Topic: [Rugby] Union / League / Super / Sixes Sevens Pro14 / Cups & Tours / Olympics (Read 12624 times)

Yea it will be interesting to see if the Dolphins can make it to the finals let alone the top 4.
I'm also interested in both the Broncos and Wests Tigers this season.

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This weekend is Round 15 of 18 in the United Rugby Championship.

Table toppers Leinster are again away this round to the Stormers, I'm guessing they
will put out the B teams because of their Semi final of the European Champions Cup
is next weekend. They have sold out our national sports arena with over 80,000 capacity.

The 8, 9, 10 and 11 positions in the table are really competitive now to reach it
to the URC finals, Edinburgh, Connacht, Ulster and Lions are all on 39 points.

I'm not able to place parlays on NitroBetting.EU - so well done on your win!  (mine always tank anyhow, so no real loss)

Speaking of Nitro Betting - My round seven NRL 2024 plays are as follows:


New Zealand Warriors - Gold Coast Titans 25 Apr 2024 14:00 Money Line New Zealand Warriors @ 1.22 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Win: 0.011 mBTC
St George Illawarra Dragons - Sydney Roosters 25 Apr 2024 16:05 Money Line Sydney Roosters @ 1.50 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Win: 0.025 mBTC
Melbourne Storm - South Sydney Rabbitohs 25 Apr 2024 19:50 Money Line Melbourne Storm @ 1.20 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Win: 0.01 mBTC
Manly Sea Eagles - Parramatta Eels 26 Apr 2024 20:00 Money Line Manly Sea Eagles @ 1.29 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Win: 0.014 mBTC
Wests Tigers - Brisbane Broncos 27 Apr 2024 17:30 Money Line Brisbane Broncos @ 1.12 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Win: 0.006 mBTC
North Queensland Cowboys - Penrith Panthers 27 Apr 2024 19:35 Money Line Penrith Panthers @ 1.29 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Win: 0.014 mBTC
Redcliffe Dolphins - Newcastle Knights 28 Apr 2024 14:00 Money Line Redcliffe Dolphins @ 1.41 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Win: 0.02 mBTC
Canberra Raiders - Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 28 Apr 2024 16:05 Money Line Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks @ 1.32 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Win: 0.016 mBTC


Warriors, Roosters, Storm, Sea Eagles, Broncos, Panthers, Dolphins, Sharks. ^{Now that I've bet on the Broncos, they'll tank against the Tigers...}


I think the Dolphins may have been overwhelmed last year with they hype and expectation of being introduced into the NRL competition.  So far this year, they've shown they are a good mid ladder team, but can they climb into the top 4?  We can only wait and see.

And just like that the Broncos are up to 6th with a great win!

Yea Dolphins are going well but that was the case last year, they ended up sliding down
the ladder and at the end of the season they were out of the top 8.

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My parlay in the United Championship actually came off! I deliberately left out the
Bulls v Munster fixture thinking it was going to be a difficult one to call and
Munster won away to the Bulls.

The separate bet on Leinster failed miserably. Final score: Lions 44 - 12 Leinster

I might have to sit out a few rounds myself. I wasn't paying attention to the fact the Broncos were playing at Lang Park (in the rain no less) and always get fired up when they are playing in front of a Brisbane crowd (plus talk is starting to turn to selection for the State of Origin series).

The Panthers saw off the Tigers averting a repeate of their loss to the Tigers last year.

The Titans are starting to show some improved form leading early then staying close behind the Sea Eagles who won 34 - 30

The Dolphins $2.80 win 44 - 18 against the Eels shows the money might be against Redcliffe, but they are still very much a team to be reckoned with.

Its an interesting ladder after 6 rounds. There are a few standouts there too, Rabbitohs stuck on the
bottom spot, Panthers not in top spot.

At this stage last year the two grand finalists had already occupied top spot, Broncos and Panthers!

I'm waiting for a few more rounds to see  how things pan out.

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United Rugby Championship

Round 14 of 18 this weekend

As I mentioned earlier all the home teams are favourites so I think I'll do a parley on 6 @ 1.63:

Ulster v Cardiff
Glasgow Warriors v The Sharks
Bennetton Treviso v Dragons
Stormers v Ospreys
Edinburgh v Scarlets
Connacht v Zebre

I'll do a separate one on Leinster to beat the Lions on their home pitch @ 2.22. Leinster are going to play
a B team because of their big Semi final in the European Championship.

Tonight's game between the Roosters and Storm has reminded me I'm supposed to be posting my pics for the week as well as an update on the ladder after six weeks or game plays.

For the win, I'm going with Storm, Warriors, Dolphins, Tigers, Sea Eagles, Raiders, Knights and Sharks in Round Seven of the 2024 NRL competition.

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On the ladder, after six weeks, we see two teams stand out (Sharks and Storm) on 10 points having won four of five games.



In second place on 8 points, there is a split (Raiders and Cowboys) having won four while the (Dolphins and Panthers) have won three but had a bye - all four have lost twice.  I feel the Dolphins and Panthers are stronger than the Raiders and Cowboys if we assumed they'd won a game without a bye.



Rounding out the top eight and uniquely placed in third position are the Warriors and Sea Eagles who fought to a draw after 90 minutes of game play.  The Warriors clawed their way back after the Sea Eagles cemented a very early lead and held the Warriors at bay for most of the second half.



In fourth place are the Roosters, Broncos, Eels, Wests Tigers and Dragons who have had some good wins between them.  The Tigers and Dragons may well nip and the heals of the Roosters and Broncos all season.



In lowly fifth and sixth places are the (Knights and Bulldogs) followed by the (Titans and Rabbitohs) - all four teams would be in my relegation zone if I had my way.  (The titans are only ahead of the Rabbitohs simply because they had a bye and gained two points for staying home)

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Put a different way - teams in 1^st - 4^th  on the ladder have won 4 games. (and are technically sharing first place)

team in 5^th - 13^th place have won three games. (and are sharing second place - with the sole exception of the Tigers and two wins putting them tied for third with the (Knights and Bulldogs))

We've still got 20 weeks of game play and it's still not clear who is going to be top eight, much less top four or Grand Final contenders.

It was a dismal end to the round with teams I hadn't picked claiming early wins then either cementing their leads or, fending off late challenges. I don't think there are any clear leaders as yet (other than the top two). The midladder teams are fairly evenly match down to about twelfth place with the Titans and Rabbitohs winless and their sole two points coming from having had a bye from games.

I did have a couple of wins in the Super Pacifica Rugby - I might have to post some tips tomorrow before the weekend lands.

United Rugby Championship

Still a few rounds to go before the finals. This coming weekend is Round 14 of 18. This slots
in just before the Semi finals of both the European Champions Cup and the European Challenge
cup. Still a lot to play for particularly at the bottom end of the top 8 positions.

Positions from 6 through to 11 are all competing for the top 8 positions.



This weekend coming looks like all the home teams are favourites which means the competition for those
positions from 7 to 11 will get more competitive.

R=There is one fixture which has caught my attention: Lions v Leinster - The Lions are favourites and
Leinster ^{table toppers and only beaten twice this competition} are priced at 2.14.
Thats a great price on the competition leaders . . . I am just wondering if they will be sending the B
team and saving their key players for the semi final of the Champions Cup the following weekend???

One of the biggest stars of the European rugby game is France's Antoine Dupoint has
switched to focusing on the 7's game but was missing from the French 7's team last week
in order to play for Toulouse in their finals campaign of the European Champions Cup.
They face Exeter in the last of the quarter finals today.

Yesterday there were wins for Northampton, Herlequins and Leinster. Leinster beat
their rivals 40-13. Everyone expected a close enough match.

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The European Challenge Cup quarter finals are also on today, Its a competition which
runs along side the Champions Cup and I havent been following it too closely but
my home team Connacht are playing today away to Bennetton. Bennetton have already
beaten them at home in the United Championship so this is an exact replay. They should
beat the home team with their Ireland internationals back.

I had a couple of wins in the Super Pacific Rugby but I'm sorry to say the seven's fell off my radar too!

In the NRL - after an early leed, the Warriors caught up to the Sea Eagles to then spend two five minutes halves locked at 22 all but neither side managing to score even a single point field goal. (I'll have to check, but I have a feeling the Sea Eagles did the same thing last year.

The Eels beat the Cowboys 27 - 20 who were more favored to win (but slipped up allowing a couple of early tries)

Fortunately, the Sharks mauled the Rabbitohs 34 - 22 so I'm not doing toooo dismally this year ^{(I'm still hopeful the teams will settle down soon)}

Wow, the Broncos are back in business again! Great win.

My other interest is on tomorrows match between Wests Tigers and the Dragons, there
isnt that much separating them ATM but hopefully the Tigers can stretch their lead over
them on the ladder.

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Totally missed last weeks Hong Kong Rugby 7's!
On the Men's side New Zealand
took Gold, France ^{France are definitely becoming a force} took Silver and Ireland Bronze!
Argentina ended up 9th? I hope they are not going to continue that form of play and can
get back to picking up medals.

On the Womens side New Zealand again with Gold, USA Silver and Australia Bronze, Ireland
in 8th.

Next up is Singapore 3rd to 5th May.

Both the Bulldogs and Dolphins lost their matches in reasonably low, close scoring games. The Broncos scored five tries to the Dolphins three while the Bull dogs were leading until the 75^th minute when their opponents scored and converted the win 16 - 14

The bulldogs went out to over $7 immediately prior to kick-off. It would have been a very nice win indeed.

Big match coming up shortly for the Broncos who face table toppers the Dolphins. The
Broncos have a few players coming back from injury so hopefully they can magic a win,
they need it and are favourites at 1.38.

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European Champions Cup

Big round this weekend to decide who goes into the semi finals, starting tomorrow...

Bordeaux Begeles v Harlequins

Leinster v la Rochelle - If Leinster as favourites win this there is rumour they will play
their semi final in "Croke Park" in Dublin, an 80,000+ capacity stadium and HQ of our
national games.  

Northampton v Bulls

Sunday: Toulouse v Exeter

All the home sides are MASSIVE favourites.

An understrength Roosters team managed to overcome a number of shortfalls to win 22 - 20 against more favored team the Newcastle Knights who slipped up more often than not. I only got to see the highlights on nrl.com but it tells the whole story. The Roosters were the better team on the day.

Thats a fairly competitive top 10 positions really ans its something I would have expected
with 5 rounds played. If indeed the Panthers dominance has waned they wont get '3 in a row'
titles. Its too early also to figure out if there will be another dominant team or is the competition
for top spot going to be hotly contested by a few teams.

I want to see the Broncos moving up TBH and it would be great to see the Tigers reach the finals
too but there are a lot of matches to be played yet.

The Rabbitohs week goes from worse to worst with one of their key players out for the weeks after two dangerous tackles over the weekend.

After five weeks of game play in first place are the Dolphins, Cowboys, Storm and Sharks on eight points (the Cowboys have played five games whilst the others three just four games each)

In seconplace on six points are the Raiders, Warriors, Sea Eagles, Panthers and Tigers (the latter having played four fixtures while the others have played five)

In third place are six teams - five games, four points.

Then fourth place wooden spooners Titans (four games) and Rabbitohs (five games and just one win on two points.

I don't think there was anything specific - just the Eels aren't playing that well at the moment.

For round six of the 2024 NRL season - My pics are

Roosters ($2.40)
Bulldogs ($6.20)
Dolphins ($3.20)
Warriors ($1.52)
Cowboys ($1.62)
Sharks ($1.40)
Tigers ($1.80)
Raiders ($1.30)

The Dolphins Vs Broncos game is being dubbed the "Battle of Brisbane" (a reference to the rots in Brisbane during WWII) - I think with a few injuries, the Broncos are going to be pipped at the post by the Dolphins.

Thats a massive score by the Raiders! Were the Eels short of some players due to Injury?

In the European Champions Rugby all my bets are in the Green and the parlay was good
also, toulouse beat Racing 92 so set up a quarter final against Exeter. Northampton beat
Munster to set up a quarter final match against the Bulls

The Bulls are the only South African tean left in the tournament and Leinster are the
only Irish side. 3 teams each for France and England.

I'll be shouting for Leinster, Its great to see they have a home tie against rivals
La Rochelle and are favourites at 1.37!

A little bit of hearing the local news of the injury list plus suspecting the Panthers glory is waneing.

The only one I got wrong this week was the Bulldogs win. I wouldn't write them off just yet - they've put in solid performances this year and I figure they'll be top eight for most of the year (along with the sea eagles). The Dolphins / Tigers game was fairly routine and low scoring keeping the Dolphins at the top of the ladder and the Tigers ahead of others.

The Knights slayed the Dragons (never gets old saying that) while the last game of the round by the last twenty minutes became what seemed a practice session - I was surprised when the Eels scored a late try which they then failed to convert. Just to run it in, Canberra at their home ground scored more field goals and tries to win 41 - 8.

Wow, how did you pick that one? it happened! 32 - 18 !

In the European Rugby Championship I am 1.5 from 2 so far, the favourites have won
yesterday Bordeaux Begeles and Leinster. I need Toulouse to beat Racing 92 today for
my parlay.

Leinster play old rivals La Rochelle in the quarter finals next! these two have contested
the last 2 finals with la Rochelle winning both, Leinster will be looking to break that streak!