Last round we had “the deciding” game but now we have it again in Cardiff. This weekend promises some good rugby and the chance of an upset or two. Here are my predictions for round 4 of the 6 Nations.
First here is a link to my review of the round 3 action.
How did the predictions go?
2 from 3, not bad as I think just about everybody misjudged Italy.
Wales v Ireland
With Wales you know what you’re going to get and Ireland have managed to deal with it the last two times they met. Wales will be looking to up enforce their game on Ireland and they do get better the longer they are in camp together. They also have a good back three for dealing with a kicking game.
Ireland have lived up to their pre-tournament favourite tag. It was interesting listening to Brian Moore’s pobcast how Ireland have changed their kicking game in every game so far. The depth of the kicking and what the kick was trying to achieve has changed each time. They can’t kick to Halfpenny and North in the same way that they did against England for example. They won’t and I think that they are one of the most intelligent outfits but they are very reliant on Sexton and as long as he is on the pitch I think they will win.
Ireland win
England v Scotland
A lot of people had expectations of Scotland picking up a win during this tournament and putting in some good performances. The performances have been there but not for 80 minutes and their chance was against Italy.
With England you are not sure who Lancaster is going to pick but you do know that they forwards will be up for it. That was enough for Italy and will be again for England, the important thing will be having a decent start. If England start slowly again and Scotland get an early try then it could be a difficult day but I expect England to pull through.
England win
Italy v France
Italy’s forwards got them the win over Scotland but they won’t be able to get the same upper hand against France. That’s not going to stop them though and the real question is what are France going to be able to muster? I expect that it’s going to be more of the bush it up style but we all live in hope that they will pull together one performance to remind us what they are capable of. As it is France will still have too much quality for Italy even if they have stumbled before.
France win
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