Six Nations Betting Tips & Preview

England are 8-13 to set a new record of 19 for consecutive Test wins and claim back-to-back Grand Slams in Dublin on Saturday evening and it is hard to argue with that price.

Eddie Jones promised his side were building to a crescendo and would put on a performance against Scotland at Twickenham last week and didn't they just do that - with a little help from the visitors' indiscipline - in running out 61-20 winners. 

The Red Rose running lines off a slick set-piece were simply sublime and once they had opened up the big lead, the intensity of their defence did not need to be all-or-nothing.

By contrast Ireland's hopes of a third title in four years were ended in Cardiff after defeat in a bruising Friday night battle. Scrum-Half Conor Murray and Full-Back Rob Kearney are high-class absentees and plenty more of Joe Schmidt's side, who also lost in Edinburgh in round one, could be defying serious wear and tear.

And while England have lost five of their last six Six Nations visits to Dublin and have fallen at the final Grand Slam and title hurdle on a few occasions since 2003, they have the positive memories of winning in Paris last March to complete the set.

Ireland to win the first half at 6-4 is a good value bet though. Wales and Italy were in front of England at the interval in rounds two and three, while France were level at 9-9.

Ireland put Wales under plenty of pressure in the first half and were only a couple of clean catch and drives away from scoring the first try and they will be determined not to be cut to shreds by England like they were by the Red Dragons for George North's two first-half tries. 

Lions tour spots are now the focus of the senior Ireland players, most of whom were involved in stopping New Zealand's winning streak at 18 in Chicago in the autumn, and the bedrock of Wales' success was that they shackled Ireland's huge ball-carrying Back Row of CJ Stander, Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip. 

Stander and co. will be determined to make amends, particularly by targeting the Fly-Half channel as George Ford's tackling can be suspect. England will likely concentrate on locking them down again in the first period - Billy Vunipola's return at No.8 is a defensive measure as much as an attacking one - and then unleash their finishers to both maintain the grip and take advantage of tired legs.

The Back Row will not be the only Ireland players targeting the England Fly-Half channel. Fly-Half Johnny Sexton loves taking it to the line of contact and Ireland will not have forgotten how Wales worked a try for Left-Wing Liam Williams on an inside pass after a scrum move.

England have also kept their discipline well this tournament but Ireland have the power at the scrum with Props Jack McGrath and Tadgh Furlong and the breakdown nous to draw a yellow card from the likes of Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Joe Marler, James Haskell and Courtney Lawes.

Any first-half sin bin should not be terminal to England's given the verve with which they have played after the break under Jones for 13 months now. They have won 16 of 17 second-halves and their bench at the Aviva contains the usual heady mix of power and pace from Front-Rowers Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Kyle Sinckler to Utility Backs Ben Te'o and Jack Nowell, via two bulldozing Back-Rowers and snappy Scrum-Half Danny Care.

Scotland can start the final afternoon of the 2017 Six Nations by bringing down the curtain on Coach Vern Cotter's tenure in charge with a big victory over Italy. A handicap of 25 points is well within their reach at Murrayfield.

The Scots were humiliated at Twickenham on Saturday after arrivng in West London full of hope of theTriple Crown and maybe the title but rather than feeling sorry for themselves, they will be determined to replicate the stirring first half of their win over Ireland and the dashing second half of their win over Wales.

Italy have been feeble defensively in the second half of all four rounds in the tournament. It is hard not to see that trend continuing with Scotland scoring at least two tries in every game. 

Sergio Parisse is a sporadic performer nowadays and the visitors' liveliest attacking spark Outside Centre Michele Campagnaro is not in the Matchday 23.

Scotland Outside Centre Huw Jones scored two of the team's three tries at Twickenham and he can carve up the Azzurri defence like he did the Australians in November for one, if not two, touchdowns. 

George North was one of several Wales players to put in a performance against Ireland that got them right back into the reckoning for a Lions tour spot and they can secure a sixth win on the spin against Les Bleus and he can score a fourth try of the tournament in Paris.

France finally showed some flair under Guy Noves in Rome last Saturday but they were helped by the paucity of Italy's defence and while their powerful forwards will be a supreme test for the Red Dragons pack, they did not overwhelm Scotland at Stade de France in round two and made plenty of basic errors that were not fully capitalised upon.

Wales' Back Row tackled Ireland to a standstill last week and they definitely found their fluency in attack again with Scrum-Half Rhys Webb a constant menace.

Right Wing North, who has crossed three times in seven games against Les Bleus, scored a superb try in Rome in round one to make it a try in five straight Six Nations matches and he appeared to be back to his best in barging through tackles for his brace against Ireland.