Six Nations Rugby Preview – 3.00 pm kick off
Looking at the outright winner market for Italy v Ireland you obviously are not going to be looking at the Irish to come away with a victory in Rome. The men in green are such overwhelming favourites to claim the win. It may all be down to matter of margins in the handicap markets.
Italy v Ireland odds*
Ireland 1/1000
Italy 16/1
Draw 66/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on February 18th, 2019 at 6:02 pm)
Italy v Ireland Preview
Ireland recovered from their tough opening defeat against England to post a win at Murrayfield last time out in the Six Nations. The Irish put on a good strong, cohesive display, the kind of stuff that was missing in Dublin against the English. Ireland posted an excellent 22-13 victory over the Scots, running in three ties in the match.
That victory leaves them fourth in the table heading into the third weekend of action in this season’s Championship. But with the top two of England and Wales squaring off in Cardiff, then the Irish will get the chance to close in a little bit on second place. Ireland are four points behind second-placed with Wales, with Scotland in third a point ahead of the Irish. This is more than a winnable match for Ireland and there should be a bonus point on offer.
Head to Head
The Irish have won all but one of the last ten meetings with Italy in the last decade of the Six Nations Championships. So they are powerfully ahead. So again, it’s not about the outcome in terms of who wins the match, it is about how big of a margin of victory Ireland can post.
Each of Ireland’s last five wins over Italy have been by at least 23 points. Four of their last five have been by at least 37 point victories. An Ireland -29 handicap is at 10/11 for the fixture* (betting odds taken from bet365 on February 18th, 2019 at 5:15 pm)
91st Oscars 2019 – Predictions & Winner Odds
Italy facing wooden spoon
Italy have lost their opening two matches of the tournament. They suffered a 33-20 defeat in Scotland to open with, running in three ties in that end of the match only when the Scots had gone down to fourteen men. But they did at least show some adventure there. Then the Italians did give Wales a bit of a headache in Rome in their second match. The Azzurri still lost the match but it was a great effort from them in a 15-26 defeat, trading two tries with Dragons, but falling short in the kicking department.
Italy v Ireland Prediction
Of course, there is only going to be one outcome here. Italy showed some good work at home against Wales last time out, but they still came up short. We expect them to do so again, and this is a good chance for the Irish to try and cut loose in a bit in expressing themselves with their running game. Ireland -29 handicap at 10/11* (betting odds taken from bet365 on February 18th, 2019 at 5:15 pm)
