Six Nations Rugby Tournament – The Teams And Their Odds

With some of the best players in the world, the most ardent fans, and some of the biggest grudges in the history of sports between them the participants in the 2016 Six Nations rugby tournament is the pinnacle of this hardcore sport for the athletic elite.
Six Nations Rugby Odds

• England 7/4
• Wales 3/1
• Ireland 13/4 

So lets look at the teams and which you should be backing to lift the trophy when the dust settles.

England

They’ve a new head coach in Eddie Jones and you can expect them to make a strong showing but there are some tricky decisions ahead with injuries piling up weekend after weekend. He’ll need to pick a captain and that will set a lot of tone to the side that they field, Dylan Hartley for instance would promote a far more aggressive performance, and by dint of that may well raise England’s chances of winning.

Their first game of Six Nations rugby is against the old foe Scotland, a true measure of any side from Twickenham. Right now you can get 7/4 on England at Bet365, the shortest odds of the six.

Wales

Like England, the welsh are also suffering from a few too many injuries with Wales boss Warren Gatland already having lost Leigh Halfpenny and keeping an eye over both Liam Williams and Gareth Anscombe who are worries. Their Six Nations rugby begins against the Irish, a team that mauled them in times gone by, so if they get over that psychological hurdle they could go all the way, a fact that will be no doubt reflected in their odds, which, for those that like to bet on sports in the UK, right now stand at around 3/1 at 32Red Sports, so you might want to get in on the boys from Cardiff now.

Ireland

Ireland are never an easy proposition and although their line up has been significantly dented by the loss of Paul O’Connell, and indeed Jared Payne, who leaves a tricky decision on who plays alongside their centre Robbie Henshaw. Joe Schmidt doesn’t have long to scout around for replacements and with the Welsh after revenge in that first match at home there will be clear signs if they’ve pulled together a masterly recovery from the off or if this really isn’t going to be anything more but a year of transition for a team rebuild. Unibet give the Irish 13/4 which is rather attractive, despite the risk.

France

The only team so far to have named their captain, France have placed faith in the safe hands of Guilhem Guirado after the retirement of Thierry Dusautoir, and head coach Guy Noves has called up numerous familiar faces as well as some uncapped talent, like Sebastien Bezy, Jefferson Poirot and Paul Jedrasiak, but will they manage a better result than the fourth place they managed last year?

Sadly the odds rather suggest they won’t with BetVictor giving them a slightly generous 9/2 to win the tournament, but that doesn’t make them worth researching UK gambling laws to wager upon, alas.

Scotland

The Scots face England in their first match and it’ll be a test of the confidence they gained in the World Cup where their improved performance was manifest, and who knows, with their spirit Vern Cotter could well push them to achieve the unthinkable. Used to finishing in the last two places there’s a hunger brewing north of the border, lead by Greig Laidlaw, Finn Russell, and John Hardie amongst others. The bookies aren’t giving them much hope in their Six Nations rugby endeavors, but of all the teams this is the most likely to surprise in the Six nations rugby, and Bet365 give them nice 16/1 odds on winning right now.

Italy

After a frankly shambolic performance in the world cup Jacque Brunel’s side will have to deconstruct themselves to rebuild the necessary cohesion and match it with more sensible and effective planning and tactics, especially when it comes to lines outs and kicking if they want to do better in the Six Nations rugby. They also sadly lack a lot of the aerial control they’ll need against the more testing fly-halves to keep their back line together, which means the hugely distant 500/1 that Betway is giving them is entirely fair, and anyone gambling news of a surprise Italian win is in the offing is living in cloud cuckoo land.