The 2026 Guinness Six Nations kicked off last night with a frightening show of force from last year’s winners. France we insatiable in Paris against an Ireland side that had no answers for might of the home side. There was an arrogance to the style in which France had their way with Ireland. It was as though they could do whatever they wanted out there and the result was a mere inevitability. I fear for the other 4 teams yet to face Dupont and his band of brutes and blistering speedsters.
England v Wales – Saturday 16:40 GMT – Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
But before Wales turn their attention to next week’s visitors, they have the small matter of a trip to Twickenham to face the old enemy. England come into the tournament with a mountain of expectation, and an assumption that Saturday afternoon will be a mere training run for Borthwick’s heroes. The first of 4 warmups before they attempt to storm Paris and reclaim their nation’s first Grand Slam in 10 years. Oh the arrogance of the English.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Wales will upset the apple cart on Saturday evening, although I will admit that as we get closer to kick off, I’m starting to believe more and more. Perhaps by tomorrow lunch time I’ll be ready to declare that Wales will pull off the greatest upset of the Six Nations era. Afterall, this writer first got to experience this wonderful sport of ours in person some 18 years ago, when an unfancied Wales team, fresh off being tossed out of the World Cup in the pool stages by Fiji, turned up to the home of the World Cup finalists, with a new coach and 13 players in the starting XV from the same club. That club was the Ospreys if you’re wondering. But hey, what did the Ospreys ever do for us, huh? Despite being massive underdogs and totally written off, Wales went on to win 26-19 on way to a Grand Slam.
Wales will not win the Grand Slam this year, but the point remains, expect the unexpected and don’t write anyone off too soon. They have the talent but they need to make big improvements defensively and around their discipline if they want to hang with this England side. England are so good at giving nothing away easily. They let you make all the mistakes and are so ready to pounce on any loose ball. Both teams will be very eager to get the referee on their side early.
Prediction: England to win by 15
I think this will be much more competitive than people think for most of the game, but England will just be slightly out of reach as the last 15 minutes come around.
Betting Pick: Wales +28.5
Honestly, I’d stay away from this one. I think Wales are far too unpredictable right now. However if you did want to bet the points spread, I like Wales +28.5. My general rule of thumb is bet against England against the spread. They are almost always overvalued. Wales on the other hand are valued about as low as they could be right now. Surely the only way is up?
Our Combined England and Wales XV:
- Ellis Genge (Eng)
- Dewi Lake (Wal)
- Joe Hayes (Eng)
- Daf Jenkins (Wal)
- Ollie Chessum (Eng)
- Guy Pepper (Eng)
- Sam Underhill (Eng)
- Ben Earl (Eng)
- Tomos Williams (Wal)
- George Ford (Eng)
- Josh Adams (Wal)
- Eddie James (Wal)
- Tommy Freeman (Eng)
- Tom Roebuck (Eng)
- Louis Rees-Zammit (Wal)
Italy v Scotland – Saturday 14:10 GMT – Stadio Olimpico, Rome
In years gone by this would have been the wooden spoon decider. That is far from true in 2026. What we have though, is two teams that believe that they can win this match, and two teams that desperately need to. For Italy, they only have two home games this year: Scotland in Round 1 and England in Round 4. If they don’t win tomorrow, they are going to be very reliant on picking up wins on the road in order to avoid going winless. This is a highly winnable game and they need to make the most of the opportunity.
For Scotland, this isn’t the big one, but if they want to play in the big ones, and compete for silverware, then they have to come away from Rome with a result. They have England next week, before a trip to Cardiff in Round 3. Both winnable games, and with their squad fully healthy, they know they can come out of the fallow week with a chance to win the title. That all sounds great, but they absolutely have to beat Italy first.
A lot of the talk ahead of this one is Gregor Townsend’s choice to leave out the back three that has been a mainstay of this side for years. Duhan Van der Merwe and Blair Kinghorn have been dropped all together (although I wonder whether the latter is somewhat rest related), and Darcy Graham has lost his starting spot to the URC’s top try scorer, Jamie Dobbie. What Townsend has opted for is a lot of Glasgow players, and given Glasgow are arguably the 2nd best club side in Europe this year, it’s a pretty strong play.
Italy meanwhile will have to make do without the services of Seb Negri, Ange Capuozzo and Ross Vincent among others. Whilst Scotland have a clean bill of healthy, Italy have been much less fortunate.
Prediction: Scotland to win by 4
I think this will be a close one. I believe Scotland will have too much quality for Italy and will come out victorious in the end, but the Azzurri will make it tough for them. I expect Scotland to start fast, scoring some early tries, before Italy come back into it in the middle portion of the game.
Betting Pick: Italy +9.5
I still like Scotland to win but getting 9.5 points for a home team feels the better play. Ironically I’m higher on Scotland than most, so feels odd betting against them, but I also like Italy to be tough.
Our Combined Italy and Scotland XV:
- Pierre Schoeman (Sco)
- Ewan Ashman (Sco)
- Zander Fagerson (Sco)
- Scott Cummins (Sco)
- Grant Gilchrist (Sco)
- Matt Fagerson (Sco)
- Michele Lamaro (Ita)
- Jack Dempsey (Sco)
- Ben White (Sco)
- Finn Russell (Sco)
- Monty Ioane (Ita)
- Sione Tuipulotu (Sco)
- Tomasso Menoncello (Ita)
- Kyle Styen (Sco)
- Tom Jordan (Sco)