Six Nations Matchday Four: Three for the Title

Wales did just enough to maintain their Grand Slam hopes, England did the usual when they face Italy, and Ireland did everything they needed to to keep their slender title hopes alive. It all makes for a potential grandstand finish on Saturday. Here are the details of Matchday 4 in the Six Nations:

Scotland 11-18 Wales:

Tries by Josh Adams and Jonathan Davies helped Wales to a 15-6 lead at halftime at Murrayfield. However, Scotland made a game of it in the second half. Darcy Graham, who has featured with the Scottish Sevens and making his first start with the 15s, got a try for Scotland at the hour mark to make it 15-11.

Scotland turned on the pressure for the whole of the second half, but outside of Graham’s try, they were unable to break past the tough Welsh defense a second time. Gareth Anscombe kicked through a penalty with the last kick of the game to set up a potential Grand Slam encounter with Ireland at the Principality next Saturday. 

England 57-14 Italy:  

England looked more like the team that ran over Ireland and France earlier in the competition. An eight-try performance against Italy ensured that England can swoop in for the title should Wales slip up on Saturday. 

Italy, who have been battling well despite defeat this year, looked to do the same at Twickenham when Tommaso Allan converted try pulled Italy level early on, but then England ran off 29 unanswered points and then 21 more after Luca Morisi’s try. Italy will close out their Six Nations campaign at the Stade de France having already clinched the wooden spoon for 2019. 

Ireland 26-14 France:

Ireland kept their title hopes alive with a convincing victory over the French at the Aviva. The Irish put all their 26 points up before the French scored two late tries in the last few minutes of the match. 

They go to the Principality on Saturday, not just to play spoiler to Wales, but maybe to get the title themselves. However, Ireland’s hopes realistically rely on England failing to defeat Scotland at Twickenham. 

A Welsh win would give them three bonus points for completing the Grand Slam and put things out of reach for England even with a bonus-point win themselves over Scotland. A bonus-point win would be enough to claim the title should Wales fail to defeat Ireland. 

With point-difference being the first tiebreaker, England has the clear advantage should it come down to that which it would if Ireland beats Wales with a bonus-point win and England does not get a bonus point in victory over Scotland. It’s all to play for on Saturday.

Matchday Five (March 16):

France vs. Italy, 7:30am CT on NBCSN

Wales vs. Ireland, 9:45am CT (on NBC at 11am CT)

England vs. Scotland, noon CT on NBCSN

All matches live on the NBC Sports Gold app. 

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