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Both England and Wales got their Guinness Six Nations campaigns back on track in round two after disappointing openings to the Championship.
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A late Dan Biggar drop goal guided Wales to a narrow win over Scotland in Cardiff, while England kept Italy scoreless in Rome with a 33-0 win. Come Saturday night though, at least one of these sides will have their hopes of challenging for the Six Nations completely vanquished.
Both sides have been boosted by the returns of some of their biggest stars who were missing in rounds one and two. Eddie Jones will relish the return of Manu Tuilagi and Courtney Lawes, while Taulupe Faletau will be a major boost for Wayne Pivac.
When, where and how to watch the match
The match will kick-off at 16:45 (UK) on Saturday February 26th at Twickenham and will be broadcast live on ITV in the UK and S4C in Wales, RTÉ in Ireland, Stan Sport in Australia and SuperSport in South Africa.
Head-to-head
Since their first meeting in 1881, these two nations have faced each other 137 times, with England marginally leading the series by 65 wins to Wales’ 60, with twelve draws. England also have a better record over their last ten encounters, winning seven and losing three, although Wales won their last match-up in last year’s Championship. Saturday’s visitors have not won at Twickenham since their memorable 2015 Rugby World Cup pool stage win.
Match odds from bet365
bet365 have the handicap on England at +14, with 5/1 odds that Wales win. There are also 9/4 odds that England win by a margin of 11-20 points.
Six Nations Early Payout Offer with bet365*
Single bets paid out as winners, if the team you back goes 15 points ahead – for multiple bets the selection will be marked as a winner.
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Prediction
Former England fullback Mike Brown did not hold back in his criticism of the Welsh squad in the MailOnline this week, and seems supremely confident of England’s chances.
“Based on what I’ve seen of Wales in the opening two rounds, they don’t have a single player who would get into the England XV right now,” the 72-cap international said.
“Josh Adams has the strongest case, but only because England have been playing a centre and full-back on the wings. People will say ‘what about Louis Rees-Zammit?’ but I would rather have Adam Radwan if you want speed.
“This Wales team isn’t anywhere near the quality of some of their recent line-ups and England should beat them comfortably at Twickenham. If Joe Launchbury comes back at lock with Courtney Lawes on the flank, I can’t see Wales matching their physicality in the pack. If England can play with tempo and move the ball to the wide channels, they should cause all manner of problems. Manu Tuilagi is back and that makes England a different beast. It could be close to their best back-line.
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“Wales is the game that you always want to win. The rivalry is massive and you get absolutely hammered if you lose.”
*Odds accurate as of 22/02/22.
Comments on RugbyPass
Honestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
133 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
8 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
8 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
133 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
133 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
133 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
8 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
8 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
133 Go to comments