England have the chance of winning their first Grand Slam and
Triple Crown since 2003 against Wales this weekend, with the Welsh equally
capable of claiming the 2013 Six nations title with a victory themselves at the
Millennium Stadium.
Cardiff will be awash with noise and expectation from both
sets of supporters and the game is set to go down as a Six Nations classic with
plenty of opportunities to win money for smart punters on Betfair.
The first is really quite simple: who will win? Well,
England have made a habit of eking out results this Championship without really
performing to the top level and against a revived Wales may find it tough to
keep out Lee Halfpenny and co.
However, with Owen Farrell expected to return to fly-half
and locks Geoff Parling, Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes all in line to make
comebacks following last week’s injury haul, Stuart Lancaster’s men should have
enough to keep the Welsh at bay while kicking to Grand Slam glory.
Trends on the price of the winning margin, however, suggest
this game will be tight. Wales are slight favourites on Betfair to win with a
+2.5-point advantage, meaning England must kick more efficiently than their
opponents if punters are to come out on top in this market.
As for first point scorers, the odds are locked together but
fans should side with England to break the deadlock early on.
For although Wales have opened the scoring in two of their
four Six Nations games (against lowly Scotland and Italy), England have scored
at least three minutes into every game so far.
Early leads have been their greatest threat this year and
have won games they may otherwise have soundly lost. If England point first
again on Saturday there may be no stopping Lancaster’s side from securing the
Grand Slam – an achievement none thought possible until a certain New Zealand
encounter last autumn.
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