Ireland stormed to last year's Six Nations with five wins from five and went on to end 2018 sitting ahead of both England and Wales in the world rankings, but Joe Schmidt's side face an uphill task to retain their trophy with each of their main domestic rivals having recorded back-to-back wins at the start of the 2019 campaign. That has not come as a huge surprise with the trio of teams frequently switching positions between second and fourth in the global listings, but it has set up a mammoth encounter between Wales and England in Cardiff on February 23.

When assessing the rugby betting odds ahead of the encounter at the Principality Stadium, you will likely consider that the atmosphere created by the home supporters on occasions such as these are like no other and that will lead to a price of 7/5 for Wales being regarded as massive value. We are struggling to disagree with that perception, but England have won their last four encounters against the Dragons. The last triumph for Wales came at the 2015 World Cup when they famously registered a 28-25 success at Twickhenham and although one only game has taken place in Cardiff in three-and-a-half years, England's run of wins is significant.

They have made a habit of restricting one of their biggest foes on the scoreboard with Wales registering just 22 points over the last 160 minutes of action, and Wales only scored two penalties when the teams last met 12 months ago. Warren Gatland will be delighted that his side can play host to England having won their opening two games in this year's competition, but they have to had dig deep on both occasions. The comeback success over France will live long in the memory, but Gatland would have expected more than a 26-15 triumph in Italy. The smart bet would be to back England to keep Wales down to 15 points or less when the teams lock horns on Matchday Three.

England are also showing that they are in peak scoring form. France were not at their best throughout 2018, but it is not often that a team is able to run in six tries against them and England achieved that at Twickenham. Jonny May was the star of the show, but Eddie Jones's men were able to build on their success over Ireland in Dublin to leave them in a position where victory over Wales would leave them on the brink of reclaiming the Six Nations crown. The absence of Mako Vunipola is a huge blow to Jones and the rest of the team, but England have momentum and we fancy them to register a win by five to 10 points.