A whole host of major sporting events take place over the weekend of 15th and 16th June and on Saturday you can watch and bet on rugby morning, noon and night. The Cricket World Cup sees the Proteas in action on Saturday and the eagerly anticipated clash between India and Pakistan on Sunday and in the world of football Copa America gets underway.
Super Rugby
Saturday is the last day of the regular season and whilst the first 3 matches are essentially dead rubbers they still throw up betting opportunities. With the Hurricanes resting some big names this could be an opportunity for the Blues to land a first away win in a New Zealand derby since Round 2 of the 2013 campaign. That distant memory of a Blues derby win on the road came in Wellington and the visitors can currently be backed at 19/20 to repeat the feat and bow out on a high against their play off bound opponents.
The term dead rubber certainly doesn’t apply to the 2 South African derby matches later in the day.
The Stormers and the Sharks face off at Newlands at 15:05 in what is a straight shoot out for a place in the quarter finals. The Stormers have lost just once at Newlands this season and they edged out the Sharks in Durban in the early rounds. The halfback pairing of Jano Vermaak and Josh Stander are among the changes to the side who beat the Sunwolves last week. Meanwhile the Sharks, who currently have a 3.5 point start on the handicap, are boosted by the return of “the Beast” but Curwin Bosch misses out through injury.
Click here to bet on Stormers v Sharks
The final game in Round 18 sees the Bulls host the Lions at Loftus. The Bulls are back from a tour which delivered 1 win, 1 defeat and 2 draws and they have some big guns available for this clash for which they are currently 4.5 point favourites.
Both sides will have a keen eye on how results earlier in the weekend go and coming into the game the Bulls are 1 point better off than the Lions. In terms of SA derby form this year the Bulls have beaten the Stormers and the Sharks comfortably at Loftus and they also won the first meeting with the Lions in Joburg (30-12). The Lions have won just 1 of 5 SA derby matches and preference is for the Bulls to cover the current handicap with a victory of 5 points or more.
Click here to bet on Bulls v Lions
Top 14
Whilst the South African teams who make it to the Super Rugby quarter finals get in contact with their travel agents attention switches to the Stade de France where Toulouse clash with Clermont in the Top 14 final.
Toulouse are currently favourites at 15/20 and those 1-12 point winning margin markets look the way to go whichever side you fancy.
Click here to bet on Toulouse v Clermont
Supersport Rugby Challenge
On Sunday the Supersport Rugby Challenge continues with 2 matches, the Pumas v Boland followed by Western Province v Griquas.
Boland have a handicap start in the mid teams in the first match whilst WP v Griquas is near enough a “choice game”.
Click here for all rugby markets.
Cricket World Cup
The Cricket World Cup round robin stage is approaching the half way marker and on Saturday Australia bid to make it 4 wins from 5 outings when they take on Sri Lanka. Whilst Finch, Warner and Smith have all been in the runs at the top of the order, Starc and Cummins have taken 9 wickets a piece with the ball. The scope for improvement falls somewhere in between and this looks like an opportunity for Glenn Maxwell to shine. We side with Maxwell in the Player Performance market in our match betting preview and he could also be worth a play to be Man of the Match at his current odds of 14/1. Bet here.
Whilst the Proteas poor start to the tournament is well documented Saturday’s clash with Afghanistan is surely the opportunity they need to restore some confidence. Whilst an early exit became even more likely after rain put paid to all but 7.2 overs of play against West Indies earlier in the week, the odds for South Africa to get that first win are 1/7. The Pre Match Handicap currently has South Africa at 8/10 to win by at least 6 wickets / 45 runs and that is our selection in our individual match preview.
On we go to Sunday’s game and Old Trafford, Manchester will be a real cauldron for India’s clash with Pakistan. India won their first 2 matches, playing some excellent cricket in the process before their match against New Zealand on Thursday was washed out. Pakistan have won 1, lost 2 and 1 other match was a victim of bad weather. On form Pakistan look up against it but their sole win came against England. India are favourites to win the game at 4/10 and right now Pakistan can be backed at 2/1 whilst in our match preview we look to Virat Kohli and Babar Azam to score a 50 for their respective sides.
Click here to bet on India v Pakistan.
Football
In the world of football COPA America gets underway in the early hours of Saturday morning and you can follow the action on a live stream on World Sports Betting TV. Ahead of the opening match between Brazil and Bolivia this is how the outright betting to lift the trophy looks.
Brazil 11/10
Argentina 34/10
Uruguay 13/2
Colombia 17/2
Chile 21/2
21/1 and better the rest.
Brazil are the hosts this year and Chile are looking for a hat trick having won the last 2 editions by beating Argentina on penalty kicks in 2015 and also in 2016. However Chile have a tough group alongside Uruguay, Ecuador and invite nation Japan.
Argentina had a nightmare World Cup in 2018 but they have been runners up 4 times in the last 5 editions of the Copa and with Messi, Aguero and Dyabala in the squad they make slightly more appeal than Brazil in a tournament which is rarely as straight forward as it might seem. Peru, who won many friends at the last World Cup, could be a lively outsider at 21/1.
In the Women’s World Cup we have a double header in Group E on Saturday and another in Group F on Sunday. The USA ladies, who put 13 (thirteen) unanswered goals past Thailand last time out and then came under fire for “over celebrating”, are in action against Chile on Sunday.
Click here to bet on international football.
Horse Racing
Saturday’s local horse racing comes from Turffontein on the inside track where a 9 race card gets underway at 12:25 whilst on Sunday 8 races take place on the polytrack at Greyville and the first race also jumps at 12:25
Click here to bet on South African horse racing.
Moto GP Catalunya
Ahead of qualifying for Sunday’s Moto GP of Catalunya the betting to win the race is as follows.
Marquez, Marc 1/1
Dovizioso, Andrea 3/1
Petrucci, Danilo 6/1
Rossi, Valentino 9/1
Quartararo, Fabio 11/1
12/1 and better the rest.
Click here for all Moto GP markets
Golf:
Finally, a reminder that you can bet on the US Open “in play” throughout the weekend.
Click here to bet on the US Open
Note, all odds quoted are subject to change.
Have a great weekend of punting.
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