Tournament favourites France (4/11 Skybet) take a short trip across the channel to face Wales in a clash that both the formbook and recent history indicate could be a high scoring affair.
These are the two top try scoring sides so far in the tournament with five apiece and each game between them since 1996 has seen at least 37 points.
Stats from the last round of games saw Wales miss 11 tackles while France, maybe surprisingly missed 12 against Ireland. The back line of both sides will relish defensive displays like that and with the attacking talents that both sides have on display the first try scorer is a tough one to pick. French winger Julien Malzieu heads the betting at 11/1 (PaddyPower).
Given that both sides are at their best when attacking from all areas of the pitch and given the history of points in this encounter there could be a number of tries which means a look at the anytime tryscorer market could be profitable. The likes of Shane Williams(5/2 Skybet), James Hook (4/1 Paddy Power) and Mathieau Bastareaud (3/1 Paddy Power) all look decent bets to feature on the scoresheet at some time. Even forwards Ryan Jones (7/1 Coral) and Thierry Dusautoir (6/1 Paddy Power) may look to get in on the act
France will start as favourites (4/9 Coral) and will look to take a further step towards a possible Grand Slam (5/6 Blue Square) but to do so they will have to win a third game in a row for the first time since Marc Lievremont took over in 2007.
After their performance against Ireland and Wales’ stuttering start to the tournament this match seems there for France to lose. An attack of France’s famous inconsistency coming back to haunt them could see Wales sneak in and grab a win at 27/11 (bwin).
Wales’ forwards appears to have a patched up look about them due to a combination of injuries and a golf buggy related incident which could lead to their performance being somewhat below par. If the French are quick into the swing of things and dominate an inferior looking Welsh pack as they did Ireland’s then they could take the game by 16-20 points (9/1 Ladbrokes) A repeat of the 17 points they scored in the last five minutes against Scotland may not be enough for Wales.