England host Italy in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Sunday, the final action in Round 4 and the hosts will need a win to stay in contention for the title.

 

 

 

England v Italy, Sunday 9^th March, Twickenham, KO 17:00 (South African time)

 

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Craig Evans (Wales) & Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

 

Weather Forecast – Twickenham

 

 

England

 

England kept their title hopes alive when they edged out Scotland 16-15 at Twickenham in Round 3. They were 8.5 point favourites with the bookmakers but scored just the 1 try through Freemen inside the first 10 minutes. The Scots blew a chance to snatch victory at the death when they failed to convert a late try.

 

England put themselves in the winners box in Round 2 when they edged out France 26-25 at Twickenham. They scored 4 tries in total including 2 in the last 10 minutes to scrape a win with a bonus point. In their opening round clash against Ireland in Dublin England lost 27-22. A strong first half showing saw them lead 10-5 at half time and threaten a surprise but Ireland came on strong and a couple of late England tries saw them finish with a losing bonus point.

 

England finished Round 3 in third spot with 10 log points, 1 behind France and 4 shy of Ireland who clash in Dublin on Saturday. In the outright betting markets with WSB England are currently 11/1 to win the title.

 

Fixtures & Results: R1 Ireland (a) lost 27-22, R2 France (h) won 26-25, R3 Scotland (h) won 16-15, R4 Italy (h), R5 Wales (a)

 

Italy

 

Italy were thrashed 73-24 by France in their Round 3 home fixture, a record points total for Les Bleus against the Italians. France started as 17.5 point favourites on the main handicap line and they ran in 11 tries in total.

 

Italy had put themselves on the board with a 22-15 home win over Wales in Round 2. Capuozzo scored their only try of the game, converted by Allan who also landed with 5 penalties. In Round 1 Italy were given around 17.5 points start on the bookmakers handicap for their clash with Scotland at Murrayfield and they finished beaten 31-19.

 

Italy are fifth on the log with 4 points, 3 more than Wales who are in Scotland on Saturday. In the outright betting markets with WSB Italy are currently 5/1 to finish bottom of the standings with Wales trading at 1/10 for the wooden spoon.

 

Fixtures & Results: R1 Scotland (a) lost 31-19, R2 Wales (h) won 22-15, R3 France (h) lost 73-24, R4 England (a), R5 Ireland (h)

 

Team News

 

England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge

 

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Ben Curry, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Marcus Smith

 

Italy: 15-Ange Capuozzo, 14-Monty Ioane, 13-Juan Ignacio Brex, 12-Tommaso Menoncello, 11-Matt Gallagher, 10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Stephen Varney, 8-Ross Vintcent, 7-Michele Lamaro (captain), 6-Sebastian Negri, 5-Federico Ruzza, 4-Niccolo Cannone, 3-Marco Riccioni, 2-Giacomo Nicotera, 1-Danilo Fischetti

 

Head to Head (6 Nations Only)

 

2024 6N Rome Italy 24-27 England

2023 6N Twickenham England 31–14 Italy

2022 6N Rome Italy 0-33 England

2021 6N Twickenham England 41-18 Italy

2020 6N Rome Italy 5–34 England

2019 6N Twickenham England 57–14 Italy

2018 6N Rome Italy 15–46 England

2017 6N Twickenham England 36–15 Italy

 

 

The Betting

 

Updated 09 March 12h47

England -22.5 points at 9/10

Italy +22.5 points at 9/10

 

Note, odds quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.

 

Betting Angle

 
Posted 09 March 12h59

England needed France to beat Ireland to stay alive in the competition but the fact that France got the bonus point win makes it very unlikely they can win this. A bonus point win here would put them into 2nd behind France and with a good chance of finishing there. 

The handicap has come in slightly from -22.5 to -20.5 and 21.5 depending on your bookie. 

Points opened at 54.5 and has moved to 56.5 with conditions expected to be clear. 

While England should win this I rekon this Italian team can stay within the handicap. They were hammered by France last time out but the French showed against Ireland just how strong they are. 

 

BET: 3 units Italy +21.5 at 17/20 at Hollywoodbets 

 

Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

 

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