England hosts France - Wait for it…
As much as Rafters is eagerly awaiting England’s match with France on Saturday, we are also eagerly awaiting coach Steve Borthwick’s announcement at 1:45 on Thursday before making any predictions.
Meanwhile, here’s something to tide you over.
Italy hosts Wales
As much as Rafters is looking forward to attending our first match between England and France, the game between Italy and Wales will be the most interesting of the weekend barring a miraculous upset by Scotland at Murry Field on Sunday.
Over the years, Rafters has eagerly awaited two of the three Six Nations matches in each round while only having a passing interest in any match featuring the Azzurri.
Until recently, the only reason to watch the Italy match was to cheer on an England try-fest or to hope Italy could hold their other opponents to margins benefiting England on the table. This year’s Six Nations seems a bit different. Perhaps it’s the impending World Cup.
While the performance in one or two games is not enough to say for sure if Italy should remain in the Six Nations, the Azzurri are trending in the right direction. No one expected Italy to defeat France in round one, but nobody anticipated that the game would be so close either, especially Rafters.
Rafters predicted that the French would pummel the Azzurri by forty or more points. In round, two we under estimated England’s determination, predicting a one-point margin and once again dismissed Italy against Ireland.
Rafters’ predictions weren’t so much wishful thinking as it was having become too accustomed to the Azzurri losing by huge margins. In any sport a loss should not be a forgone conclusion, and a victory should not always be a surprise. See Italy’s round five win in Cardiff last year.
Saturday’s match at Stadio Olimpico
Italy has a real opportunity to win their second in a row against Wales provided they play with the same intensity they exhibited against France and Ireland, but they’ll need to be the goldfish when it comes to remembering their dreadful performance in a lackluster game at Twickenham.
The Azzurri have played well at home, and Wales has struggled this season both at home and away. Under these circumstances, Rafters is eager to see these two evenly matched teams duke it out in a game that has all the potential to be the most entertaining of round four.
In the end Rafters will be cheering for the Italians if for no other reason to see the tournament take another step toward the any-given-Sunday axiom (any NFL team can win on any given Sunday).
Though Wales is experiencing problems of their own this year, they have a strong enough tradition of winning that it’s only a matter of time before they rally to their former strength.
On the other hand Rafters hopes Italy develops into a competitive team in the same way that Argentina’s recent performance demonstrates their competitiveness in the Rugby Championship, and we would like to see the any-given-Sunday axiom apply to the Six Nations and eventually to World Cup pool play, though rugby is still a long way off on the latter.
Sunday March 12, 2023
Scotland host Ireland
Ireland is proving to be the real powerhouse of the Six Nations tournament this year, and through round three they been seemingly invincible.
An impressive win at Landsdown Road over the French in round two has most fans and the press giving them the lock on the Six Nations trophy and a grand slam, though the Scotts will surely have something to say about that.
As well as Scotland has played this year it’s unlikely they will be the team to stop them, but with the intense atmosphere at Murry Field, Rafters is predicting this will be the biggest challenge to the Irish’s grand slam hopes. Ireland by five.
That’s one fan’s view of Rugby from beyond the rafters.
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 Autumn 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.