International Rugby is back with a bang this weekend and we take a look at 3 of the matches including the big clash in Cardiff between Wales and South Africa.
SATURDAY
ITALY v NEW ZEALAND
This match takes place in Rome and New Zealand unsurprisingly start massive favourites with the bookmakers.
Italy start life under new coach, Kieran Crowley and after another Six Nations campaign without a victory their fans can only hope for improvement. Looking at who they are playing in this game though that first win under the new coach is probably going to have to wait.
The All Blacks have been in rampant form in recent weeks, hammering the USA 104-14 in Washington and then withstanding some early Welsh resistance to win 54-16 in Cardiff, that was admittedly not a first string Welsh side.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Italy 80/1
Draw 100/1
New Zealand 1/200
Handicap: Italy (+56.5) at 9/10, New Zealand (-56.5) at 9/10
Suggested Bet: Handicap, Italy (+56.5) at 9/10
This could never be a confident call against New Zealand, but I am looking for the Italians to step up for their new coach and to score enough points to stay within the cap.
WALES v SOUTH AFRICA
Wales are still missing a few players to injury, but they have been able to call on a number of established players for this test match against South Africa, so we can expect a very different side to the one that ran out against the All Blacks last week. That match ended in a heavy defeat but let us not forget that Wales are the Six Nations Champions, winning 4 of their 5 matches in the competition earlier this year.
The Boks have had a break since that excellent 31-29 victory over the All Blacks in Australia and that came 1 week after a 2 point loss to the self-same New Zealand rugby team.
These sides haven't met since Rugby World Cup in 2019 when the Boks won a pulsating semi-final 19-16 thanks to a late Handre Pollard penalty.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Wales 3/1
Draw 30/1
South Africa 3/10
Handicap: Wales (+8.5) at 9/10, South Africa (-8.5) at 9/10
Suggested Bet: Winning Margin, South Africa under 12.5 points at 14/10
The Boks may be a bit rusty, but they should have what it takes to overcome this Welsh side, but I don’t think they are going to run away with it though.
SUNDAY
SCOTLAND v AUSTRALIA
This match takes place at Murrayfield on Sunday meaning us punters have a chance to get out of trouble if we have had a bad weekend.
Scotland were too strong for Tonga last week, winning by 46 points, but they now enter the business end of the November Internationals. They had a reasonable Six Nations and stayed in contention till the end, winning 3 and losing 2 of their matches. They haven't played Australia since 2017 when they met in Scotland and the home team won comfortably 54-23.
The Wallabies started their Rugby Championship campaign against the All Blacks and took a few beatings in that and the Bledisloe Cup. They bounced back though with successive wins over South Africa and they were also too strong for Argentina before going to Japan and winning fairly comfortably 32-23.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Scotland 27/20
Draw 25/1
Australia 8/11
Handicap: Scotland (+1.5) at 9/10, Australia (-1.5) at 9/10
Suggested Bet: Handicap, Australia (-1.5) at 9/10
The Scots should give a good account of themselves here, but I am expecting this Australia side to have just that bit much for them.
Another bet I would consider here is Australia by 1-12 points but that is not priced up at the time of writing.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
