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France are huge favourites at 1/50 (BetFred) to beat Italy and take another step closer to their first Grand Slam since 2004.

With two home matches remaining France are 1/20 (BlueSquare) to win the 6 Nations title and 1/4 with Stan James to take the Grand Slam.

France have undoubtedly one of the best front rows in the tournament, possibly even better than Italy’s so the forward encounter that Italy favour so much will hold no worries for the home side.  France’s superiority will lie out wide where Marc Andreu, on his first start is 8/1 with Paddy Power to score the game’s opening try.  Scrum half Morgan Parra has been one of the players of the tournament so far scoring with penalties, conversions and drop goals as well as picking up a yellow card against Wales and is 18/1 (Paddy Power) to touch down first and get the try that has so far eluded him.

By defeating Scotland, Italy have probably achieved their primary 6 Nations objective in not getting whitewashed but they could still collect the unwanted prize of the wooden spoon if Scotland beat either England or Ireland. Ladbrokes make this a 13/8 chance.

Italy have become harder to beat under coach Nick Mallett but they still look a way off being a team that can pick up more than the odd win every year or so.  The introduction of two Italian sides into the Magners League should help them develop more international class players in the long term but it won’t help them this Sunday as they look to overcome odds of 33/1 (Sporting Bet) to beat France, a feat they have not achieved since a 40-32 win in 1997.
Barring some sort of minor miracle it is almost impossible to see anything other than a French win at the Stade de France this weekend.  Italy do not look to have the ability in their back line to get past the French blitz defence so it would seem it is just a matter of how much France will win by.

A win by 31-35 points (7/1 with Stan James) shouldn’t be beyond France but with a
potential title decider against England looming only six days later coach Marc Lievremont may look to rest some of his key players and therefore France may take their foot off the gas a little in the closing stages.  A slightly more conservative win by 21-25 points (6/1 Paddy Power) may be more likely.