Former Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman talks to Planet Rugby's James Whyle and shares his predictions for Round 4 of this year's Six Nations.
We teamed up with Premiership Rugby's official investment and trading partner, eToro, to cover the 2024 Six Nations, previewing and reviewing the entire tournament.
Following David Campese's Expert Witness ahead of Round 4, we asked Jackman to give his predictions for the upcoming championship matches.
And just for a little fun, we make our own predictions for each match and track your weekly performance to see if you can outperform our high-profile guests.
Without further ado, here are our predictions and previews for Jackman.
Italy v Scotland
A win in Lille would give Italy some confidence as they look to be on the upswing under new coach Gonzalo Quesada. Obviously helped by Jonathan Danti's red card before half-time, there was much to admire for the resilience they showed defensively in the first half and their attacking play in the second half. They have some young backs who are individually outstanding, but now they're starting to work well together.
Scotland put in their most mature performance in a while to stay in the Calcutta Cup and Gregor Townsend's side will look to build on that achievement with victory in Rome before facing Ireland in Dublin. want to be. If Scotland can come back from a 10-0 deficit and finish the game comfortably, it will be a positive result. Because one thing is clear: Scotland can play and any weakness in defense will hurt them.
I predict Scotland will win and come to Dublin aiming for the Triple Crown.
Face to face: Two wayward players and their home country's talisman clash in number 10. Finn Russell was excellent at Murrayfield, exuding confidence and control. Paolo Garbisi is playing well despite the potential distractions of moving his club from Montpelier to Toulon midway through the season, but a last-minute penalty that should have won the game in Lille It will be very interesting to see how he deals with the disappointment of missing out.
Featured players: The Italian team that brought the Azzurri to the Six Nations was built on an excellent group of forwards, but this generation has also had a wealth of talented backs, none better than Tommaso Menoncello. Benetton's players are only 21 years old, but only a handful can play center or wing positions. Watch him cause havoc if Italy can get him the ball in any space.
england v ireland
I struggle to remember that the Irish team heading to Twickenham were as much hot favorites as they were on Saturday.
Historically Ireland have been suited to being underdogs, but Andy Farrell's side are used to playing with the weight of expectations on their shoulders and tend to put in incredibly consistent performances.
Ireland are in great form, and if you're interested in the data behind their performance, they're leading the way in almost every major metric, with and without the ball. That being said, they have played what I think are the three weaker teams in this year's Six Nations so far, and this England team has a lot to offer, including the Springboks in that World Cup semi-final. He has the talent and ability to find competitive performances.
Word coming out of England's camp is that the emphasis this spring will be on defense rather than attack, and that certainly appears to be the case on the pitch. Their defense had some good moments forcing turnovers and winning gainline battles, but the worry for England is that teams like Wales and Italy are pitching a form that matches Ireland's attacking method. England struggled, conceding line breaks and tries.
England's best chance of winning is to pause the evolution of their attacking game that they promised the Twickenham faithful and return to the contested kicking game that Borthwick used from his time at Leicester to the World Cup final.
If Ireland can fulfill their potential, they should win and move one step closer to winning back-to-back Grand Slam titles.
Face to face: Manager Stuart Barnes wants England to play inside centre, but Ben Earl has been outstanding in the back row and is probably England's best performer in the competition so far. He will face Caelan Doris, one of the best No. 8s in the world, on Saturday. Doris is the perfect player and is likely to become the next Ireland captain after Peter O'Mahony.
Featured players: Irish tightheadlocker Joe McCarthy, or 'Big Joe' as he is known in Ireland, made a dream debut with Marseille, was named Player of the Match, and took on the huge French pack. led the match. The young enforcer's second big test will be at Twickenham, where he will come up against an outstanding second-row partnership in white. If McCarthy can carry as well as he has done all season for Leinster and now Ireland, the Irish backs will do some serious damage to his back.
wales v france
Warren Gatland has made a surprising choice for Sunday's must-win game against France, bringing on Ryan Elias for Elliott Dee and it will be interesting to see how the lineout works right. The Dragons duo of Dee and Aaron Wainwright have consistently provided Wales with quality ball since Dee was brought on at half-time in the first leg against Scotland.
The Bucs are without George North or Nick Tompkins, so this is a chance for Owen Watkin and Joe Roberts to step up.
France is a TMO decision and the width of the posts will be from 3 to 0 and Fabien Galthie will notify the changes accordingly. Julien Marchand is likely to be the hooker, while Toulouse giant Emmanuel Mehoud is eligible and suitable to start. Thomas Ramos is ready to replace 10-year-old Mathieu Jalibert and he should give them some of the control they have been missing.
Before Danti's red card, France were thoroughly tormenting the Italians, who were attacking hard given their size and power, with their one-out runners, but the French backs wasted many clear chances. Italy was able to bite back.
Wales have been incredibly brave so far, but if France play closer to the sum of their parts they should win a close game.
Face to face: Neither one is famous…yet! However, Leo Berle and Cameron Wynnett are both very exciting prospects, and their counter-attacking abilities could decide this contest. There will be a lot of tactical kicking as both teams are under pressure to get a result, but Bare and Winnett will mostly be looking for small holes in the kick chase line and exploiting them. Pace, footwork, and evasiveness are just some of the qualities that both players possess.
Featured players: Danti's suspension gives Nicolas Deportaire a chance, but his form is such that he deserves to start. Deportaire was a standout player on last year's Under-20 Championship-winning team and has taken every chance Yannick Blue has given him at Bordeaux Begles this year. He scored two great tries in last weekend's Racing 92 game and was able to give France the energy and spark they were missing.
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