For many rugby punters things get real this weekend with the start of Super Rugby and Six Nations.

While there has been European Rugby over the past few months many of us have being sitting out since the end of the Rugby World Cup waiting for this weekend. If there was any doubt as to the excitement of sports betters the movement in handicaps in the first round of Super Rugby matches is a good indication that while fans may not be filling the stands, those of us that bet on the game still love this competition.

The Blues opened (+5.5) against the Chiefs and have been backed into (+2.5) at WSB while the biggest market mover is the Stormers who opened at 12/10 underdogs at home to the Hurricanes, but have now being backed into 8/10 favourites to win the match.

There was plenty of early support for the Jaguares and the line has moved from the opening call of (-6.5) to (-9.5) and the Lions look to have it all to do.

My aim this year will be to avoid falling into early traps as has happened to me in the past. I tend to get so excited for this week, I come out firing and quite often my form in the early rounds of Super Rugby is less than impressive. That being said it is very hard to stay out of things when you see others getting involved and line movement such as what we have seen this week.

In non-betting related news I will be hoping to get off to a strong start in my Superbru Competitions and World Sports Betting have put up over R7000 worth of voucher prizes in our Free Comp and I am also running a R500 Buy-in Pool where it looks like we are going to be playing for some very handy prize money.

Back to the betting and I see on the long term front there has been some money for the Stormers in from 25/1 to 22/1 and I do think they offer some value for the Tournament win.

The Crusaders are the favourites at 18/10, while I can’t argue with the fact that they are top of the Betting Boards, that price looks a bit too short for me at this stage of the season.

Enjoy the Rugby and bet responsibly.

Twitter: @BrentGraham

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 30 January 2020.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and sends a free weekly e-mail list just CLICK HERE to register