Six Nations championship weekend preview

March 16, 2007

The Six Nations tournaments wraps up Saturday with the three final matches and everything to play for. Rugby Planet has their last-minute previews up. Here are the excerpted details (click on links to view complete previews):

Italy vs. Ireland at Stadio Flaminio, Rome.

Italy: 15 Roland De Marigny, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Maurizio Zaffiri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellapè, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Salvatore Perugini. Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Fabio Staibano, 18 Valerio Bernabò, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Paul Griffen, 21 Andrea Scanavacca, 22 Matteo Barbini.

Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Denis Hickie, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan or Simon Best. Replacements: 16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Simon Best or Bryan Young, 18 Trevor Hogan 19 Neil Best, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Andrew Trimble.

Date: Saturday, March 17
Venue: Stadio Flaminio, Rome
Kick-off: 14:30 local (13:30 UTC/GMT) 09:30 am EDT (New York, Toronto)
Expected weather conditions: Scattered clouds, clearing, with a high of 18°C, dropping to 8°C and a freshening westerly of 14 km/h
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges: Tony Spreadbury (England), Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: David Changleng (Scotland)
Assessor: Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Rugby Planet prediction: Ireland to win by 15 points.

France vs. Scotland at Stade de France, Paris.

France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Jerome Thion, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Raphael Ibanez (captain), 1 Olivier Milloud. Replacements: 16 Nicolas Mas, 17 Sebastian Bruno, 18 Pascal Papè, 19 Elvis Vermeulen, 20 Jean-Baptise Elissalde, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Christophe Dominici.

Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson (captain), 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Rob Dewey, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Kelly Brown, 6 Simon Taylor, 5 Scott Murray, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Gavin Kerr. Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Allan Jacobsen, 18 Jim Hamilton, 19 Allister Hogg, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Marcus Di Rollo, 22 Rory Lamont.

Date: Saturday, March 17
Time: 16:30 local (15:30 UTC/GMT) 11:30 am EDT (New York, Toronto)
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: David Courtney (Ireland), Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Television match official: Simon McDowell
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie

Rugby Planet prediction: France to win by 12 points.

Wales vs. England at Millenium Stadium, Cardiff.

Wales: 15 Kevin Morgan, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Gareth Thomas (c), 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Alix Popham, 5 Alun Wynn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Chris Horsman, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins. Replacements: 16 Rhys Thomas, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Adam Jones, 19 Brent Cockbain, 20 Jonathan Thomas, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Gareth Thomas.

England: 15 Mark Cueto, 14 David Strettle, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Mike Catt (c), 11 Jason Robinson, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Tom Rees, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Martin Corry, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Tim Payne. Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Stuart Turner, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Shaun Perry, 21 Shane Geraghty, 22 Jamie Noon.

Date: Saturday, March 17
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 17:30 local (17:30 UTC/GMT) 01:30 pm EDT (New York, Toronto)
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Alan Lewis (Ireland), Christophe Berdos (France)
Television match official: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assessor: Jim Bailey (Wales)

Rugby Planet prediction: England to win by 12 points.

If Rugby Planet's predictions come true, then France should win the competition by a single point on the tie-breaker (see immediate post below, plus "Calculators at the ready." ). That's how close it is. In fact, even Italy stands a chance to win the comp. Sure, they'd need help ~ France and England would have to lose, and Italy would have to beat Ireland by a cricket score. It begs the question of whether the Six Nations should adopt the "bonus-point" system implemented by SANZAR. The Telegraph's Mick Cleary investigates.

If you're in strife and need to know the results as they happen, check BBC for live audio and score tickers.