6 Nations Feb 23 and 24th

 All times Houston CST

Sat 23 Feb
Italy v Wales        08:30       
England v France        11:00

Sun 24 Feb       
Scotland v Ireland        08:00



More weekends    
Sat 9 Mar
Scotland v Wales        08:30       
Ireland v France        11:00       
Sun 10 Mar
England v Italy        10:00       
Sat 16 Mar
Italy v Ireland        08:30       
Wales v England        12:00       
France v Scotland        14:00

Big Johns at 6150 Wilcrest just south of Harwin will once again be showing all games for free.


Wales will be aiming to build on a superb win in Paris when they take on Italy in Rome on Saturday and are fancied in the betting to pick up another away victory.
The Welsh had gone 8 games without a win before their 16-6 victory over France a fortnight ago, but they put that poor run aside to pick up a well-deserved result against a French side who had been looking to bounce back after a shock loss to their opponents this weekend, Italy. Interim head coach Rob Howley was delighted with the result, and who can blame him given how his side had fallen into a slump while he's been in charge. The win will have given them a huge confident boost going into what historically has been a bit of a dogfight, where bar one big win in 2005, they've had to really battle for the win.

Italy were unable to match their superb win over the French when they look on Scotland in Edinburgh. The Scots play a very different brand of rugby to the French and a more attacking approach left the Italians, who looked a bit jaded for much of the match, unable to keep with the pace set by the home side. Following up the herculean Rome efforts on a cold Edinburgh afternoon was always going to be challenge, and with the Italian players, who'd shone so well the week before, struggling with some basic errors, the Scots received plenty of possession and made the visitors pay dearly. Back on home soil the Italians will once again call upon their passionate home support to lift their team and make it an uncomfortable 80 minutes for the Welsh.

On the team news front, Wales start with an unchanged 15 that took the field in Paris, with the only changes coming on the bench, where fit again Sam Warburton and Alun Wyn Jones must both make do with a likely appearance as second half substitutes. Italy have been dealt a severe blow with captain and talisman Sergio Parisse earning a 30 day ban for abusive language towards the referee in his club Stade Francais's match last weekend. Fit again veteran flanker Mauro Bergamasco has been recalled to the squad by Jacque Brunel and could step into a re-arranged back row to cover for the unavailable Parisse.
Italy: 15-Andrea Masi, 14-Giovanbattista Venditti, 13-Tommaso Benvenuti, 12-Gonzalo Canale, 11-Luke McLean, 10-Kristopher Burton, 9-Edoardo Gori; 1-Andrea Lo Cicero, 2-Leonardo Ghiraldini (capt), 3-Martin Castrogiovanni, 4-Antonio Pavanello, 5-Francesco Minto, 6-Alessandro Zanni, 7-Simone Favaro, 8-Ratu Manoa Vosawai.
Replacements: 16-Davide Giazzon, 17-Alberto De Marchi, 18-Lorenzo Cittadini,19- Quintin Geldenhuys, 20-Paul Derbyshire, 21-Tobias Botes, 22-Luciano Orquera, 23-Gonzalo Garcia.
Wales: 15-Leigh Halfpenny, 14-Alex Cuthbert, 13-Jonathan Davies, 12-Jamie Roberts, 11-George North, 10-Dan Biggar, 9-Mike Phillips; 1-Gethin Jenkins, 2-Richard Hibbard, 3-Adam Jones, 4-Andrew Coombs, 5-Ian Evans, 6-Ryan Jones (captain), 7-Justin Tipuric, 8-Toby Faletau.
Replacements: 16-Ken Owens, 17-Paul James, 18-Craig Mitchell, 19-Alun Wyn Jones, 20-Sam Warburton, 21-Lloyd Williams, 22-James Hook, 23-Scott Williams.

Pete says wales by 10



 England will be hoping to move one step closer to a possible Six Nations title and Grand Slam when they welcome an out of form France to Twickenham on Saturday.

Two rounds into the tournament and the fortunes of these two sides couldn't be more contrasting. While England remain the only unbeaten side in the competition and now hot favourites to take this seasons championship, the French have been utterly disappointing in back to back defeats and remain the only side out of the six without a win and rooted at the bottom of the six nations table. Philip Saint-Andre's side were caught cold by a passionate Rome display in week one, and just when most expected them to extend Wales 8 match winless streak a fortnight ago in Paris, they produced one of those performances that reminds us all how much they blow hot and cold, and slipped to a dismal 6-16 loss in Paris. Questions are being asked, as one would expect – how can a side who completely destroyed Australia only a few months ago, go on to lose to two teams who really were there for the taking. A turnaround is needed, and fast. French rugby fans can be a fickle bunch at the best of times – a loss to old foes England will have Les Bleus fans calling for some serious action to be taken within the international set up, be it at a player or coaching level.

England had to work their socks off to come away from Dublin with the win and showed real metal when resisting the Irish attacks when down to 14 man after James Haskill's yellow card. The belief that the big victory over New Zealand at the end of 2012 has given this side is plain to see. They're playing some good rugby and look a well-drilled team who feed of the mistakes of their opponents. There's still the nagging feeling however that the side who can really crank up the pressure in the forward battles will be the one that has the best chance of bringing out the worse of this England side. Only the French feel like the team who have the fire-power in their pack to do to England what the likes of South Africa managed to do in recent months, and that's put them on the back foot with big hits and general strong play in the forward exchanges. Whether France are capable of lifting themselves out this mini-slump remains to be seen, but no England side has taken a French challenge lightly in the past and it would serve Stuart Lancaster's side well to continue in that mindset thru to kick-off on Saturday afternoon.

Lancaster has been able to name the same match-day squad for Saturday, and although his starting line-up will only be revealed later in the week, it seems very likely he'll stick with the same 15 that started against Ireland a fortnight ago. For France, head coach Philip Saint-Andre can be expected to freshen up his starting 15 as they attempt to somehow recover their 6 nations season after the double loss in the opening two weeks. Team news from the French camp has been limited at the time of writing,


England have maintained a decent record at Twickenham against the French, winning 6 of the 8 clashes on English soil since the turn of the century, and ignoring the world cup loss, have won the last 3 six nations games against France, including a narrow 24-22 win the last time these sides met.

Pete says England by 5


England : 15-Alex Goode, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Manu Tuilagi, 12-Brad Barritt, 11-Mike Brown, 10-Owen Farrell, 9-Ben Youngs; 1-Joe Marler, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Joe Launchbury, 5-Geoff Parling, 6-Courtney Lawes, 7-Chris Robshaw (captain), 8-Tom Wood.
Replacements: 16-Tom Youngs, 17-Dave Wilson, 18-Mako Vunipola, 19-James Haskell, 20-Thomas Waldron, 21-Danny Care, 22-Toby Flood, 23-Billy Twelvetreees.
France : 15-Yoann Huget, 14-Vincent Clerc, 13-Mathieu Bastareaud, 12-Wesley Fofana, 11-Benjamin Fall, 10-Francois Trinh-Duc, 9-Morgan Parra; 1-Thomas Domingo, 2-Benjamin Kayser, 3-Nicolas Mas, 4-Christophe Samson, 5-Yoann Maestri, 6-Yannick Nyanga, 7-Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 8-Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: 16-Dimitri Szarzewski, 17-Vincent Debaty, 18-Luc Ducalcon, 19-Jocelino Suta, 20-Antonie Claassen, 21-Maxime Machenaud, 22-Frederic Michalak, 23-Florian Fritz


Scotland and Ireland meet in Sunday's 6 nations match in Edinburgh, and the home side look good value on the handicap market.

They Scots put in an impressive 80 minutes when defeating Italy 34-10 two weeks ago, finally getting their recently adapted more expansive gameplan to work for them as they recorded a first win in this seasons six nations. Italy had arrived in Edinburgh in bullish mood following their success over France the week earlier, but they couldn't match the intensity showed by the Scots, who rain in 4 tries on their way to a 24 point winning margin. Their backline hasn't looked this dangerous for a very long time – there's bags of pace from Hogg, Maitland, Scott and Visser, and their pack looked far more settled after being bullied a touch by England a week earlier. It bodes well that this is probably the most confident a Scottish camp has sounded pre a 6 nations match for many seasons, and Ireland will have to be at the top of their game if they want to come away with the win.

Ireland just couldn't break England down in Dublin, with the 6-12 scoreline testament to strong defensive displays from both sides. That game took it's toll however, with a number of players leaving the field injured and some not recovering in time for this weekend. A win would have left the Irish in pole position for six nations glory, however they now need to get back to the style of rugby employed against Wales in the opening round and put the Scots under early pressure – not an easy task given the momentum is firmly with the home side his weekend.

Interim Scottish head coach Scott Johnson makes just one enforced change, with Edinburgh prop Geoff Cross coming in for Euan Murray, who's unavailable this weekend. In contrast, Irish coach Declan Kidney has made a total of 6 changes to his starting 15. In the backline Ulster 10 Paddy Jackson is preferred to start at flyhalf in place of the injured Jonanthan Sexton, with uncapped Luke Marshall starting in the midfield and Keith Earls coming in for the injured Simon Zebo on the wing. Tom Court starts at prop in place of the suspended Cian Healy, and there's a recall for Donnacha O'Callaghan in the second tow.
Ireland have won on two of their last 3 visits to Edinburgh and also picked up a comfortable win in Dublin last year when these side last met. But Scots were being coached by Robinson and he was a joke. Johnson not that better, so its difficult.
If you watch the Glasgow are playing right now you'd think Scottish national side could emulate.
Glasgow are playing a wonderful offload game which is producing great results and plenty of tries. Will  Scotland play attacking rugby?

Looking at the two line-ups I can't help but feel the loss of several key Irish players to injury or suspension does open the door for Scotland just that bit more. They're fielding a pretty much unchanged side that has a great balance about it, and the home ground factor does give them that litle bit of an added advantge. I don't feel that this is the sort of match where either will dominate, and it could be similarly close affair to the last two games between Scotland and Ireland in Edinburgh
 Teams:

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Kelly Brown (c), 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant. Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Alastair Kellock, 20 David Denton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Max Evans.

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c), 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Donnacha Ryan, 4 Donnacha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court. Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Iain Henderson, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ronan O'Gara, 23 Luke Fitzgerald.

Pete says Scotland by 2