England Home at Last
After a fortnight's break, the Six Nations returns this weekend with the penultimate round of matches. Twickenham sees action for the first time since the tournament began last month, and although England may be out of the reckoning, there is sure to be plenty of interest among both spectators and spread bettors. The Sporting Index traders pitch this as one of the most even match-ups of the tournament so far, with the supremacy spread set at just 0-3pts in favour of France. Les Bleus are still in with a shout of winning the tournament and spread bettors will be watching how the outright tournament spreads move after the weekend. France are currently at 27-30pts on the index (60 points for winner, 40pts to runner-up, 20pts to third, 10pts to fourth and 5pts to fifth-place) so sellers at 27 will be hoping for an England victory in their home stadium to help ensure the French finish third at best in the final standings.
Owing to success in the World Cup tournaments and regular friendly fixtures, the sides have met on no less than 15 occasions since 2000, offering spread punters plenty on which to base their betting decisions. England have been victorious on the last two occasions, including a taut semi-final in the 2007 World Cup. Buyers of France's win index spread will be pleased to know that France emerged victorious after the teams' last meeting at Twickenham however (a World Cup warm up) and that France have won two of the last five meetings at England's home venue, the other being a one-point win in the 2005 Six Nations. Sellers of France's supremacy spread might be keen to know that across the five games England's average supremacy is 8 points although buyers of the spread may be even more concerned if they look at the prior head-to-head match at Twickenham in April 2001 � England recorded their largest ever points haul over their continental counterparts, winning 48-19.
Ireland are looking increasingly likely to break their streak without a tournament win since 1985 and, at 43-46 on the outright index spread ahead of Wales at 38-41, are slight favourites with Sporting Index's rugby traders. It will therefore be unsurprising that Ireland are 5-8 point favourites in the supremacy spread over Scotland for their match at Murrayfield this weekend. Buyers of the spread may be confident after witnessing Ireland's strong performances in the tournament so far but sellers will point out that the Irish only scraped victory over England by a single point. Buyers can take further encouragement though from the number of points each side has scored in the tournament so far, with Ireland's 82 outweighing Scotland's 52 for a total supremacy of 30, and an average supremacy of 10 points. But after Ireland's slow start against the French and a nervous finish against the English, buyers of Scotland's win index will remain hopeful of an upset and in-play spread bettors in particular will be looking for plenty of opportunities for value wagers over the course of the match.
Related links:
