England will be out to keep their slim title chances alive when they tackle old foes Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday in the final round of the 2025 Six Nations.
To Win
Wales | Draw | England
Handicap
Wales | England
The visitors trail log-leaders France by a single point and need a bonus point win in Cardiff to remain in contention. To then realistically claim what would be a first championship since 2020, they’ll need Scotland to do them a massive favour in Paris later in the day.
Steve Borthwick’s side have impressed many this campaign, with some pundits expecting them to struggle. However the emergence of youngsters like Fin Smith, the performances of established veterans like Elliot Daly and Maro Itoje and some impressive sticktoitiveness from the entire squad has put them in a Super Saturday position from which they can still take home top honours. Love them or hate them, they deserve kudos for fighting as hard as they have; even if some believe this has come despite rather than because of the influence of their head coach.
Due to the untimely injury to the excellent would-be British Lion Ollie Lawrence, winger Tommy Freeman comes into the midfield, with Daly named on the left wing and Marcus Smith elevated back to the No 15 jersey. In the pack, last week’s Test centurion Jamie George is replaced by Luke Cowan-Dickie at hooker while flanker Tom Willis drops to the bench and is replaced by Ben Curry.
In an interesting aside, Freeman will equal Philippe Bernat-Salles’ 2001 achievement of scoring in every round of the competition if he manages to cross the whitewash on Saturday.
For Wales, whose 35-29 defeat to Scotland last week marked their 16th-consecutiove Test loss, a victory this weekend would completely change the complexion of their campaign. Even with all of the misery and heartache they’ve had to endure over the past few months of the tournament, beating their bitter enemies here would make it all worth it.
They’ve demonstrated under interim boss Matt Sherratt that they do have the ability to fightback in games, and they will be going out guns blazing against England in a last-ditch attempt to make history.
Verdict: England on the board
England to claim the win, but not by much against the hardy Dragons.
