Six Nations, escape from last place. Italy seeks redemption with Ireland

As far as big rugby is concerned, we are at the decisive stages. The 131st edition of the glorious Six Nations Tournament, originally known as the Home Nations Championship in 1883, with only Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland competing (France and Italy joined later, in 1910 and 2000 respectively), therefore has all it takes to provide a heart-stopping finale.

The final day sees the teams engaged in succession at 15.15pm Italy-Ireland (Rome Olympic Stadium live on Rai Due and Sky), at 17.45pm Wales-England and at 21.00 France-Scotland. Everything will be decided on a knife edge both for the top of the standings and for the bottom. Only one certainty: no nation can aspire to the Grand Slam, that is, to triumph without defeats. In fact, all the teams have already lost at least one match.

France, in truth, appears to be the big favorite. If they beat Scotland by scoring 4 tries, they will reach 21 (by virtue of the bonus point). Unreachable for their opponents. Even without a bonus point, they have little to fear. In fact, they have a points difference with England, the only team that can aspire to 20, that is practically unbridgeable. If they were to slip up against the Scots, everything would have to be redone or rather… recalculated based not only on the results of the chasing teams, but also on any bonus points. At the bottom, the battle is between the Azzurri and Wales. Here too, the deciding factor risks being tied to the bonus points. Among the many combinations, the field of observation is narrowed down to the best and worst hypothesis.

Italy wins against Ireland - and against the odds - scoring 4 tries: we close with a bang. We lose without a bonus and Wales wins, draws or even loses but earns two bonus points, but we reach the bottom of the table. Wanting to keep our feet on the ground we must hope that England does its duty and beats Wales without giving them bonus points. For our part we must try to win by giving our all but, given the calibre of our opponent, it would already be very honourable to score 4 tries and stay within 7 points of the gap, or earn another 2 points in the table. It is fair to point out that the lineup fielded by Coach Quesada is essentially what one might have expected, with one significant change: the inclusion of Zuliani in the third row in place of captain Lamaro, sent to the bench. A decision that is not exactly usual in rugby but, in this case, supported by the different performances shown so far by the two players. The captaincy goes to Brex.