A large number of bets have been placed on Wales to win the Six Nations after bookmakers wrote off Warren Gatland’s side. The Welsh team are tipped to finish fifth by all leading bookmakers, with only Italy below them in the pecking order.
Odds as long as 33/1 can be found on Wales lifting the crown and that has seen a raft of punters place bets. Around 40% of all bets on the Six Nations winners have been placed on Wales, according to Oddschecker. Less than half the number of bets have been placed on Ireland (6/4) and England (6/1) to win the competition.
Wales begin their tournament with the visit of Scotland to Cardiff on February 3, before trips to London and Dublin in the following two rounds.
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After that, France head to Cardiff in round four before Wales close out the tournament with Italy at home as they seek revenge for the Italians’ last trip to the Welsh capital in 2022.
France are the 6/5 favourites to win the tournament, closely followed by defending Grand Slam champions Ireland at 6/4. England are third, with Scotland fourth.
Gatland’s planning for the tournament is already well under way, with a non-capped game against the Barbarians earlier on this month his first opportunity to look at his options for the springtime competition. He does, though, expect some pain to be experienced as the next generation of talent is blooded.
“We’re pretty excited about some of the youngsters coming through,” he said after the win over the Baa-baas. “You’ve got to be patient with them. You’ve got to go through a little bit of pain. Probably some of the symmetry between the regions and us hasn’t been the same. Unfortunately, we’ve probably used the national team almost as a pathway that we’ve developed those players through playing international rugby almost out of necessity because we’ve had a weakness in some positions.
“Then, because they end up playing international rugby and doing well, they then go back and they start for their regions. We’ve sometimes got that wrong. It’s just making sure we work together as the regions and the national team, in terms of where we’ve got holes and developing players. I’ve long been an advocate of foreign players. I think they’re good for the game, especially here in Wales.
“But I’ve always said we need to get world-class foreign players and if we need to pay a lot of money for them, we should do that. Unfortunately, what we’ve tended to do is get middle-of-the-road journeymen who are 27 or 28, or even older, who have tended to stop the development of some of the youngsters. For the regions and for us, we need to get that right. We know the financial situation.
“We all go through some pain as a national set-up. They need to go through some pain. But now’s the right time to do that and then think, what could the picture look like in a couple of years. We’ve been looking at some youngsters and are excited about some of them coming through, but it’s going to take some time.”
