France host Italy in Round 3 of the Six Nations in Lille on Sunday and Les Bleus are firm favourites to take another step towards a possible Grand Slam.
France v Italy, Sunday 22nd February, Lille, KO 17:10 (South African time)
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (RFU), Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
Weather Forecast - Lille
France:
France have made a perfect start to their defence of the 6N title with 2 bonus point wins for the maximum 10 log points and they finished Round 2 with 4 points worth of daylight over second placed Scotland.
Les Bleus ran in 8 tries in their 54-12 hiding of Wales in Cardiff in Round 2, covering a handicap that had settled at 31.5 points. Gailleton (2), Bielle-Biarrey (11), Brau-Boirie (15), Jalibert (39), Marchand (44), Attissogbe (49,58) and Ollivon (61) were the ty scorers and Ramos landed with 7 conversions in a one sided contest.
France came into their Round 1 clash with Ireland in Paris as favourites, trading at around -13.5 points on the main handicap line. They scored the first 29 points of the game and went on to win 36-14, scoring 3 tries in the first half, one at the start of the second and another at the death to secure the maximum 5 log points. Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored 2 tries and the others came from Matthieu Jalibert, Charles Ollivon and Theo Attissogbe with Thomas Ramos landing 4 conversions and a penalty.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have France priced up as 1 / 10 favourites to retain the title and 6/10 to complete the Grand Slam
Results and Fixtures: R1 Ireland (h) won 36-14, R2 Wales (a) won 54-12, R3 Italy (h), R4 Scotland (a), R5 England (h)
Italy:
Italy have a record of 1 win and 1 defeat and they have picked up 5 log points so far, good enough for fourth place behind England on points difference.
In Round 2 Italy threatened to surprise Ireland in Dublin, leading 10-5 at half time but they eventually went down 20-13 and came away with a losing bonus point. Nicotera scored their only try of the game towards the end of the first half which Paolo Garbisi converted and also landed a penalty. After Ireland pulled clear another Garbisi penalty put Italy back in range and they were threatening at the death but unable to add another score.
Italy were 8.5 point underdogs for their clash with Scotland in Rome and they didn’t need any of it as they came out on top 18-15. Tries in the first 13 minutes from Louis Lynagh and Tommaso Menoncello put them in control, Paolo Garbisi landed one conversion and a couple of penalties either side of half time and although Scotland reduced the deficit with plenty of time remaining Italy had done enough.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have Italy priced up as 100/1 shots to win the title and they are 11/2 to finish with the wooden spoon.
Results and Fixtures: R1 Scotland (h) won 18-15, R2 Ireland (a) lost 20-13, R3 France (a), R4 England (h), R5 Wales (a)
Recent Head to Head
Feb 2025 6N Rome Italy 24-73 France
Feb 2024 6N Lille France 13-13 Italy
Oct 2023 RWC Lyon France 60-7 Italy
Feb 2023 6N Rome Italy 24-29 France
Feb 2022 6N Paris France 37-10 Italy
Team News
France: tbc
Italy: tbc
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
France -29.5 points at 9/10
Italy +29.5 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
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.
