the 2016 autumn internationals, in which the top rugby union nations flex their muscles against one another, have already thrown up some cracking matches, and one or two shocks. here we’re taking a look at the upcoming round of rugby union fixtures – on saturday 12th november 2016 – and giving our predictions and betting tips to help you make some money from the bookies.
another way we help you make money is by providing odds comparison for the biggest rugby matches and markets. we check the betting odds from the best bookies around and display the biggest prices so you can quickly grab the best value, thus maximising your profits.
so, without further ado, let’s get stuck into our analysis and betting tips of some mouth-watering matches.
the biggest game of the weekend is undoubtedly england versus south africa as these two heavyweights of the game clash at twickenham. eddie jones has created a real winning mentality since he took the helm and with england having won all nine of their matches on his watch – including three against australia on their patch in june – they really fear no one at the moment.
south africa, in contrast, appear to be in something of a slump at present. they have had decidedly mixed results in recent times, including having been beaten by japan at the world cup and argentina in durban. they can take some hope if they look back to november 2014… when they won against england at twickenham!
it is no surprise to see the home side priced as the overwhelming favourites to take the victory here. sky bet have the best betting odds on the england win of just 2/7 at the time of writing, while the springboks are out at 4/1 with coral. for our betting tip we’re looking to the handicaps market and we like the look of england to run away with this one: back england -10 at nice betting odds of 10/11 with bet365.
new zealand will come into this one reeling from their 40-29 defeat to ireland last weekend in chicago. that loss ended the all blacks’ extraordinary run of 18 victories, and they’ll be determined to start a new winning run against italy on saturday.
of course, there’s never a particularly good time to play new zealand, but for conor o’shea and his italian side, this could be the worst possible time. there will almost certainly be a backlash from the nation which loses so infrequently at rugby union, and italy could be facing a tough afternoon.
o’shea only took over as head coach in march of this year, so it is still relatively early days for him, but we predict he’ll be getting his side into shape and that they might not be disgraced against the all blacks. that said, we – and the bookies – can’t see an upset here. the azzurri are priced as massive 50/1 outsiders with paddy power and we wouldn’t go near that to be honest. with new zealand available at just 1/200, again we’ll look to the handicaps, where italy +40.5 points is the call at a tidy price of evens with paddy power – o’shea’s men will undoubtedly lose the match, but not by as much as the bookies expect.
when these sides meet on saturday vern cotter will be hopeful his scotland side can make amends for their agonising defeat to the wallabies in the world cup last year. they went down 35-34 that day at the quarter final stage of the competition after a contentious last-minute penalty was awarded to australia – which they duly converted.
australia went on to lose in the final to new zealand, and they lost three times on home soil to england and then twice more to new zealand. michael cheika’s men improved a little after that: they’ve beaten south africa, argentina twice and wales since, but the inconsistency of performance is sure to worry their head coach.
we predict this could be a closer encounter than the odds suggest. though vern cotter is only staying in the job until june next year, he will be determined to continue his side’s recent development, typified by their six nations victory over france in march. scotland are the 7/2 outsiders to win this one with ladbrokes, and we are tempted to have a punt on them at that price. more realistic, though, is the option to back the home side at betting odds of 10/11 with the same bookie with a +10 point handicap.
wales really need a win after a run of five defeats. granted three of those were against the all blacks and the other two against australia and england, but even so, warren gatland would have expected more of his men.
argentina have fared slightly better, winning two of their last six (against japan and south africa) but losing twice apiece to australia and new zealand. they are not the pushovers the odds would suggest, priced at 7/4 with paddy power compared to 1/2 for the hosts. but we predict wales will get back to winning ways here, albeit in a rather tight and nervy match.
our betting tip for this one is a bit of a punt: back argentina to be winning at half time but wales to win by the end of the match at betting odds of 6/1 with sky bet. with the welsh likely to be wary of yet another defeat, we fancy the pumas can catch them a little cold and give them a scare. but gatland’s men should have enough to haul themselves back into the game and ultimately to get the victory.