Ireland's bid to continue their recent dominance of the Six Nations starts in Dublin on Saturday where England provide the opposition
Ireland v England, Saturday 1st February, Dublin, KO 18:45 (South African time)
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referees: James Doleman (NZR), Hollie Davidson (SRU)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZR)
Weather Forecast – Dublin
Ireland
Ireland came into the Six Nations in 2024 as favourites and they successfully defended the title finishing 5 points clear of France. A 23-22 defeat to England at Twickenham in Round 4 torpedoed hopes of another Grand Slam whilst their four other matches ended in victory; in France (38-17), at home to Italy (36-0), at home to Wales (31-7) and at home to Scotland (17-13).
Most recently in the November internationals on home turf Ireland started with a 23-13 defeat to the All Blacks before they got the better of Argentina (22-19) and Australia (also 22-19) either side of a 52-17 victory over Fiji. Ireland's 2024 mid year tour of South Africa saw the series shared 1-1. They lost the first test 27-20 but squared things up with a nail biting 25-24 victory in the second contest.
In the outright betting markets with WSB Ireland are currently 17/10 second favourites to win the title, 27/20 for the triple crown and 7/2 for the grand slam
Fixtures & Results: R1 England (h), R2 Scotland (a), R3 Wales (a), R4 France (h), R5 Italy (a)
England
In the Six Nations last year England finished third with their stand out result being a 23-22 victory over Ireland at Twickenham in Round 4 which ultimately denied Ireland another Grand Slam. They started that tournament with a 27-24 win in Italy and then beat Wales 16-14 at Twickenham. Next up they went down 30-21 in Scotland and after turning the Irish over they finished up by going down 33-31 in France.
Most recently in the November internationals at Twickenham England were edged out 24-22 by New Zealand and 42-37 by the Wallabies. They then lost 29-20 to the Springboks before rounding off with a 59-14 win over Japan. In July 2024 they took on the All Blacks in a 2 match series in New Zealand. They put in 2 big performances, edged out in the first test 16-15 and they went down in the second test 24-17. England had tuned up for that tour with a 52-17 victory over Japan in Tokyo.
In the outright betting markets with WSB England are currently 4/1 to win the title, 9/2 for the triple crown and 10/1 for the grand slam
Fixtures & Results: R1 Ireland (a), R2 France (h), R3 Scotland (h), R4 Italy (h), R5 Wales (a)
Team News
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 James Ryan, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Robbie Henshaw
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Henry Slade, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Tom Curry, 5 George Martin, 4 Maro Itohe (captain), 3 Will Stuart, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Tom Willis, 22 Harry Randall, 23 Fin Smith
Head to Head (6 Nations Only)
2024 6N Twickenham England 23-22 Ireland
2023 6N Dublin Ireland 29-16 England
2022 6N Twickenham England 15-32 Ireland
2021 6N Dublin Ireland 32-18 England
2020 6N Twickenham England 24–12 Ireland
2019 6N Dublin Ireland 20-32 England
2018 6N Twickenham England 15–24 Ireland
2017 6N Dublin Ireland 13-9 England
The Betting
Updated Feb 01 08h54
Ireland -6.5 points at 9/10
England +7.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 01 Feb 08h57
This handicap has been stable all week at -7.5 Ireland although there has been a slight shift over the last 48 hours or so with -6.5 Ireland now freely available.
The points line is low at 43.5 and although it doesn't look like it will rain there are quite strong winds forecast and humidity is in the hig 80's.
I am going to ponder this one some more and will place my bet in the next hour or so.
Posted 01 Feb 10h05
Sometimes you hav to accept that you don't have a strong feel for the game and don't fancy anything strongly.
That is the case in this match but rather than sit it our I am going to play of few of the markets that I don't usually look at.
1st up I have a gut feel England are going to go well so will have an interest that they win the game.
BET: 1 unit Engalnd win at 5/2 at WSB
I had been eyeing out an unders play in this match as a Ifancy a bit of an arm wrestle. At 43.5 I just can't justify a strike so I will take an interest that we get 35-41 points in the match which would have arrived in the last 2 meetings between the sides in Dublin.
BET: 1 units winning margin 35-41 inclusive at 33/10 at Betxchange
Finally a last try scorer paick where I am going for England live wire number 16 Theo Dan. I like what I have seen of him and hopefully he conduct the bus from the back of the maul.
BET: 0.5 unit Theo Dan LTS at 22/1 at Pokerbet
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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