MY ACCOUNT
The 2022 Six Nations campaign begins with a mouth-watering contest between defending champions Wales and a well fancied Ireland side at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.
Wales won the championship for a sixth time last March, narrowly missing out on a Grand Slam with defeat to France in their final game, but they enter this year’s tournament as outsiders in the eyes of many.
Much like Ireland, France will be eyeing top spot after going 12 years since their most recent triumph – Les Bleus’ longest-such run since joining the Five Nations in 1947 – with their campaign beginning at home to an Italy side without a win in 32 games in the competition.
A relatively inexperienced England side do battle with perennial dark horses Scotland at Murrayfield for the Calcutta Cup, meanwhile, with the hosts looking to record back-to-back wins in this fixture for the first time since 1984.
Ahead of the opening round, Stats Perform previews the upcoming matches with help from Opta.
IRELAND v WALES
FORM
Ireland have won four of their last five meetings with Wales, though their solitary defeat in that run came in the most recent match between the sides in last year’s Six Nations when going down 21-16.
Wales have lost their last four away games against Ireland, their worst-such run since losing four in a row between 2002 and 2006, but never before have they lost five in a row away to Ireland.
Ireland have won 27 of their last 29 Tests at the Aviva Stadium, including their last six in a row, with their only defeats coming against England in 2019 and France in 2021 – both in the Six Nations.
ONES TO WATCH
Johnny Sexton will win his 102nd international cap for Ireland this weekend and remains a key player for his country. The 36-year-old recorded the best goal kicking success rate of any player (minimum of three kicks) in last year’s Six Nations, finding the target from 25 out of 26 (96 per cent).
Wales are without a long list of players due to injury, most notably skipper Alun Wyn Jones. It’s set to be the first Six Nations the Dragons have played without Jones since 2006, with fly-half Dan Biggar being left with big shoes to fill in his first game as captain.
SCOTLAND v ENGLAND
FORM
Scotland have won five of their last six Test matches, with their solitary defeat in that run coming against the world champions South Africa in November.
England have won 15 of their last 18 Tests, including their last five in a row, although their three defeats in that spell all came in last year’s Six Nations – just the fourth time they had lost more than twice in an edition of the tournament since 2000 (also lost three in 2005, 2006 and 2018).
This will be the 140th Test between the rival nations in a fixture that dates back to the first ever rugby international back in 1871. Scotland have won on 44 occasions, compared to 76 victories for England, with the other 19 ending all square.
ONES TO WATCH
Scotland have named a near-identical XV to the one that ended last year’s Six Nations, Duhan van der Merwe among them. The British and Irish Lions wing beat 31 defenders in the 2021 edition, surpassing Brian O’Driscoll’s record for the most in a single Six Nations (30 in 2000).
In the absence of Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes, Tom Curry will captain England at the age of just 23, making him the youngest player to do so since Will Carling in 1988.
FRANCE v ITALY
FORM
France and Italy have met on 45 occasions, with Les Bleus winning 42 of those matches. That 93 per cent win rate is their highest against any nation they have faced more than five times.
Italy have lost 23 of their last 24 away games with France in Test rugby, including their last 14 in a row. The Azzurri’s only victory in France came in Grenoble in 1997.
France have won 12 of their last 13 Test matches at home, although their solitary defeat in that run came in their most recent Six Nations game against Scotland. They have not trailed at half-time in a home game since February 2018, going into the break ahead (17 times) or level (twice) in each of their last 19 such games.
ONES TO WATCH
Captain and recently crowned World Rugby Player of the Year Antoine Dupont will be looking to pick up from where he left off in 2021. He was directly involved in eight tries during the last Six Nations, more than any other player, scoring three and assisting a Championship-high five.
Sebastian Negri made 64 carries and 68 tackles during the 2021 tournament, his combined tally of 132 carries and tackles being the second most of any player in the Championship, behind only Taulupe Faletau (140). Italy could do with more of the same here to help avoid another loss.
