Rugby Union | Friday, February 4, 2022 2:57 PM (Revised at: Tuesday, February 15, 2022 10:10 AM)

Scotland vs England Best Bets: Six Nations Rugby Saturday February 5th

REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

bettingexpert Educational and Data Content Editor

Six Nations Rugby begins this weekend. Looking toward the opening match between Scotland and England, bettingexpert Super Tipster TheBettingStig delivers his best bets for the game.

In this article:

Scotland vs England Six Nations match preview
Scotland vs England Six Nations best bets

Scotland will host England and kick-off is on Saturday the 5th of February at 4:45pm (UK time) at Murrayfield, Edinburgh. We can expect a full house home crowd to cheer on their team even if heavy rain is expected.

The referee appointed for the match is Ben O’Keeffe of New Zealand, another referee known to let matches flow and who does a great job of communicating well with the players. It must be said that the organizers have done a good job assigning quality international referees for this competition and hopefully controversy will be at a minimum.

For this match the weather is expected to be very wet with heavy rain predicated and on top of that we can expect a strong wind of around 34kmph. It’s no wonder that the total points line has been set low at around 34.5. It will take a brave man to back to Over on that line in these conditions.

However, the Under doesn’t really appeal to me either as Scotland has really transformed into a very attacking side under coach Gregor Townsend. I’d rather leave the totals points markets alone and look to other markets for this match.
England’s coach Eddie Jones has had to deal with a number of injuries, including crucially to captain Owen Farrell for the season, but he has no shortage of talent in youngsters like Marcus Smith in the 10 jumper, who has been an excellent attacking player personally responsible for a number of the Harlequins’ victories in their domestic competition. His kicking accuracy is second to none and that will be vital to England’s chances in this competition.

That said, the conditions in this match will not suit his attacking style and the grunt of the forwards will be where the game is won or lost. It is here where newly appointed captain Tom Curry will look to make the difference, and he will be accompanied by Ludlam and Simmonds, the latter of whom have been in excellent form domestically and has a good chance of scoring a try in this match as well as put his hand up for the man of the match award.

Scotland on the other hand will look to their veteran back three of Watson, Fagerson and Richie to secure enough ball for another very attacking minded Finn Russell in the 10 jumper. The big match up which I believe will decide this match is between number 9’s Ben Youngs for England and Ali Price for Scotland. Youngs has all the experience and England will be looking to his cool head to control the play and give the team field position, while Price will look to provide quick ball to decision maker Russell to do the same for his side.

Scotland vs England Six Nations Best Bet

England: -1.5 points fulltime

Given the terrible weather, I can’t help but feel that it will play into the English forward dominated style of play more than it will to the attacking style of the Scots, and my best pick for the match is England -1.5 (10 units) which you can get at 1.90.

In other markets I like Sam Simmonds to score a try anytime (3 units) which you can get at odds of around 3.0 and over 2.5 match tries (10 units) which is up at around 0.55.