Rugby Union - 2021

[Quill]

Rugby - Premiership

Wasps vs Leicester Tigers

The Wasps have struggled all season and they now have two late withdrawals.
The Tigers have been dominant this season and they are top of the table with 11 wins in 11 matches.
Wasps will struggle to score against te best defence in the competition.

Bet: Leicester -5.5 @1.88

[Quill]

Rugby - Champions Cup

Glasgow Warriors vs Exeter Chiefs

The Chiefs are playing again their solid brand of rugby. In the English Premiership they beat powerhouse Saracens and they dispatched the French side Montpellier (3rd in French Top 14) 42-6 last week.
The Chiefs should be no match for Glasgow.
The total for this match has dropped a couple of points and with the weather good for running rugby, I'll take an over, as the amount of points is not that big.

Bet 1: Exeter Chiefs -6.5 @1.94
Bet 2: Team Total Points - Exeter over 26.5 @1.82
Bet 3: Total Match Points Over 45.5 @1.90

[Quill]

Rugby - Champions Cup

Northampton Saints vs Racing 92

Racing 92 are struggling this season. They are sitting mid-table in Top 14 (the French league) and have been quite inconsistent.
The Saints are doing very well in the Premiership, currently sitting third.
Both teams have named strong teams and there will be quality across the park.
Last year the Saints came close to beating another French champion side and they have a very good chance of going one better now against a team that has not found its best lineup and combinations.

Bet 1: Northampton +1.5 @1.90,
Bet 2: Total Points Over 45.5 @1.75,
Bet 3: Team Total Points - Northampton Over 22.5 @1.83

[Quill]

USA vs France

Both teams have some exciting players and play spectacular rugby.

Bet: Over 37.5 @1.90

[Quill]

Fiji vs Canada

This is a play-off match for the bottom 4 spots. The Fijians are fielding a young and inexperienced team and their only win came against Argentina in a match that didn't matter.
Canada lost all their three group matches, but they were against very good opposition, USA, Australia and Kenya. However, their only big defeat was against USA by 24 points, who were losing finalists last week.
Therefore I don't think that they'll lose to this Fijian team by as big a margin as they lost to a strong USA team.

Bet: Canada +21.5 @1.87

[Quill]

Rugby Sevens
Spain vs Japan

Spain have been playing nice rugby, while Japan lost all their games so far, including last weekend, by big margins. They never looked to be in any of the games they played.

Bet: Spain -17.5 @1.90

[Quill]

Rugby Sevens

Australia vs Ireland

Australia are on fire and last week they beat Ireland 35-14.
However the handicap is too big here, as Ireland are different with Jordan Conroy who is back for Ireland and he is on fire.

Bet: Ireland +9.5 @1.87

[Quill]

Wales vs Fiji

The odds have dropped for the total points in this match, as it's expected to be a high scoring one.
I forgot to add the match total points bet.

Bet: Over 49.5 points @1.90

[Quill]

Rugby International

Wales vs Fiji

The matches between these two sides have been pretty close.
Fiji beat Spain 43-13 last week and although they will also come up against Georgia on tour, this is the game they will be targeting.
Their most recent meeting came in the Rugby World Cup 2019 pool stage in Japan and Wales won it 29-17.
Fiji's last visit to Cardiff came in October 2015 and they were beaten 23-13 whilst a year earlier they were beaten 17-13 and in 2010 they drew 16-16.
Having lost their opening two autumn internationals, what Wales and Wayne Pivac (Wales coach) need above all is a win, and that**8217;s reflected in his team selection. Wales have named a strong team for this match.
Fiji are missing four key players for this match, so Wales should take care of business comfortably.

Conditions look decent and with both sides likely to play a high tempo attacking game I think we could get a high scoring affair.

Bet 1: Wales -11.5 @1.88
Bet 2: Team Total Wales Over 30.5 points @1.80
Bet 3: Team Total Tries - Wales Over 3.5 @1.72
Bet 4: Wales Over 3.5 tries + France Over (Alt) 38.5 points @2.07
Bet 5: Wales Over (Alt) 25.5 points + France Over (Alt) 44.5 points @1.90

[Quill]

Rugby International

France vs Georgia

Georgia have not played since July (9-40 away to South Africa), while France beat Argentina last week. Georgia will play Fiji next week and they will be targeting that game, they would want to be competitive in that one.
France scored 3 tries against Argentina and their coach wasn't too happy with their performance, despite the win (29-20). They want to improve their game in view of the big test that awaits them next week against New Zealand.
Georgia's team is made up of a lot of players who play in the Top 14 (French top league), so I expect them to score a few points too.

Bet 1: France -39.5 @1.87
Bet 2: Team Total Tries - France Over 6.5 @1.91
Bet 3: Team Total Points - Georgia Over 7.5 @1.83

[Quill]

Rugby - Bunnings NPC

Manawatu vs Otago, semifinal

Otago has been given a major boost for this semifinal.
Blindside flanker Sam Fischli has been cleared to play and this allows Otago to field a largely unchanged line-up.

Josh Dickson returns at lock in place of Will Tucker in the only change to the Otago line-up.
This means that they have much the same team that has hit a strong run of form over the past month.

Last week they lost 27-25 to Waikato, a top Premiership side, but they played 20 minutes with 14 men.

Manawatu won 27-14 last time these two teams met.
However, Otago was in its first game back after a longer break and rust was evident. Also, on that occasion they had the help of All Black star Aaron Smith at 9, which won't be the case this time around, as he has travelled to Europe to join the All Blacks for the end of their European tour.

Otago has proven that they can take on tough teams, having already claimed the scalps of both Premiership sides Canterbury and Wellington in the regular season.
Manawatu has leaked 36, 35 and 40 points in their last three matches, which shows a porous defence, so I expect Otago to score a fair amount of points.

With home field advantage and having a strong back three - Milner Skudder, Fainga'anuku and Fidow, I expect them to score enough points too.

Bet 1: Otago win 1-12 @2.80
Bet 2: Otago -2.5 @1.84
Bet 3: Team Total Points - Otago Over 25.5 @1.87
Bet 4: Total Points Over 46.5 @1.87
Bet 5: Team Total Points - Manawatu Over 20.5 @1.90

[Quill]

Rugby - Bunnings NPC

Waikato vs Otago

This is the last round of the regular season. Waikato needs a win to make sure they keep their second position in the Premiership ply-offs, which means home semifinal.
If they lose they will be overtaken by the winners of the other two remaining fixtures this weekend, i.e. the winner of Tasman vs Wellington as well as the winner of Canterbury vs Bay of Plenty, and they will almost certainly drop to fourth spot.

Otago are already in the Championship play-offs, nothing to play for here other than keeping in form for the play-offs. They have recently improved their game and will be looking to keep their momentum going into the play-offs.
Because there is plenty of rain and high humidity today in Rotorua, and as the visitors come into this match in good form, I think the most likely outcome here is a low scoring toughly contested match, won by the Premiership side.

Bet 1: Waikato -3.0 @1.81
Bet 2: Total Points Under 47.5 @1.80

[Quill]

Rugby - Bunnings NPC

Manawatu vs Hawke's Bay

Hawke's Bay have already won the Premiership Division and for this match they are resting their players in view of the play-offs.
Manawatu are fielding a strong team, and although they qualified for the play-offs in the Championship division, they want to go into play-offs on a high note.
Last week they put 35 points past Taranaki, the best team in the Championship, so I expect they could stay in the game and put enough points past a second string Hawke's Bay team that doesn't need the win.

Bet: Team Total Points - Manawatu Over 22.5 @1.83

[Quill]

Rugby - Bunnings NPC

Bay of Plenty vs Waikato

Bay of Plenty must win this game to keep their play-off hopes alive. last time out they beat Wellington, a play-off side and lost in OT to the Premiership table toppers.
Waikato are on a 3 match losing streak, including an embarrassing defeat to lowly Championship side Northland (Northland's only win this season).
Both these teams play running rugby that results in high scoring matches.

Bet 1: BoP -3.5 @1.75
Bet 2: Over 54.5 points @1.83

[Quill]

Rugby - Bunnings NPC

Southland vs Northland

Southland have a big opportunity to make it to the play-offs and for that they must beat Northland. Both teams are similar in quality, although at the lower end.
Southland with the best team they possibly have.

Bet 1: Southland -1 @1.85
Bet 2: Team Total Points - Southland Over 25.5 @1.85