England vs Ireland

After a fallow week the Six Nations returns for the final two rounds of fixtures and England will be looking to bounce back from their Murrayfield meltdown when they welcome Ireland to Twickenham on Saturday. 

The visitors have been in imperious form so far with three bonus point victories from three games and know another bonus point victory will secure back-to-back Six Nations title (and keep them on course for successive Grand Slams).  

England vs Ireland Prediction 

It’s no surprise to see Andy Farrell’s side arrive as heavy favourites with a best price of 2/9 available on Sky Bet, but they are as short as 1/6. They have picked themselves up remarkably well after their disappointing World Cup exit and the handicap of -12 speaks volumes about their form. 

By contrast, England are still yet to convince in several aspects of their game and can be backed at a best price of 22/5 on Unibet.

While Ireland have looked in very little danger in their opening three games, there were definite periods against Wales where they struggled to break the Welsh defence down, with a lot of lateral play, but even with that they were able to sweep Wales aside. 

That could be where England have the most joy on Saturday - the blitz defence and pressurising the intricate Irish attack – but that is a big ask. 

The set-piece battle will be crucial as it is in all test matches. Again England might take some heart from their recent performances in this area against Ireland; if the referee likes what he sees from the home side in that area they could milk some penalties and create scoreboard pressure. 

But outside of those areas it’s tough to see Steve Borthwick’s side really causing Ireland problems with ball in hand. The defence of the visitors has looked imperious so far and will be ready for anything England can throw at them. 

England vs Ireland Lineups

England Team to Play Ireland

Furbank; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Lawrence, Freeman; Ford, Mitchell; Genge, George (capt), Cole, Itoje, Martin, Chessum, Underhill, Earl.

Ireland Team To Play England

H Keenan; C Nash, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Lowe; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, T Beirne, P O'Mahony (capt), J van der Flier, C Doris.

England vs Ireland Team News

  • England have made three changes to the starting XV from the Scotland game and have also made two changes to the bench. 
  • Winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso makes his first start for England after an impressive bench cameo against Scotland, he replaces Elliot Daly who drops to the bench.
  • Alex Mitchell returns at scum-half after missing the Scotland game, with Danny Care returning to the bench, where he is joined by the returning Marcus Smith.
  • George Martin starts in the engine room, with Ollie Chessum moving to blindside flanker, meaning Ethan Roots drops out of the matchday 23, with Alex Dombrandt coming in on the bench. 
  • Hugo Keenan returns at full-back for Ireland having missed the Wales game with an injury in the only change to the Irish lineup. 

England vs Ireland Betting Tips

Ireland winning margin 16-20 points @ 11/2

It’s no surprise to look through the recent history and see Ireland have the upper hand over England. In their last 20 tests the Irish have won a staggering 19 times and have also won their last four games against England. 

Those four victories have all been by double digit margins with margins of 19, 13, 17 and 14 – an average margin of 15.75 points. And that winning margin stat is where I’m looking for a bet in this game. 

We all know that England are struggling, but I would be astonished if they don’t at least put up some good resistance for at least 40 minutes, but I think that could be the limits of their ambition in this contest.

Once Ireland get into those rhythmic attacking patterns they just wear sides down and score some superb tries; however, as I mentioned ahead of the Wales game the defence is actually the key to this bet (hopefully) landing. 

Conceding a measly eight points per game across the three games so far is outstanding and has set them up for an average winning margin of 27 points so far this tournament. 

While I’d be surprised to see England blown away by that margin, Ireland are still the far superior side and I would be backing them to win by 16-20 points at a best price of 11/2 on Coral.