Six Nations: Round 5 Predictions

The Six Nations finale takes place this weekend, with all three games played on Super Saturday. Any victory for France will make it extremely likely that they win the title, and if they score 4 tries in the process it will guarantee it.

Can Scotland beat France in Paris to stop them winning the title? Can England or Ireland improve their points difference sufficiently (by almost 100 points!) to take advantage of any French jitters? Almost certainly not.



Here are my Six Nations predictions for Round 5.

Italy v Ireland

Ireland will be disappointed by the manner of their defeat to France last weekend, but they haven’t looked at their best in this tournament, and France will be deserving tournament winners. This game is tricky to predict after that result and it all depends on the levels of Irish motivation.

Italy will be desperate to avoid the wooden spoon, which looks likely even in defeat, but a win here would guarantee a finish above Wales. They’ve played well at times over the last few weeks but without showing enough quality to suggest they can beat Ireland. The visitors could well be a little flat, however, and it’s unlikely to be a huge score. They’ll want to finish strongly for the retiring Peter O’Mahony, Cian Healy and Conor Murray, but that’s a different motivation than going playing for a Grand Slam.

Ireland should win but I’m going a little conservative on the margin. Prediction: Ireland by 16

Wales v England

Things are set up beautifully for Wales to beat England here. They are facing the wooden spoon, they’ve changed their coach midway through the tournament, and England are still in contention for the tournament without ever looking like the deserve to win it.

However, logic suggests that England will win, given Wales’ historic run of defeats and I’m not going to pick Wales. It’s another slightly odd selection from Steve Borthwick, and although on paper they should still be good enough to win in Cardiff, I think it could be uncomfortable at times. Prediction: England by 8

France v Scotland

The Scots will reflect on yet another disappointing tournament, in which they failed to turn up against Ireland and then lost a game to England that they should have won. They’ll go to Paris with Ireland and England cheering them on, but any hopes of them preventing France winning the title seem forlorn.

France have been the best team in the tournament by some distance, and if they had just played at 60% instead of 50% against England, this would be a procession to the Grand Slam. I think they’ll beat Scotland with room to spare here. Prediction: France by 23

How do you see the final round playing out?