Topic: [Rugby] Union / League / Super / Sixes Sevens Pro14 / Cups & Tours / Olympics - page 11. (Read 15792 times)

The first ten minutes of the Rabbioths game saw them score two converted tries and I got an "oh no" moment.  Then, by half time The Empire Panthers Struck Back to record a crushing 12 - 42 win.

Yeh, I've noticed the Dolphins are the underdogs.  I'm sure I had good reason for picking them - it'll come to me eventually.  In the meantime, the Broncos game will be dynamite just weeks out from the State Of Origin. (I haven't heard the news about Wayne Bennet who was the Broncos coach for many, many years).

Another big score difference Rabbitohs 12 - 42 Panthers. They go up to second spot  . . . temporarily.

It looks like Wayne Bennett is going in to replace Jason Demetriou. I remember Timelord saying something
about Bennett a few years ago. Anyway he is back in to try and turn the ship around.

Big match coming up tomorrow for both the Broncos and Roosters, Broncos are favourite at home.
Wests Tigers need a big game away to the Bulldogs and are big underdogs @ 3.35

Big game too for the Dolphins to try and stay up when they play the Cowboys, you have them to win
and they are underdogs away to the Cowboys.

I might be able to catch a game over the weekend. Last weekend it was wall to wall League - as well as the games mentioned above, I saw the Dolphins clumsy loss, then the embarrassing loss by the Raiders on their coaches 500th game.

During the week, the Rabbitohs have sacked their coach as they have had just one win this season.  Tonight, the Rabbitohs are going to be up against the Panthers who as we know are firming up as finals contenders yet again.

So on to my pics for round eight:

Panthers, Sea Eagles, Broncos, Bulldogs, Storm, Dolphins, Warriors, Sharks.

The Bulldogs game could be close against the Tigers who are showing improved form.
The Sea Eagles captain had his dangerous throw/tackle charge down graded - his first charge in his long career.  I'm sure he'll be wanting to play a careful game but will be out to show he can still play a clean game.

Rugby 7's

Second last round this coming weekend 3rd - 5th May in Singapore.

Mens side:
Argentina are sitting on top spot with 94 points
Ireland in second on 86 points
Fiji in 3rd 76 points
France on 74 points

Argentina need to watch out, they only scored 4 points last time out.

Womens side
New Zealand and Australia 1st and 2nd on 106 points
France in 3rd on 88
USA in 4th on 82

NZ and Australia are going to be slugging it out for top spot really.


I cant see any odds yet.

Semi Final stage to two big tournaments coming up at the weekend

Investec Champions Cup

Leinster^Ireland v Northampton Saints^England - Leinster are big favourites with a home stadium of 80,000+ spectators! @ 1.12

Stade Toulousain^France v Harlequins^England - Toulouse are also bigger favourites at home @ 1.05

EPCR Challenge Cup

Hollywoodbets Sharks^{South Africa} v ASM Clermont Auvergne^France - No odds available yet on this one.

Gloucester^England v Benetton Treviso^Italy - The English side are obvious favourites against a surprising Italian side @ 1.43
Benetton are priced at 3.00 - Just for the fun I'm doing a small bet on the Italians. They have been fairly decent
this year so far on both the Challenge Cup ad the United Cup, surprising really and kind of gives a glimmer of
hope for future Italian Rugby.

Happy to say my parlay is in the Green! two weeks in a row -  this is getting easy! ^{I jest}

As I eluded to earlier in the week, table toppers Leinster got hammered ^again in South Africa
by the Stormers, this weekend coming is the big one so all their top players will be in action.

Leinster have been overtaken by Glasgow Warriors who will certainly have their eye on some long
overdue silverware.

Connacht are only coming good at the end of the season and are now up to 6th in the table.


Broncos up to 6th now on the ladder!

Cowboys v Panthers - ah the damage was done in the first half, Cowboys came back into it in
the second but not enough time to win!

The Tigers got applauded as they left the field at half time (they had a try disallowed and, like the other games this week, the commentators are saying this is a game for the ages).



The second half will recommence very shortly.  ($26 at kickoff of the second half)

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In an hour, the beleaguered Cowboys will try to stare down the Panthers.  (The game is being played in Townsville, so the Cowboys may have a home ground advantage)

Broncos have started brightly 0-16 at half time, Tigers have a fair bit of catching up to
do now in the second half...

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URC

We had two matches last night and between those two matches 131 points were scored!
I watched the highlights and both matches were just action packed in terms of scoring.

Scarlets 27 - 32 Sharks
Ulster 38 - 34 Bennetton

I'm going with a 4 match parlay in todays matches, total 2.83.

Zebre to be beaten at home by Glasgow Warriors
Bulls at home to beat the Ospreys
Cardiff to be beaten at home by Edinburgh
Lions to be beaten at home by Munster

I'm going to sit down in an hour and watch the Tigers Vs Broncos game - last night I went to three from four pics when the Sea Eagles decimated the Eels (who admittedly started very strongly, then went to water well before half time).

Jeez, the Rabbitohs are still stuck on the bottom after that loss. If they lose a few more
rounds I'd say their season is over.

The two teams I'm following this season, Wests Tigers and Broncos are facing off
against each other tomorrow, thats a pity but it has to happen.

The Warriors would want to up their performance too, they are slipping down the ladder,
a bit disappointing after their good season last year.

I'm watching the Storm spank the pants of the Rabbitohs in much the same way the Roosters poured ice over the Dragons to win 60 - 18.

At the start of the day, the Warriors had an early lead which they squandered then were unable to come back to loose 24 - 27.

That'll mean I'm two from three this round.

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.