Wales host Ireland in Cardiff in the first action of Round 3 of the Six Nations on Saturday and it's all change in the coaching department for the hosts as they prepare to take on the new outright favourites for the title.
Wales v Ireland, Saturday 22nd February, Cardiff, KO 16:15 (South African time)
Referee: Christophe Ridley (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
Weather Forecast: Cardiff (only applicable if the roof is closed)
Wales
Wales went down 22-15 to Italy in Rome in Round 2, their losing streak is now 14 test matches and the latests defeat led to the departure of Warren Gatland with Matt Sherratt named interim coach. They trailed 16-3 at half time but scored 2 late tries to at least earn a bonus point from a match they had started as 6-5 point underdogs.
Wales were given around 27.5 points start on the handicap for their Round 1 clash with France in Paris but it proved nowhere near enough as they crashed and burned 43-0, conceding all of 7 tries in the most one sided of contests. That was the first time that Wales had failed to score in a Six Nations game.
In the outright betting markets with WSB Wales are currently 0.12/1 to finish with the wooden spoon
Fixtures & Results: R1 France (a) lost 43-0, R2 Italy (a) lost 22-15, R3 Ireland (h), R4 Scotland (a), R5 England (h)
Ireland
Ireland put themselves firmly in the frame for a third successive title with a 32-18 win over Scotland at Murrayfield in Round 2. They were 6.5 point favourites on the bookmakers main handicap line and 2 tries in each half (Nash, Doris, Lowe and Conan) saw them pick up another bonus point win to go 4 points clear of France and England at the top of the standings.
Earlier Ireland made a winning start at home to England, coming out on top 27-22 and again earning a bonus point. They started the game as 6.5 point favourites but trailed 10-5 at half time before turning things around although England did sneak a losing bonus point with a couple of late tries.
In the outright betting markets with WSB Ireland are now 9/20 favourites to win the title and even money for the grand slam.
Fixtures & Results: R1 England (h) won 27-22, R2 Scotland (a) won 32-18, R3 Wales (a), R4 France (h), R5 Italy (a)
Team News
Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Ellis Mee, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Jac Morgan (captain), 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Nicky Smith.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Aaron Wainwright, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Joe Roberts
Ireland:15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne , 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson , 2 Dan Sheehan (captain), 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Jack Boyle, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 James Ryan, 20 Cian Prendergast, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Bundee Aki
Head to Head (6 Nations Only)
2024 6N Dublin Ireland 31–7 Wales
2023 6N Cardiff Wales 10-34 Ireland
2022 6N Dublin Ireland 29-7 Wales
2021 6N Cardiff Wales 21–16 Ireland
2020 6N Dublin Ireland 24-14 Wales
2019 6N Cardiff Wales 25-7 Ireland
2018 6N Dublin Ireland 37-27 Wales
2017 6N Cardiff Wales 22-9 Ireland
The Betting
Updated 21 Feb 07h34
Wales +23.5 points at 9/10
Ireland -22.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 21 Feb 07h48
There has been a bit of banter on this game in our forum thread and there has also been some handicap movement with Wales +24.5 early in the week, touching 25.5 and now into +22.5 in places.
Personally I cannot bring myself to back this Welsh team and I am not going to bet on the handicap.
I am expecting a fired up start from Wales and I am hoping they can keep things tight early at least and that leads me to The Admirals play on last nights THE HANDICAP our rugby betting show.
He went for the under 51.5 points and having given it some thought I am in agreement.
Wales will battle to break this Ireland defence down and Ireland have not been that free scoring themselves lately. In the last 9 head to heads in Wales this bet would have landed 8 times, including the last 5.
BET: 4 units under 51.5 points at 9/10 at Betxchange
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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