Lions record means France have to be backed to win 2014 Six Nations
Published:Despite being pre-competition favourites and disappointing to the extent that they ended up collecting the Wooden Spoon for the first time in 2013, France simply have to be backed to win the 2014 renewal of the Six Nations at a lucrative 5/2.
The reason for such positive optimism is because 2013 is a Lions year and it has become as regular as Spain winning a major football tournament or Usain Bolt dominating the sprint events at Olympic Games that the French win the Six Nations that follows a Lions tour.
In fact, this is something they have achieved in each of the last four of such instances and on all three occasions since Italy changed the competition to include a sixth team.
What is also noteworthy is that in three of these four victories, France have not only topped the final standings, but additionally claimed the Grand Slam.
Therefore, punters willing to take a bit more of a risk may be drawn into the 7/1 that France win the Grand Slam in 2014.
In reality, it is no surprise that France have such an advantage every four years, given that their squad enjoy the luxury of some time off to recharge batteries.
For those selected for the Lions from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, rest is rare.
By the time the 2014 Six Nations comes around, their schedule will go something like, club season with 2013 Six Nations squeezed in, Lions Tour, straight into next club season and then the next Six Nations.
Conceivably, they will have been playing high-level rugby for around 18 months without a true break and so it is no great surprise that tiredness kicks in towards the end of this period, injuries become more commonplace and in general mistakes become more widespread.
France’s fixtures are fairly good too for the 2014 Six Nations and the fact that they host Ireland in the final game could be significant as seven of the last 10 tournament winners have played their last fixture on their own patch.
All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date
