Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

The Breakdown: A statistical look at the fifth round of Six Nations matches

Wales coach Warren Gatland

Three teams can still win the 2019 Six Nations as we enter the final round of matches this weekend.

ADVERTISEMENT

Wales are in the driving seat, but they must defeat defending champions Ireland in order to be assured of the title and the Grand Slam.

England could also steal victory if Ireland win in Cardiff and Eddie Jones’ men defeat Calcutta Cup rivals Scotland.

Meanwhile, there is little on the line for Italy and France as they reprise a usually one-sided fixture.

With the help of Opta, we take a statistical look at the fifth and final round of matches.

Italy v France

Italy have endured another miserable Six Nations campaign and history would suggest it is unlikely to get better against France.

The Azzurri – on a record 21-match losing run in the Six Nations – have only beaten France twice in 19 meetings in the championship, winning just three of 40 such clashes in all competitions. However, Les Bleus have only won once themselves in this campaign.

Sergio Parisse is set to captain Italy for the 50th time in the competition.

ADVERTISEMENT

Wales v Ireland

The Grand Slam is on the line for Wales as they face defending champions Ireland, with Warren Gatland’s men chasing their 12th in tournament history and fourth in the current format. It would also be the fifth time the Grand Slam has been won at the Principality Stadium – Ireland accounted for one of those.

Wales – on a 13-Test win streak – have won their last two home Six Nations matches against Ireland, but Joe Schmidt’s men have triumphed in their last four championship away games.

Welsh captain Alun Wyn Jones will win his 134th cap and draw level with Gethin Jenkins as his country’s most capped player, fifth in the worldwide list.

Watch: Wales head coach Warren Gatland on Grand Slam match with Ireland

Video Spacer

ADVERTISEMENT

England v Scotland

If Wales slip up, England will have the opportunity to take advantage and win the championship if they can beat Calcutta Cup rivals Scotland, who won the sides’ last Six Nations meeting.

That was Scotland’s first win in 10 against their old rivals in the competition, however, while England have only lost four of the teams’ 48 Twickenham clashes – most recently in 1983.

Scotland’s last trip to England saw them suffer their joint-worst defeat in the history of this Test fixture, going down 61-21.

Watch: Eddie Jones speaks to RugbyPass ahead of England’s final Six Nations game.

Video Spacer

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

f
fl 1 hour ago
Gloucester respond to complaints over Russian flag

I don't listen to Nigel Farage. Really not sure where you'd be getting that from. Maybe you should stick to responding to what I've actually said, rather than speculating about my sources.


I'm not sure what you think Putin is going to do. He'll probably conquer Ukraine, but its taken him a long time, and cost him a lot of soldiers. Hitler overran France in a matter of weeks and then started bombing Britain. At this rate Putin might make it to Paris by 2080? I think he'll give up long before then!


I don't see what Stalinist language policy has to do with any of what we're talking about. De-Ukrainization took place in the 1930s, but the genocide of Palestine is taking place in 2025. If your argument is that the invasion of Ukraine is part of a longer history of Russian suppression of Ukraine then you might have a point, but that really just underlines the key difference between Hitler and Putin; Hitler wanted to dominate as much area as possible and so posed a threat to all of Europe, whereas Putin wants to force the assimilation of those who have historically been within the Russian sphere of influence, so only poses a threat to eastern europe and central asia.


"Read and think for yourself."

What would you recommend I read? On the genocide of Palestine I've found Patrick Wolfe's "Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native" and Sai Englert's "Settlers, Workers, and the Logic of Accumulation by Dispossession" especially useful - they might disabuse you of the notion that what we are witnessing is an "authoritarian criminal syndicate" fighting a nation! - rather Zionist genocide is a largely democratic process, arising from a structure of settler colonialism which has no analogue in Ukraine.

9 Go to comments
F
Flankly 1 hour ago
Six players Rassie Erasmus must hand Springbok debuts to in 2025

Sloppy piece by Josh. It should be Stormers, obviously.


Also:

David Kriel, who, like Hooker, is comfortable in both the midfield and the back-tree

Being comfortable in trees is kind of a quirky qualification for the Boks Office lads to emphasize.

2 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Gloucester respond to complaints over Russian flag Gloucester respond to complaints over Russian flag
Search