Most of the weekend's thunder will be emanating from the Stade de France on Saturday, but Sunday's encounter between Italy and England provides us with plenty of intrigue. It's a potentially fascinating encounter, and Italy's duel with tournament favorites France last Sunday in Paris was well worth watching. We've all said it a thousand times before in the past, but Italy really do look genuinely competitive this year and as a result their journey through the 2022 tournament could be refreshingly different. While we still have trouble seeing them recording a win, we certainly can't dismiss the idea that they are in with a chance to pull off an upset.

It's unlikely though that Italy will get that elusive win against an English side smarting from two successive losses to Scotland. Furthermore, the game last weekend at Murrayfield hung in the balance for the longest time. England, looked good albeit not as cohesive as they would like. However, we think it's fairly safe to say that this year England are likely to improve dramatically on their disastrous 2021 Six Nations campaign. England's opening night nerves in Murrayfield are likely to settle as the tournament wears on, and the crop of new talent England is now banking for the future on start to mesh more effectively with the veterans.