Six Nations Betting: What Are The Odds On The 2024 Championship Winner?

The Six Nations is entering its final round this weekend and despite there being two teams in the running for Championship honours, there is a clear favourite amongst betting sites.

Following their 53-10 demolition of England at Twickenham Stadium last Saturday, France were briefly level on points with Ireland towards the summit of the tournament table. 

Supplementing a Thomas Ramos effort with just under two minutes gone on the clock, Thibaud Flament, Charles Ollivon and Damian Penaud registered a brace of tries each as Les Bleus comfortably put the English to the sword.

Ireland Continue To Lay Down Markers

This put some pressure on Ireland ahead of their meeting against Scotland at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh a day later, but Andy Farrell’s men duly delivered. 

Ireland faced with a catalogue of injuries throughout the course of the contest, but they overcame this adversity to record a 22-7 victory.

Heading into the fourth round of the 2023 Championship, England and Scotland were both in the reckoning for a Six Nations title. 

That has changed as a result of last weekend’s fare, however, with Ireland and France now the only ones standing in this particular race.

France Remain In The Race But Ireland Are Still Firm Favourites

As there is only a gap of four points separating the two sides, France remain in a position to overtake Ireland in the table. 

France will have completed their encounter against Wales before Ireland’s showdown with England at the Aviva Stadium gets underway and the best betting sites for rugby union believe Fabien Galthié’s charges will have moved to the summit by then.

This would be a reverse of last year’s Championship when Ireland comfortably overcame the challenge of Scotland and threw down the gauntlet in advance of France squaring off against England in Saint-Denis later on the same day.

The French took care of business with a 25-13 win over the English though, and the expectation is that Ireland will do the same this time around.

While it remains possible that Ireland could triumph in the Championship with a victory in their final home game of the tournament, this is not something that Farrell and his squad are contemplating with a lot more than just the Six Nations trophy at stake.

In much the same way that Ireland are odds-on favourites to claim the Six Nations Triple Crown and a Grand Slam, it is also being predicted that they will secure their fourth championship title in 10 seasons. 

At the time of writing, UK bookmakers are rating Ireland at 1/25 for another Championship success.

Ireland’s Squad Depth Has Been Well And Truly Tested

Rather than relying on the same individuals each week, Farrell has been forced to use his resources extensively throughout this year’s tournament. 

To date, 31 players have been used by the former England dual code international.

That figure might well be added to with a succession of injuries potentially opening the door for some of the wider squad, as well as Ross Molony and Tom Stewart - both of whom have been called into the set-up as cover in the second-row and hooker respectively.

Their ability to deal with set-backs both on and off the field of play has helped Ireland to get into their current position of power within the Championship and they will believe it is well within their grasp to see the job through in Dublin this Saturday.

France Will Look To Keep Themselves In Contention

Six Nations Grand Slam winners in 2022, France’s reversal to Ireland in the second round of the tournament meant a repeat of last year’s clean sweep of silverware was out of the question. 

The fact that they didn’t pick up a single point from that fixture, and Ireland came away with the maximum of five, immediately made them outsiders for a Championship success.

That said, Les Bleus have shown in subsequent bonus point victories against Scotland and England that there remains a substantial amount of quality within their ranks - not least in the form of their scrum-half Antoine Dupont.

While they will be dependent on England for a favour - ironic given what they did to Steve Borthwick’s side last weekend - you can expect that France will hold up their end of the bargain against a Welsh team that are still in a difficult spot in spite of their win over Italy last Saturday.

The odds are nevertheless stacked against them with 12/1 available at Bet365 on a French victory.

It would be a major surprise if Ireland don’t come away with another Six Nations this weekend, but stranger things have happened over the course of previous tournaments and the current pace-setters will need to be wary of this.