I love golf and the final days of majors are special. In just a few weeks it is my favourite sporting, non-rugby, weekend of the year: The US Masters in Augusta. This weekend in the Six Nations is like the final day of a major, the leaderboard is crowded and the three teams in contention, Wales, Ireland and England have the opportunity to go out and shoot a score and win the title.

The thing with the final day in a golf major is that someone always has the opportunity to go out early and shoot a score that puts pressure on the pacesetters. That is how this weekend's matches are set out, Wales are way off the pace points differential wise but they go out first against Italy. Wales know they have to win first and then win by more than 25 points to put any pressure on Ireland and England and then they can only sit and wait.

To win an away game by more than 25 points is a tall order and especially against a team as proud as Italy but it will be an Italy without their talisman Sergio Parisse, an Italy with only a six day turnaround since losing to France by 29 points. This Welsh team know they have to go for it and despite the fact they are recovering from the intensity of their game against Ireland, expect them to push the pace of the game from word go. If they can keep their defensive shape and not give soft tries away whilst chasing points of their own, they could set a target that neither Ireland nor England can match.

Remember England beat Italy 52 - 11 last year in the final match of the Six Nations in Rome; a similar score for Wales this weekend would leave Ireland needing to beat Scotland by 20 points or more and England requiring 16 or more against France. Racking up a half century would put pressure on the others. I'm sure Warren Gatland has that figure in mind.

When you look at the other two matches, they are games that need to be won first before thoughts of piling on the points. I don't see either being won by scores greater than the spreads I outlined above. The pressure that Wales could heap on the others may be too much and neither Joe Schmidt or Stuart Lancaster will send their teams out looking at points difference, they will be sending them out to win.

Wales should put a cricket score on Italy © Getty Images

Enlarge

Ireland face a really difficult task against a Scotland team fighting to avoid the wooden spoon but also against a group of players looking to redeem themselves after their loss at home to Italy. Scotland have shown flashes of what they can be but Joe Schmidt's Ireland will take solace when they see how England made 17 line breaks against Scotland but did not finish. Schmidt will tell his team patience on the ball will lead to opportunity.

If Wales can't set a target ahead of when Ireland play then there are two scenarios that will materialise. Firstly an Irish win will mean England have to beat France and against Les Bleus, that can never be guaranteed. Then Ireland will ponder whether they can clock up a score line that would heap pressure on England - anything more than an 11-point win would mean England would need to beat France by more than seven points. The permutations are endless.

It really is a fascinating weekend. I was gutted from an Ireland perspective that we lost last weekend thus denying us a tilt at the Grand Slam but at the start of this campaign I predicted there would be no clean sweep, Ireland would beat England in Dublin but England would win the title. So far so good on the predictions but I cannot call the final day.

I see people complaining of unfair advantages for the teams going last and how all games should be played at the same time but the drama as it unfolds through the day puts those arguments to bed. Wales could start the day off by putting up a score that asks some serious questions of the other two. I feel Italy's depth through a tough Six Nations was always going to be tested and alongside their sparse recovery time of six days it just may be too much for this squad. For those reasons, if I was a betting man which I'm not, I think it will be Wales who will have the last laugh on everyone. Who would have predicted that after their opening round loss to England?