Wales v England from last year, when Wales defeated England, an epochal defeat that most England fans are either still in denial about or haven’t recovered from.

Tomorrow sees the beginning of the 2014 Six Nations Championship, and I look at the betting opportunities available.

When betting on the tournament, The fixture schedule needs close attention, given that England’s first match is France away, which means England’s Grand Slam/title aspirations maybe over by 7 pm on the first Saturday. I think it maybe more prudent to back England in this match, and possibly trade out for a profit, the best odds on England to win this match are 17/10

Additionally, I think this may be a Six Nations where England are focussing upon peaking for the World Cup being held in England in the Autumn of 2015, past experience shows they have an uncanny ability to peak at the right time for a world cup, for older readers, who can forget the shellacking David Sole’s Scotland gave England in 1990. But a year later, it was England who defeated Scotland for a place in the World Cup Final.

If you are wanting to do proceed to the final, sometimes you need to experiment, which explains England dropping of the likes of Chris Ashton and Ben Youngs for the debutant Jack Nowell for tomorrow’s match.

I will not be backing England to win the tournament/or win the Grand Slam for the above reasons, but laying them instead for the title/grand slam,

Last year’s champions, Wales, will be boosted by the return of their Lions coach, Warren Gatland, who stood aside last season to focus upon his Lions coaching role.

I was tempted to back Wales for the tournament, but their bests odds are 2/1 with a variety of bookmakers, I think the better value is to back Wales to win the Triple Crown at 9/2.

On a thread earlier on this week, long standing pber and Irish rugby fan Neil, suggested a strategy which chimed in with my own thoughts. Back Ireland for the tournament/grand slam, their hardest matches are towards the end of the fixture cycle. The best odds on Ireland are 11/2.

PBers should be reassured that in the past, when both Neil and myself have bet on Ireland to win, they do so and it is very profitable for both of us. Obviously if this bet tanks, I’m blaming Neil.

My other bet is for Scotland to finish fifth or sixth overall at 9/4 and 7/4 respectively which may seem odd given their performances last year, but sometimes some bets just feels right, and these are two of those bets.

The complete betting markets on the Six Nations is available here.  If you fancy betting on the World Cup, the odds are available here. 

TSE