Irl & Leinsfan) - Agree with your comments Tim on the new England team. It is the six nations so anything can happen. While I am confident that Irl can do it in Dublin (important factor). However one concern I have is the weather, namely from an Irish perspective that it is dry and no rain. If raining, would be concerned about England's bench in the last 20 mins! Lets hope for a great game of rugby.

Sheehan was very impressive 1st game back but sensible to start him on bench. Miss McCarthy size and presence. Would have Nash or O'Brien for Hansen. No Henderson or Healy. Fair enough Murray in for injured Casey.

Spagnolo, Zambonin and Lynagh are out for injuries. A little suggestion about pronunciation: it's LouKKesi, not Liuccesi. When you have "ch" it's as english "k". Same for "gh": always strong.

I feel sorry for Wales! This French side are absolutely stacked!! I can see them putting 40 or 50 points on this Welsh side! Way too much fire power! They will be very hard to beat!!

Hate Cappuzo on the wing. He's way better at 15 where he has a roving role and can act as 2nd playmaker far more effectively.

Cummings is a huge miss for SCO. Lots of folk going on about Tuipulotu’s absence but forwards win games, backs decide by how much.

Shame you didn’t do the Welsh team😞

Agree with you on the 6/2. May reckon they dont need it for Italy and as you say want to see a bit of Tom.

As an Irish fan, England to win with that team.

They've picked Allen at 15 to counteract Scotlands kicking game. Cherry is in cos Ashman's darts are ropey. Scotland have 3 backs on the bench because they want to up the tempo late and belive they;re fitter. Italy have more forwards on the bench cos they know it's true. The key to beating Scotland (as always) is starve us of quick ball. If it's tight, Scotland will always cough up a gift for the opposition and they just have to be alert enough to take it. Scotland will be aiming to play like the first 20min of last year's game for the whole match and wipe Italy out. If they can keep their foot on the pedal, they might just do that. If they stumble at all, it'll open the door for Italy to win. Both teams rely on confidence and I'm predicting either a big win for Scotland or a tight win for Italy. There's no way Scotland will scrape through if they give italy a sniff.

Not bothered anymore cant wont wa5ch euro cup anymore gone from sky to bt to tnt and now to f. Ing premier sports had enough of sub channels f ing me about and paying another fee. Ive had enough

Here’s another visionary prediction “Prendegast off with concussion”

Nice one, as usual. Always interesting and a pleasure to hear about French rugby from non-french observers to escape chauvinism. On top, analysis are always relevant and appropriate. Let's see what will be the outcome from the next Crunch to come 👍

I “feel” a unexpected win for England. Ireland don’t have head coach Farrell, there’s nothing amazing about the Irish team anymore. The November tests didn’t go well for Ireland. Neither for England but … there were discovered players. Should be a great match. Home advantage counts but I find England have something to prove

Come on England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿! Underdogs again. No shame in losing away to Ireland. Play with freedom (and batter Prenderlank)

Come on France 🇫🇷 from England ❤

Club rugby in England ain't good enough.

Of all the 6N games this is the one that will decide the most Lions winners and Losers

No mention of calvin nash? Im a leinster fan but i think nash has been ripping it up. Him over lowe and also, henderson is not at the races nor is. Ian healy. I fear an upset here.... england will be ripping it up.

Mack Hansen is miles ahead of Freeman, sorry Tim

Close game incoming! I'm nervously excited..

England, Wales are not competitive, Italy getting better every year. , England will be out of top ten in world, after six nations & fighting ,wales for the wooden spoon,,

Looking forward to all your insights over sixmass.

Scotland to win this six Nations from a Bok supporter I will be cheering them on.

What happened McCarthy?

England by 20

Henderson out because he’s been injured and Cormac in as more explosive like Joe. Same mistake as last time if we’re chasing. Could even have gone 6/2 and added Sam’s brother and Connacht captain Cian. Calvin Nash is more in form than Hansen and should’ve begun at 14. I wouldn’t have Healy, if Tom wasn’t banned or if Loughman wasn’t injured. I know Healy is great but we have to rip the bandage off.

Or is it Pretender-goat?

Lions fixture dates mean anyone based in France has no chance of selection The first fixture is June 20th against Argentina, the same day as the top 14 semi final playoffs. Top 14 final is June 28th, by which time the Lions are in Perth playing Western Force. You have to assume both Willis and Kinghorn will be involved in those, and by default, won't be anywhere near the squad. You can't miss initial selection, weeks of training, 2 games, then travel to Australia and catch up. Wouldbt be fair on them, or any other player that is available. Only real possibility is as an injury replacement.

Basically Ierland

PrenderCLASS

Quality analysis and well presented. As usual.

As a Scotsman il delighted that Willis currently doesn’t start for England…. Even more delighted when he starts a Lions Test . He will probably be on the bench to cover the entire back row ;)

Hoping Scotland kicks off with a win but really surprised at bookies giving them a massive head start. Italy defence is strong and have great counter players. Sleeper for game of the round

Ruzza the best line 2nd row last 6 nations and Lamaro the best ever tackler in the tournament history and a great leader, and they are out. As you said the best centre combo last year. I think Tim God Bless you you don't want to upset your Scottish following which would higher than your Italian

I can’t help but think that England will really be missing Sam underhill this is exactly his type of game

Out of bith teams the man who should be most pissed off is Calvin Nash. Sorry, but its bloody ridiculous hansen starts ahead of him

mange tout rodney

Italy have always targetted this as their best opportunity for 6 Nations points, and I dont see that changing on Saturday. We can be good. We can be bad. Wonder what Scotland will turn up on Saturday.

Ireland stronger at Scrum time,lineouts & critically in the centres.Ireland by 7

Where is Matt Williams now????? He is conspicuous by his silence!!!!! Well done Ireland for using SA bench tactics. Williams time as a pundit is over. PS. Freedom of speech for those who are going to try and force their POV’s

Finn Baxter is such a step down in class. Not intl calibre, Would have had OpF instead. I think we also see Finn smith after 30mins as Steward gets hooked off , how does he still get a game for club let alone country

Great to see Stafford starting. He wont let us down. This will be a close one.

Thanks for your work. I think it will be a butchery, France will win by 40 or 50pts, as Toulouse and Bordeaux did recently in the Investec. Against Ireland it won t be the same story.

I think Hendy is in there as the line out works better with him in there.

Townsend basically said the “fundamentals” were why Cherry was brought back into the squad. Our lineout was really poor overall in the autumn, so makes sense

Si knows the craic. Great that Dan is back. Sound team. The English have a sound team, too: and a great new Cap'n who'll go 80+. "Rust will fly!" Cheers Tim👍You do a great job🏴‍☠ ☘

If the last few games in this fixture are anything to go by, this match will be a real test of depth off the bench. England have really fronted up against Ireland in recent times, being in games they had no right to be in the circumstances, and while you can argue Ireland have the better starting XV, it's not so clear when you consider the whole 23-player matchday squad. Both teams struggled with bench impact in the Autumn so it will be interesting to see who will get it right this Saturday. Very excited for this one!

Italy +18.5 might be ridiculous value. Not sure Cherry, Gilco, Gray, Ritchie, McDowall, Brown (ahead of Cam Henderson???) have it. Kind of looks like a team from 5 years ago

Come on France,,, England should get used to fourth place with Borthwick as coach,, shame because England have top players,,