Six Nations 2008 Betting
Can Wales Weather the French Storm and Go Slamming?
The Six Nations Championship is perfectly poised for a pulsating finale: for England fans the only disappointment is that their unpredictable side are out of the running.
Warren Gatland's resurgent Welsh team are the only side on maximum points, and are now 1/25 favourites for the tournament and 8/15 on for a Grand Slam. In their way stand France, who travel to the Millenium Stadium with an 8/1 chance of usurping the Scarlets and taking the Championship.
Marc Lievremont's French side are at shorter odds to score victory on Saturday (6/4) but remain an outside bet for the Championship, as a winning margin of 20 points or more is needed in order to overturn the Welsh advantage on points difference. Punters could back France for a victory by 21 – 25 points (25/1), with the Gallic warriors already achieving the feat at Murrayfield this year, triumphing 27-6. But subsequent victories over Ireland and Italy have been by five and 12 points only, while Lievremont's side were well beaten by England at the Stade de France.
A 19 point victory for France would see the teams tied (France are 18/1 to win by 16-20 points) on points and points difference, while the two sides are also currently equal on tries scored, raising the possibility of shared tournament honours. But while even a slender defeat would see Wales home, coach Warren Gatland is envisaging nothing less than a galvanising Grand Slam success.
He said: "To win the championship on points difference would be something of a hollow victory. We have already achieved something in this campaign that can't be taken away from us with the Triple Crown, but we have an opportunity now to push on and do something a little bit special in front of our home crowd.
"We are confident, we have worked hard and if we continue in the same vein in which we started this campaign we believe we can come away with a deserved victory."
The winner of the Wales v France showdown has for the last four years also been the winner of the Six Nations. The Scarlets have only won one of the last seven clashes between the two, but 2005's 24-18 victory in Paris sent the Welsh on their way to a Grand Slam – the last time any team achieved the feat. Meanwhile French victories 32-21 and 21-6 at the last two Six Nations have helped the French to tournament victories, while a 29-22 French triumph in 2004 played a part in the side's last Grand Slam gala.
The last time the two met in Cardiff however was in a World Cup warm-up game last August, where the French proved their point-scoring potential, triumphing 34-7. Winning by another 26-30 point margin is a long-shot at 40/1, but is not unthinkable. Cardiff was indeed the scene of another morale-boosting triumph for the flamboyant French, as they handed out a Millenium Stadium mauling to New Zealand in the World Cup quarter finals.
France coach Marc Lievremont has once again rung the changes in search of the perfect performance that the French often threaten to muster. An experienced line-up will see Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and David Skrela bolster the back line, while Julien Bonnaire and Thierry Dusautoir will add their weight to a powerful pack. Vincent Clerc also returns out wide and could strike fear into the Welsh defence, having five tries to his name so far, matching the tournament total of his Welsh wing counterpart Shane Williams. The Ospreys pace-man is 9/1 favourite to bag the first score on home territory, but the titanic Toulousain is a good shot at 10/1.
England (4/9) meanwhile face Ireland (7/4) at Twickenham, and aim to avoid a fifth successive Six Nations defeat by the Emerald Islanders. Both teams are now out of the running after poor campaigns, but could salvage some pride with a morale-boosting victory over a big scalp. Last time out Ireland battered England 43-13 and with recriminations flying in Brian Ashton's camp, another mauling could be on the cards: Ireland are 28/1 for a victory by 21-25 points. Last time England beat Ireland it was however by a 36 point margin. More of the same (a 36-40 point margin) is an outside shot at 22/1.