The first action in the third round of the Six Nations matches comes from Twickenham on Saturday where England clash with Ireland and both sides are playing catch up in terms of the race to win the title.
England v Ireland, Saturday 21st February, Twickenham, KO 16:10 (South African time)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistant Referees: Pierre Brousset (FFR), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
Weather Forecast – Twickenham
England:
England come into the game with 1 win and 1 defeat against their name and they are third in the standings with 5 points, 1 point shy of second placed Scotland and 5 adrift of defending champions France.
In Round 2 England were in Edinburgh for a clash with the Scots, they started the game as 7.5 point favourites on the bookmakers main handicap line and looking to extend their winning streak to 13 matches but they came unstuck and eventually went down 31-20. Scotland scored the first 17 points of the match and led 24-10 at half time and Henry Arundell (who scored England’s first half try) picked up a 20 minute red card in that first 40 minutes. The Scots extended their lead and a late try from Ben Earl was in vain as England left Murrayfield empty handed.
England began their tournament at home to Wales and they picked up where they left off 2025 with a thumping 48-7 win. They easily covered the main handicap line which settled in the region of 27.5 points, scoring 7 tries in total including a first half hat trick for Henry Arundell. England’s other tries came from Ben Earl, Tom Roebuc a penalty try and finally Tommy Freeman. George Ford landed 4 conversions and a penalty.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have England priced up as 8/1 to win the title
Results and Fixtures: R1 Wales (h) won 48-7, R2 Scotland (a) lost 31-20, R3 Ireland (h), R4 Italy (a), R5 France (a)
Ireland:
Ireland finished Round 2 in fifth place, also with 1 win and 1 defeat but they have just the 4 log points.
They opened their account in Round 2 with a 20-13 win over Italy in Dublin and it was hard work as they had to come from 10-5 down at half time and dig deep to see Italy off. Tries from Osborne in the first half and Conan and Baloucoune in the second saw Ireland home but they came up short of a bonus point.
Ireland were given around 13.5 points tart on the bookmakers main handicap line for their Round 1 clash with France in Paris and that wasn’t enough as they finished well beaten 36-14. France scored the first 29 points of the game before Ireland scored 2 tries either side of the hour mark through Nick Timoney and Michael Milne both converted by Sam Prendergast. Les Bleus scored 5 tries in total to secure a bonus point and Ireland left empty handed.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have Ireland priced at 50/1 to win the title and 6/1 for the triple crown.
Results and Fixtures: R1 France (a) lost 36-14, R2 Italy (h) won 20-13, R3 England (a), R4 Wales (h), Scotland (h)
Recent Head to Head
Feb 2025 6N Dublin Ireland 27-22 England
Mar 2024 6N Twickenham England 23-22 Ireland
Aug 2023 INT Dublin Ireland 29-10 England
Mar 2023 6N Dublin Ireland 29-16 England
Mar 2022 6N Twickenham England 15-32 Ireland
Team News
England: tbc
Ireland: tbc
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
England -11.5 points at 9/10
Ireland +11.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for this week’s internationals will follow here nearer to match day
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.