently than their visitors. Opta tells us that less than 2% of Italy’s attacking phases against Scotland saw the ball move beyond the first receiver (and none beyond the second) last week, but the Azzuri adapted much better with the backrow of Lorenzo Cannone, Manuel Zuliani and Michele Lamaro, particularly outstanding, ably backed up by locks Andrea Zambonin and Niccolò Cannone.

The whole team was outstanding there but the way they stood up physically in a gme that demanded it was notable, whilst their defensive efforts to hold out the Scots should worry an Ireland side that arguably lacks the cutting edge of other Tier 1 nations.

The Azzuri will be keen to target Ireland’s scrum and lineout, an area which is potentially weakened with the hosts still missing Andrew Porter, and the changes that Andy Farrell has made from last week – Joe McCarthy, Cormac Izuchukwu, Jack Conan, Craig Casey, James Lowe and Robert Baloucoune all come in – will need to sharpen them up quickly.

The Azzuri have suffered a major blow, with star centre Igancio Brex missing due to personal reasons, as he is one of the best centres in the tournament and also was outstanding against Scotland, but he’s the only change from last week and they could well be more cohesive than their hosts early on.

Ireland will be looking to tap into home advantage, an fine record against Italy, and a strong bench – Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne, Nick Timoney, Jamison Gibson-Park, and Jack Crowley are amongst the replacement – will have them back to winning ways but there are plenty of questions for the hosts to answer and they can expect a test here.

Italy are 8/11 with a first half handicap start of 9.5 points, something which makes appeal given that they will have a mostly settled starting lineup, compared to a much changed Irish one, and a 20.5 handicap with starsports.bet start overall looks generous considering where the two sides appear to be at the moment.

In the player markets it’s no surprise that Dan Sheehan and James Lowe are short to score tries ay anytime with starsports.bet, Both would fancy their chances if Ireland are back to form although the anytime markets are heavily titled in favour of the Irish and won’t offer much value in a low scoring game if defenders get on top. For Italy, in a forward-dominated game Lorenzo Cannone and Danilo Fischetti would be of interest anytime.

Teams:

🇮🇪 Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Craig Casey, 1 Jeremy Loughman, 2 Dan Sheehan, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 4 Joe McCarthy, 5 James Ryan, 6 Cormac Izuchukwu, 7 Caelan Doris (c), 8 Jack Conan.

Replacements: 6 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Tom O’Toole, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Edwin Edogbo, 20 Tadhg Beirne, 21 Nick Timoney, 22 Jamison Gibson-Park, 23 Jack Crowley.

🇮🇹 Italy: 15 Lorenzo Pani, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 6 Michele Lamaro (c), 7 Manuel Zuliani, 8 Lorenzo Cannone.

Replacements: 16 Tomasso di Bartolomeo, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Paolo Odogwu.

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  🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland v England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿  (4.40pm, Murrayfield)

It’s early in this championship, but already this has the feeling of a tournament-defining clash for both Scotland and England. A defeat to Italy last week has put a Scotland side in need of a good start on the backfoot, whilst this is possibly England’s toughest away test in a year, and a chance to make it 13 straight wins in a row.

For Gregor Townsend, this could be seen as something of a judgment day. A golden generation of Scottish players endured a heartbreaking autumn when they came back from 17-0 to level their tie with New Zealand, only to lose last on despite three yellow cards for the All Blacks, whilst they collapsed from 21-0 up to lose 33-24 against an Argentina side that England beat three times last year, two of them in South America.

Defeat against Italy was the last thing needed, with the Scots unable to handle the monsoon that hit Rome as well as their counterparts. Hooker Ewan Ashman struggled to find Scott Cummings at the lineout and whilst Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey (sole tryscorer for Scotland) tried manfully in the backrow, Scotland’s backline threats were swamped by set piece struggle and rain.

Today, Murrayfield astonishingly avoids wet weather, which should allow us to see the best of the Scots’ running rugby, but they will need to be much sharper against England this afternoon.

Steve Borthwick’s men made an ideal start with a 48-7 victory over Wales at Twickenham when they overpowered their hosts with ease, recording the best dominant carry rate (41%) and gainline success rate (73%) of any side, as well as them making the most metres per carry on average (4.7) according to Opta.

George Ford was outstanding as man of the match and whilst England will badly miss Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tom Roebuck grew into the game and Henry Arundell scored a hat-trick. The Dingwall-Freeman centre pairing gives England physical and tactical options in the centre of the park and the forward performances of Ollie Chessum and Ben Earl in particular were ominous for other sides, considering their effectiveness with ball in hand and in the tackle.

Facing Scotland at Murrayfield – especially in conditions that should allow the Auld Enemy to show what they can do with ball in hand – will be a different test and a harder phycological one (especially against a side that have won five of the last eight meetings between the pair so a handicap of 9 to 11 points with starsports.bet points with doesn’t make tons of appeal, for all that they’re the rightful favourites.

The last six Calcutta Cup clashes have been decided by single-digit margins, so a 11.5 handicap for Scotland with more favourable conditions looks a very solid play.

Teams

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (c), 11 Jamie Dobie, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 1 Nathan McBeth, 2 George Turner, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Gregor Brown, 5 Scott Cummings, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 7 Rory Darge, 8 Jack Dempsey.

Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 George Horne, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Darcy Graham.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England:

15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge

Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Fin Smith

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RECOMMENDED BETS – Scotland v England
BACK Scotland +11.5 points 2-way handicap 4 pts at 4/6  (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

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