France expect, Ireland hope, England pray

France should wrap up their third Six Nations title in five years but Ireland are still very much in the hunt and even England and Scotland could snatch an unlikely title in the "Super Saturday" finale.

Such is France's match points advantage that any sort of victory over Wales in Cardiff should see them home.

Should Ireland beat England for the third successive time, at Twickenham in the day's final match, they would join the French on eight points but would have to make up a 28-point advantage France already have, plus anything they add from victory in Cardiff.

A win of any sort would give Ireland the triple crown and the title in the case of a French defeat, but a hefty English victory combined with a French defeat would see England crowned champions if both results combined to cancel out France's 40-point advantage.

Scotland, who begin the day's triple-header in Rome, would probably need a 50-point win over Italy combined with defeats for France and Ireland but their more realistic target will be to avoid losing to Italy for the third time.

It is hard to see how France can lose in Cardiff, having recovered from their opening round blip against Scotland while the Welsh have floundered in the absence of a host of injured leading players.

France coach Bernard Laporte has made only one change from the team who humbled England 31-6 last week, bringing in flanker Julien Bonnaire for Olivier Magne.

England desperately need to end with a win after another poor campaign. Defeats by Scotland and France mean that Europe's former superpower could well finish outside the top two for the third successive season since they won the World Cup.

Coach Andy Robinson has made seven changes from the team who managed to produce just about every error in the book against France, though of the new faces only centre Stuart Abbott is fresh to this year's tournament.

Ireland's 19-13 win in 2004 ended England's 22-game unbeaten Twickenham run and they followed up with a home success by the same score last year.

Deserted stadium

The Six Nations trophy will be held at a "strategic point" midway between London and Cardiff and will be whisked to wherever it is needed by the end of the day's action.

Should France win it, there will be a presentation at a deserted Millennium Stadium for the benefit of TV.

Italy will kick the day off seeking the win that would give them three points for the first time since they joined the party in 2000.

Their Cardiff draw was their first away point and, having led in the second half of all four games so far, they were hardly flattered by it.

Scotland will be anxious to avoid the strange scenario of ending the campaign with wins over France and England but also defeats by Wales, Ireland and Italy.