France v England Preview - Six Nations Round Five

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France are the only team remaining that can lift the Grand Slam and are heavy favourites (1.36) to win the competition going into the last game week in what has been a thrilling Six Nations. The last time Les Bleus won the Six Nations was back in 2010, when they also lifted the Grand Slam, with a team that was led by the likes of Thierry Dusautoir and the always exciting Sebastien Chabal. 

The big talking point surrounding England at the moment is Charlie Ewell's red card challenge just two minutes into the match against Ireland. Safety is of paramount importance when dealing with head injuries in a sport like rugby and although it may have dampened England’s hopes of winning the Championship, it certainly didn’t stop them from playing their very hardest right until the final whistle.

Over the past couple of years, the French have struggled on the last game day of the Six Nations posing a record of W3-L5 since 2014. One of these wins was against Italy so it shouldn’t really be counted given the lack of quality Italy have shown since being introduced into the Six Nations back in the 2000s. 

The head-2-head aspect of this matchup falls heavily in England’s favour boasting a record of W7-L3 since the start of 2013. It must be said that the teams of the past didn’t have Anthoine Dupont who has proved worthy of his “World Rugby Player of the Year” accolade. Despite England winning the majority of games, eight out of the ten matches finished within ten points and six were within seven points. 

England +9 Handicap

The evens handicap line currently lies at -8.5 France and +7 England, if we look at the games that both teams have played during this tournament you will see that both teams would have won three out of four games with this handicap, the matches that didn’t come off where France’s narrow victory over Wales (13-9) and England's loss against Ireland (32-15) in their most recent game. 

When we look at the previous games between the two sides we will see that England +7 is obviously the most fruitful bet because they won a large chunk of matches but the tides are no longer in England’s favour, as they so often were in the past. England +7 came off in nine out of the ten fixtures and France -8.5 didn’t come off a single time.

The best bet here is England +9 because of a few factors; France have seemed to struggle in the last game of the Six Nations, this is a huge game for France and they may buckle under the pressure and finally, this bet came off in every match played between the two sides since 2013.

PREDICTION:

ENGLAND +9 HANDICAP