Surely England cannot overcome that Irish lead?
Ireland scored a shed-load of points against Scotland put put them in the box-seat to win the 2015 Six Nations. They are now on +63 in the points difference column. England are +37.
Now, with Wales shredding Italy in Rome, the Championship picture took a new skew. Ireland needed to win by 21 points at Murrayfield and went nine better, romping home 40-10. Earlier in the day, Wales beat Italy 61-20 after running in seven second-half tries.
At half-time of England’s Twickenham clash with France, Stuart Lancaster’s men are 27-15 up. That means two more converted tries would give them the championship.
This is how we currently stand:
England have to beat France by 26 points if they are to win the #6nations. Can they do it? http://t.co/TpPvudUQMi pic.twitter.com/Vrq2whcQjD
— BBC Rugby Union (@bbcrugby) March 21, 2015
Let us start with Ireland.
IRELAND
At +33 before kick-off, Ireland were four points worse off than England in the differential and +22 behind Wales.
Paul O’Connell, Jared Payne and Sean O’Brien (2) tries with 20 kicked points from Johnny Sexton saw Ireland surpass the Welsh total.
ENGLAND
Stuart Lancaster’s men have a points difference of +37 and have France at home in their last game.
England have played France 46 times at home and won 30 times, drawing five and losing 11. They have won four of their last five Twickenham encounters with the French and the average winning margin has been nine points.
England are 26 points [difference] behind Ireland. They need to equal their biggest ever Test win over France to claim an unlikely title win.
WALES
+53 points after destroying Italy but the best they can get is second.
What if two nations finish on the same points difference?
According to the official Six Nations site: ‘If there is still no winner, then it is awarded to the team who scored the most tries during the Championship.’
There is only going to be one winner by this criteria, unless Wales and Ireland go try-ballistic in their last matches.
TRIES: England (11), Wales (14), Ireland (8)
If a winner still cannot be decided then the Championship is shared between the teams.
