I hate being right all the time, so It’s a good thing that I wasn’t during the first weekend of the 2023 Six Nations Tournament. Okay, Rafters was three for three for our picks over the weekend, but the big surprise wasn’t the outcome of the matches, it was France’s surprisingly small margin of victory over Italy on Saturday.
For those who missed it, and just for fun, Rafters offers an unedited analysis of the match created by the Artificial intelligence program, GPT-3.
(Query: Write and essay analyzing the rugby match between Italy and France last Sunday)
Result.
The Six Nations Rugby match between Italy and France last Sunday was an intense and exciting game to watch. Italy started off strong, scoring the first try of the game, but France came back to win by a final score of 31-15.
What made this game so exciting was the back-and-forth scoring. Italy scored first, but France came back to take the lead. Italy then scored again to take back the lead, but France scored again to tie the game. In the end, France was able to pull ahead and win the game.
This game was also exciting to watch because of the intensity of the players. Both teams were fighting hard for the win, and there were some big hits and tackles. This made for an exciting and close game.
Ultimately, France was able to come out on top in this match. This was a good win for them, as Italy has been a strong team in the past. France will need to continue to play well if they want to win the Six Nations Rugby Championship.
As with Rafters’ predictions last week, GPT-3 is neither perfectly eloquent nor entirely accurate albeit somewhat repetitive, so you might want to be careful before quoting Rafters or the GPT-3 when writing your next term paper, but we digress.
At least the AI did get at one thing right about Sunday’s game, it was “intense and exciting.”
Which serves as the surprise.
In too many Six Nations tournaments, the massive point differential accumulated against the Azzurri has been the difference between hoisting the Six Nations Trophy, or not, but Italy’s performance against France last week could be a sign that while they may not be a contender, they are at least a threat to any team in the competition.
Rafters is not quite ready to jump on the Italian band wagon, but given their quality of play last week in Rome, Italy could come into Twickenham on Sunday and defeat an England side that looked no different against Scotland under the new the leadership of Steve Borthwick than they did against Argentina under former head coach Eddie Jones last November.
Both sides face challenges ahead.
In the past, an England win over Italy at Twickenham was a given, and the only mystery was the points differential, but on Saturday, England will need to perform at their best to take a first tentative step toward returning to their former glory.
On the opposite side of the ball, Italy will gunning for there first win at Twickenham and to prove that their performance against France in Rome wasn’t just a fluke.
Rafters Round One Predictions
Saturday February 4
Wales hosts Ireland
Rafters Prediction: Wales hosts Ireland - Ireland (Bonus Point) by 15+
Result: 10 -34 Ireland
England hosts Scotland
Rafters Prediction: - Scotland by 5
Result: 23-29 – Scotland by 6
Sunday, February 5
Italy hosts France
Rafters Prediction: France (Bonus Point) 40+
Result: 24-29 France by 5
Afters
If you are interested in watching the Six Nations and Premiership Rugby in the United States (live or replays), you can stream all the matches on Peacock.
Xfinity includes Peacock with some cable subscriptions.
Flo Rugby offers replays of the many Internationals, USA Rugby, the Rugby Championships, and Super Rugby.
The Rugby Network broadcasts the MLR for no charge,
Fine Print
Other than a customer, Rafters is not affiliated with any league, team, or streaming/cable service.
This article has been edited and updated.
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