Italy Offload Their Inhibitions

Italy rounded off a thrilling opening weekend of the Six Nations with a surprise victory over France. It was a triumph that owed much to the ambition of the Azzurri.

Italy Six Nations Performance

Unexpectedly, victory was achieved with a style of play not usually associated with the Italians. Only England achieved more successful offloads over the weekend.

Much of the credit must go to their coach Jacques Brunel, who released the shackles and allowed Italy to play exciting rugby. The biggest indicator of this was the error count.

Italy made 37 errors, considerably more than usual, but it was a necessary by-product of expansive, high risk rugby. To put this into context, England made 38 errors against Scotland.

Italy are now 33/1 (Betfred) to win the Six Nations, having been 500/1 at the start of the tournament. Next up are Scotland and it will be interesting to see if the visitors can carry their form to Murrayfield; Italy are 6/4 (BetVictor) to win the game.

At the top of the market, England are a best 6/5 (William Hill) to win the championship and 3/1 (Bet365) for the Grand Slam.