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/ Richard O’Hagan / 05 February 2012 / Leave a Comment 
George North scores for Wales in Dublin
Round one of the Six Nations is over, so what have we learned about the sides and how should results inform next weekend's bets? Richard O'Hagan reports.
The first weekend of the RBS Six Nations was a 'getting to know you' exercise for most teams, leading to staccato performances and a pretty poor standard of play. In fact, for the three winning sides you could almost pigeonhole their victories as an object lesson in how to win without looking like you were trying to.
France and Italy kicked the 2012 tournament off in a freezing Stade de France. France's 30-12 victory was a cut above 80% of their performances in the World Cup, but far below the level of their losing appearance in the final. Italy once again proved that they can give every side in the tournament - indeed, in the world - a run for their money, but they lacked the killing touch when they came within sight of the French goal line.
Next up for the Italians will be England, who defeated Scotland 13-6 in one of the worst games the venerable old championship has ever seen. Even allowing for the cold weather you would expect a club rugby match to contain fewer than 27 handling errors, let alone two international sides. In Scotland's case those errors were very costly, as on at least five occasions they spurned clear try-scoring opportunities because of them whilst another error - Dan Parks dithering near his own goal line, led to a charged-down kick and Charlie Hodgson's opportunistic try.
England's interim coach Stuart Lancaster will fancy his chances of extending that winning run when his young charges take on the Italians. Whilst the Azzurri pack may prove troublesome, his inexperienced centre pairing of Brad Barritt and Owen Farrell should find themselves with even more room against the Italians than they did against the Scots. The two French tries scored on the breakaway will have England's speedy wingers salivating. England's odds of [1.26] don't look overly generous, but they are still a solid bet even though bet in Rome.
Scotland go to Cardiff to take on Wales. The Welsh were the better side by far in their dramatic 23-21 win over Ireland, but were almost undone by a combination of Rhys Priestland's woeful placekicking and Bradley Davies' idiotic sinbinning when they were still only a point behind. In the end, a controversial penalty by Leigh Halfpenny less than a minute from time decided the game. Awarded as it was for what looked like a perfectly legitimate tackle by Stephen Ferris. It was the best game of the weekend, but it was still decided by errors, not by great play. Still, it's sent the Dragon's title odds tumbling and Wales are now in to [2.86] second favourites in the outright winner market.
Next Sunday, they play Scotland for whom prop Euan Murray will be missing. Despite their defeat to England, the Scots could give the Welsh more than a few problems and at odds of [3.8] they might be the value bet of the round.
France v Ireland could be the game of the whole championship. Both sides will need to improve upon this weekend's showing, with Ireland needing far more inspiration behind the scrum than they showed against the Welsh. It is hard to look beyond the French though, with the speed and skill of their centres, Aurelien Rougerie and Wesley Fofana, likely to be significant against an Irish midfield that was overmatched against the Welsh. France are [1.4] to win.
Dream start for Stuart Lancaster's inexperienced team as Scotland are left to rue errors and indecisiveness once again......
Blue is certainly the colour as Betfair Ambassador Will Greenwood selects five bets for the 2012 Six Nations. Remember, our man did pretty well with these last year......
Every match, every market. Jon Harris-Bass joined by Will Greenwood and Tony Calvin for a Betfair preview of the 2012 Six Nations....
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