The only thing that has gone right for me in this season’s Super Rugby is that I have not been able to watch many games due to school sports commitments. After a strong start in Week 1, my form has slumped considerably and to give you an indication of where it stands, I am currently sitting 64th out of 69 players in our “Pay To Play” Pool in SuperBru.
My SuperBru form is not always indicative of betting form as I often bet other markets like Total Points but it does show that I am battling to pick the games. One thing that it seems you can rely on is that the Crusaders will continue to perform and looking at the latest Outright Betting they are 31/20, the Chiefs 27/10, the Stormers are 35/4 (despite the defeat to the Blues) and the Jaguares who beat the Bulls by 15 on the weekend are 19/2 and you can get 10/1 and better the balance.
Looking at some of the other long term markets available on the Tournament we have Stormers 19/20 to win the South African Conference with the Jaguares 9/4 but I think the Sharks are stand out value at 28/10 having won 3 out of 4 matches on the road.
They host the Stormers in Durban next weekend and that should be an absolute cracker and a potential Conference decider.
The Australian Conference appears to sit in the hands of the Brumbies who are 1/5 and my YouTube colleague Couch Critic will be delighted that his favourite hooker, Folau Faingaa is currently priced as the 9/2 favourite to be the top try scorer in the competition with the Sharks, Makazole Mapimpi 5/1 just behind him in the betting.
I haven’t had a good chance to look at this week’s games yet, but on the Goodforthegame Forum I have noticed some shrewd money coming for the Chiefs away at the Waratahs at (-8.5). The handicap has shifted out slightly to (-9.5) and I agree with the majority that the Chiefs will bounce back from their shock defeat to the Brumbies and can perhaps take advantage of a Waratahs side that looks short of depth.
The big game from a South African perspective is the Sharks at home to the Jaguares and the Sharks are (-4.5) favourites at the time of writing.
Twitter: @BrentGraham.
This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 5 March 2020.
Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and sends a free weekly e-mail list just CLICK HERE to register