Although Ireland and Wales are both chasing the Grand Slam dream, France are still in the running to retain the trophy. This means that this weekend’s key match comes from Dublin, which Les Bleus must realistically win. If you’re thinking about having a punt on the game, you should consider opening an account with Sporting Index*. They are offering a number of markets on the match and a range of free bets** to new clients. Here’s what their Senior Rugby Market Maker had to say ahead of the match:

Ireland v France (13:30 Saturday, BBC1)

We’ve only seen fleeting glimpses of France’s potential so far in this tournament, but they’ll need to deliver for the entire 80 minutes in order to get a result here. It’s a tough game to call, but with home advantage Ireland have to be slight favourites. They will certainly miss D’Arcy and Horan; with Maggs and O’Driscoll in the centre they won’t have as many running options, but I think the game could be won and lost at the lineout. Although Ireland have done very well in this area, they will find the French much tougher to dominate than any of the teams they have played so far. As is always the case with such tight matches, goal kicking will be crucial. O’Gara was in excellent form against England, and I would back him to grab a few more points than Delaigue. All in all it should be close, but we’ve priced Ireland up to win by 4 to 6 points and end France’s hopes of retaining the trophy.

Latest Prices

Supremacy Bet Low Bet High
Ireland/France 4 6
England/Italy 26 29
Wales/Scotland (h) 10 13

‘Supremacy’ is a market predicting a team’s dominance over their opposition. Sporting Index predict the margin (in points) by which a given team (named first, above) will beat their opponents by, and you decide whether their prediction is either too high or too low.

How much you win (or lose) depends on how right (or wrong) you are.

Six Nations Promotion

Sporting Index is running a Player Try Minutes promotion on every Six Nations match this year:

Buy (bet ‘high’ on) a player’s try minutes in any of this year’s Six Nations matches and if he is named RBS man of the match, they will add 10 points on to his final result, even if he doesn’t score a try.**

To qualify all bets must be placed before kick off.

Free £200 Football Bet**

Open a Sporting Index account* and place ten bets (risking £20 per bet) to claim a free £200 per goal football bet.

If that doesn’t grab you, then you can always claim £100 cash** (after 10 bets as above).

*Credit and suitability checks,
**terms and conditions apply. See site for full details about an account with Sporting Index. Sports spread betting is high risk and is not suitable for everyone. You can lose more than your original stake so make sure you understand the risks involved. Sporting Index is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.