Six Nations top try-scorer tips: France's Damian Penaud to top the charts ahead of Ronan Kelleher and Stuart Hogg
Jon Newcombe is backing the flare of the French to deliver the Six Nations 2022 top try-scorer award to one of their talented wingers.
Rugby union betting tips: Six Nations top try-scorer
1pt Damian Penaud top Six Nations try-scorer at 9/1 (General)
0.5pt Ronan Kelleher top Six Nations try-scorer at 20/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair)
0.5pt Stuart Hogg top Six Nations try-scorer at 25/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair)
After a thrilling tournament in 2021, the hope is that there will be more of the same 12 months on. Ireland are more attacking, England say they will be more attacking and France and Scotland know no other way under Fabien Galthie and Gregor Townsend, so there should be tries aplenty from those four teams.
Wales’ challenge will be how to get the ball into the hands of Louis Rees-Zammit and Josh Adams in a bit of space. If they do, then those two are live contenders to top the try-scoring charts.
Unsurprisingly, wingers have dominated the top try-scorer list in the 22 editions of the Six Nations, with 17 of the 32 different players (53 percent) to have won the accolade (either outright or shared) playing in the position. By that logic, and the fact that teams are tending to spread play wider now that the goal line drop-out rule is lessening the likelihood of pick-and-go tries from the forwards, it would be wise to back the wide men to hold sway.
DAMIAN PENAUD managed three tries in last year’s Championship and continues to excel as a centre or wing. If he can become a tad more selfish, this could be the Clermont player’s year.
With seven tries in 10 Test starts in 2021, he is in a rich vein of form going into the Championship and looking hungry for more. Even if he plays in midfield, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as centre is the position after winger that has accounted for the second-most entries in the top try-scorer charts, with the likes of Brian O’Driscoll and Will Greenwood prominent in the past and Jonathan Joseph no stranger to the whitewash in more recent times.
Scotland's Duhan van der Merwe on the hunt again
Scotland powerhouse Duhan van der Merwe was last year’s top try-scorer (five) in a team that finished fourth, and like with the top points-scorer category, it doesn’t always work out that the top try-scorer has to come from the winning team. In fact, that is the exception rather than the rule meaning potential decent odds winners can be found in this market.
Jacob Stockdale of Ireland is the only outright top try-scorer to come from the champions (in 2018) since Wales’ Alex Cuthbert obliged in 2013. Scotland captain STUART HOGG (25/1) shared the honour with seven other players in 2017 and looks meaner and leaner than he has done for some time.
The bookies seem to have got wise to the fact that hookers love their meat pies in more ways than one. Tries from the back of a driving lineout have become all the rage in the last couple of years and, as a result, Peato Mauvaka (France, 11/1) and RONAN KELLAHER (Ireland, 20/1) are comparatively short odds for a position that has never had anyone as top try-scorer before.
Nor has a lock ever won it before, and we won’t be rushing to back anyone to break that trend. Mauvaka and Kelleher could be worth a small speculative punt because if anyone is going to make history, it is more likely to be one of those two, or England’s Jamie George (33/1) and Luke Cowan-Dickie (20/1). At the prices, Kelleher gets the vote.
Posted at 1100 GMT on 31/01/22
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