Posted on 10 Oct 2012 at 14:49 PM by
Ruck Driver
Perhaps it's only a temporary reprieve, but for the moment, talk of a possible breakaway from the Heineken Cup by French and English clubs is on the back burner. The first round of competition is set to get underway this Friday evening in front of over 30,000 supporters in Swansea and Belfast, and with no World Cup on the horizon, this promises to be an excellent year of competition where several sides should make a real push for European glory. On the face of it, the English and French sides have little to complain about. The top ten sides in the antepost betting list include four English clubs, four French clubs and only two Pro 12 sides - Leinster and Munster. The Ospreys are perhaps a little unfortunate to be left out of that company based on personnel alone, however a fiercely tough draw alongside Leicester and Toulouse in Pool 2 has left them with an uphill battle just to reach the knockout stages. Indeed an argument has been put forward that regardless of who advances from a
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Posted on 05 Oct 2012 at 18:00 PM by
Ruck Driver
Last weekend our recommendation here on Betting.com was that the Ospreys might be good value to prevail in their home tie against Munster. When it came to picking the winner we were correct, however the Welsh side exceeded our expectations and so our 11/2 bet on a winning margin of between six and ten points failed to come in. However even though that result was hugely worrying from a Munster perspective, they could have the perfect fixture lined up to bounce back - a battle with Leinster at the Aviva Stadium. The Heineken Cup looms large for both provinces but that's all in the distant future as this game tomorrow evening is of critical importance to both sides. With Ulster setting the pace in the Rabodirect Pro 12, neither province can afford to lose too much ground early on and three defeats in their first six games would leave plenty of work to do for any team. Leinster are generally six point favourites with most bookmakers, however some firms are betting 10/11 Munster plus seven
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Posted on 05 Oct 2012 at 13:04 PM by
Big Man with Football
Each year, the NFL is littered with teams that start well but fail to fulfil their early promise. In one of the most competitive antepost markets in all of sport, betting on those franchises that sprint out of the blocks quickly would generally be a shortcut to the poor house. However in a league noted for parity, the most notable aspect from this season's play so far is how most of the strong contenders seem to be on the NFC side. Out west, San Francisco have recorded three good wins, including one victory at Lambeau Field, and with five home games to come in the next six weeks, they'll be disappointed if they fail to stretch out a good lead in their division. In the South, the Atlanta Falcons are 4-0 with one of the best offensive units in the league. Up North Green Bay cannot be written off, while the Bears have also been impressive in patches now that Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall have renewed their partnership. The NFC East is as competitive as ever but the Eagles are 3-1
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Posted on 04 Oct 2012 at 15:14 PM by
Match of the Day
Normally, when we think of betting in play, we think about the concept of watching a sporting event with a view towards isolating and identifying a bet on that particular event. However sometimes we have to think outside of that particular box and to look at a sporting event with a view towards predicting where the betting market will go for future events, and then look to beat the market to the punch. The perfect example of what we're talking about here can be seen in tonight's Europa League tie between Liverpool and Udinese. Liverpool are best priced at 8/13 for this fixture (widely available), while you can bet the draw at 3/1 and Udinese at 11/2, both with BetVictor. Both these clubs are in a similar predicament - they are highly rated based on past exploits, however they are both struggling to find form this season and neither has really lived up to their reputations so far this autumn. Tonight is a tricky game to call on the basis that both sides are likely to omit key players
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Posted on 29 Sep 2012 at 02:40 AM by
Match of the Day
It's been an exhilarating first day of play at the Ryder Cup, but not even the most passionate European supporters could claim that the 5-3 score in favour of the American team is anything but a fair reflection of how the event has transpired so far. This morning's 2-2 draw was probably fair enough, though if Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker had grabbed a half point to give the American team an edge, that wouldn't have been a travesty either. This afternoon Nicolas Colsaerts deserved his point, but while he was an outstanding individual performer, you could make a case for saying that the next best half dozen golfers were all clad in the American colours. Most bookmakers are now betting 2/5 the United States, 5/2 Europe and 10/1 the draw, which if anything is a litle kind to the European team. Think about it in these terms - for the morning's foursomes, Davis Love had to find a way to drop four players. Steve Stricker was a relatively easy call, but Tiger Woods found some great
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Posted on 29 Sep 2012 at 01:59 AM by
Big Man with Football
Earlier this year here on Betting.com, the Buffalo Bills were our 8/1 antepost betting recommendation to top the AFC East at the end of the season. That call didn't look too clever after the Jets ran roughshod over them in week one, but since then the Bills have settled into a nice rhythm and with New England currently sitting on a 1-2 record, this weekend is a great chance for the Bills to put clear daylight between them and the divisional favourites. New England will feel that their record could very easily have been 3-0 however as there was plenty of controversy about Justin Tucker's late field goal to give Baltimore the win over the Patriots at M&T Bank stadium last week, while in week 2, Stephen Gostkowski missed a 42-yarder to secure a win against the Cardinals. The win-loss record might not look pretty but in general the Patriots are playing reasonably well, so it's way too early to say that they're in trouble. Where they are struggling however is in their offensive
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Posted on 28 Sep 2012 at 18:51 PM by
Ruck Driver
Three defeats on the spin wasn't the kind of start to the season that the Rabodirect Pro 12 champions would have hoped for, but the Ospreys potentially turned their season around with a 23-16 win over the high flying Llanelli Scarlets last weekend and now they have a chance to reel in another table topper when they host Munster at the Liberty Stadium tomorrow evening. These two sides met in a crucial playoff tie last season and the Ospreys recorded a famous 45-10 victory that seemingly marked a changing of the guard. However under the guidance of Rob Penney, Munster have rebounded really well this season and even their one defeat, a 20-19 reverse at Ravenhill, was a very impressive performance. Obviously there are much bigger challenges to come and the next month will tell a lot as Munster face into away ties this weekend, in Dublin and in Paris. If they're still playing well at the end of that spell, then we can say definitively that the southern province are in great shape. There's
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Posted on 28 Sep 2012 at 13:54 PM by
Lone Shark
Sunday's All Ireland hurling final replay between Galway and Kilkenny will be a fascinating study into the psychology of this Galway hurling team. What we can say with some degree of certainty is that this group of players will never get a better chance to win an All Ireland title. Despite going into the drawn game as serious underdogs in the betting market, despite having flagged up their potential in the Leinster final, they still burst out of the blocks and put Kilkenny on the back foot. Defensively they were very decent throughout and players like Johnny Coen and Niall Donoghue can be very proud of their efforts. Even more importantly, when Kilkenny started to get the upper hand in the second half, Galway did a great job of hanging in there and salvaging a result through Niall Burke's goal and Joe Canning's late free. They weren't playing well, they had drifted back into odds against territory on the betting in play market and yet they still did enough to give themselves
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Posted on 28 Sep 2012 at 03:15 AM by
Match of the Day
At the time of writing it's half time here between the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens, and most betting firms are offering a total points line of 37.5 and a handicap of either 8.5 points or 9 points for the second half. After examining the first half in detail, a first half that has been intriguing for purists of the game, it's safe to say that while the total line looks correct, nine could be a big spread for the Ravens to cover here. The betting in-play is of course factoring in the fact that the Ravens were expected to win by a dozen or so before the game, but the home side have been somewhat flat and lethargic, failing utterly to rediscover the passion that we saw from them last Sunday night. Torrey Smith has looked dangerous and the Browns are badly missing Joe Haden in their secondary, but they aren't getting nearly enough out of players like Dennis Pitta and Anquan Boldin and without a more balanced offensive threat, the Ravens are going to struggle to move
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Posted on 21 Sep 2012 at 19:57 PM by
Ruck Driver
The new season is but a pup as they say and yet already the fixture list has thrown up a clash that looks like it could be hugely significant for both practical and psychological reasons. Reigning Premiership champions Harlequins have burst out of the blocks this year, opening up this campaign with a maximum 15 points, something no side has done before. The 2011/12 season was full of firsts for the Quins - they won their first ever title in their 146 year history, and they did so the hard way, beating Leicester in the season decider. The antepost betting market, always respectful of history, still decreed that the Leicester Tigers were the more likely side to take the honours this season. Certainly it's not exactly a crisis at Welford Road, with the Tigers harvesting twelve points from three games, two of which were played down in London. Neither have the bookies dashed to get on the side of Conor O'Shea's side, with 4/1 still available from Sportingbet about the champions topping
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