The 2025 Six Nations opened with an outstanding weekend of rugby with wins for France, Scotland and Ireland.
Wales, Italy and England will be hoping to bounce back in Round Two, before the first fallow week of the seven-week-long tournament.
The opening fixture of the second batch of games is a potential Wooden Spoon decider as Italy host Wales in Rome, while Saturday's late match is 'Le Crunch' between England and France at Twickenham.
It's then rounded off by the match at Murrayfield, where the Scots host the Irish on Sunday afternoon.
- ITALY -10.5
- JUAN IGNACIO BREX TO SCORE A TRY
- FRANCE -14.5
- IRELAND -9.5
- DAN SHEEHAN TO SCORE A TRY
Italy vs Wales
Italy look the most likely home team to prosper in round two and are tipped to beat Wales at the Stadio Olimpico.
The Azzurri outclassed Warren Gatland's side in Cardiff last year, with a couple of late Welsh scores after the Azzurri had switched off, adding some respectability to the 24-21 scoreline.
It was the second time in three meetings that Italy had beaten Wales, but both came in Cardiff and they have not had their number in Rome since a 23-20 victory at the Stadio Flaminio in 2007.
Italy had some good moments in their opening 31-19 defeat at Murrayfield but were sloppy on both sides of the ball and the Scots took advantage, especially classy centre Huw Jones, who grabbed a hat-trick.
Wales were overpowered in Paris, France easing off to 'only' win 43-0 on the opening night. They now face an Italy side that matched Les Bleus physically in last year's 13-13 draw and will be ready to outmuscle Gatland's extremely young visitors.
Centre Juan Ignacio Brex scored Italy's sole try in Edinburgh. The 32-year-old is a late bloomer but reads the game expertly and is the type of player who can pounce on any errors made by the visiting back-line.
Brex can contribute to a 14th straight Test defeat for the Welsh and, almost certainly, a second straight Six Nations Wooden Spoon.
ITALY -10.5JUAN IGNACIO BREX TO SCORE A TRY
England vs France
England showed improvement in Ireland but despite scoring two tries to close the gap on the scoreboard to 27-22, it felt like they again started to run out of steam when the game entered its final quarter, with Tadhg Beirne and Dan Sheehan touching down on 63 and 71 minutes.
That trait is more worrying considering that France are arguably even more physical than the Irish and are again expected to pack their bench with bruising forwards.
Les Bleus were sensational on their last trip to Twickenham, triumphing 53-10 in 2023. Last year's 33-31 win in Lyon was an all-time Six Nations classic, as the visitors, newly confident after shocking Ireland the previous week, ran from all corners, but Fabien Galthie's team clawed through to finish a mixed campaign on a high.
France looked to be approaching somewhere near their best during an unbeaten autumn campaign and played in third gear against Wales, with Antoine Dupont being withdrawn after 50 minutes.
The one blot was Romain Ntamack's needless red card for a high shot on Ben Thomas and the Toulouse man has subsequently been banned for the match at Twickenham.
Galthie has opted to select Matthieu Jalibert at fly-half, while Damian Penaud also returns to the wing to add further fire to a red-hot back-line.
England have also made changes, with Fin Smith handed his first Test start at fly-half, pushing namesake Marcus back to full-back, while Tom Willis is selected at number eight to provide more of a carrying threat.
Borthwick knows he has to get it right, as another defeat may cost him his job, even before Scotland visits in the middle round.
An improved showing won't be enough because, on paper, there are 20 points between these teams in terms of personnel and form.
There is the potential for things to be tighter but however well England play, France look too good to get derailed by the Red Rose's tactics and should run away with another victory.
FRANCE -14.5
Scotland vs Ireland
The only fixture to feature two teams who made winning starts to the tournament concludes the round, with Scotland hosting Ireland at Murrayfield.
The Scots were far from perfect against Italy but will benefit from a run-out, while, after failing to click in the autumn, the Irish looked far sharper and were the deserved winners over England.
There might be a change in Scotland's back-line. Replacing injured captain Sione Tuipulotu was always going to be a challenge, not just for his carrying and playmaking ability but also his communication skills that give Finn Russell a better picture of when to play and when to run through the phases.
Tuipulotu's Glasgow deputy Stafford McDowall did well in his absence but Tom Jordan's introduction brought more cohesion to the attack.
The Kiwi-born utility man usually plays 10 for Glasgow but has played across the back-line and showed in last weekend's cameo in the midfield that he has the physicality to feature at 12.
Whether it is McDowell or Jordan selected, their channel will inevitably get an early visit from powerful opposite number Bundee Aki. However, Ireland showed against England that they can adapt when their power game isn't working, moving the ball wide to create gaps in the defensive line rather than trying to punch through it.
They, too, could make an important change behind the scrum, with Jack Crowley looking sharp after replacing Sam Prendergast on the hour, although it can be argued that the Munster fly-half benefitted from the match breaking up.
Ireland have won the last 10 meetings between these countries and should make it 11. Despite Andy Farrell's absence as he prepares for this summer's British & Irish Lions tour, they barely missed a beat last Saturday and look like a settled camp under stand-in Simon Easterby.
Watch out for Sheehan, who came off the bench for Ronan Kelleher and may do so again as he continues to work back following a knee injury.
Easterby may keep him among the replacements and use his power late on and Ireland's superior depth gives them another advantage over the hosts, who have other key injuries alongside Tuipultou's.
While the handicap marks are generally set around six points, Ireland could triumph by a double-digit margin.
IRELAND -9.5
DAN SHEEHAN TO SCORE A TRY
