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I'm going with the Bulldogs against the Broncos tonight.

Friday, the Dragons over the Roosters. The Warriors over the Knights (will be the match of the day). Storm over the Rabbitohs.
Saturday: Cowboys to trip up the Titans. Sea Eagles narrowly over the Panthers.
Sunday: Raiders over the Dolphins (only just). Wests Tigers to come close against the Sharks.

Well I hate to say it for you but I really hope Panthers and Storm win their matches!

Coming close to the finals of the URC, round 16 of 18 this weekend. I have 2 bets on
this round.

Munster to win away to Cardiff, going to be a tough on really for Munster but they
are favoured.

Leinster to win away to Scarlets, leinster should win this even missing two key players.
They are priced at 1.21 which is not bad for the team in 1st position on the ladder.

Quote from: Timelord2o67 on April 23, 2025, 08:19:22 PM

I'm going with the Bulldogs against the Broncos tonight.

*sigh* No. 1 got beaten by #5. The Broncos are getting fired up just in time to be selected for the State of Origin which has been in the news this week for all the wrong reasons. The women's version of the S.O.O. kicks off shortly inspite the women's series not starting for a couple of weeks. Both captains (and players) have complained the S.O.O. opener interrupts their preparation for the year's begging.

In other NRL news, Perth (WA) are making serious noises about one of their teams entering the NRL pointing out that at the moment, it isn't a National game, rather, an East Coast game fanning out from New South Wales (which is what the N in NRL used to stand for - New South Wales Rugby League).

WA wants to be included ahead of the PNG team that is being prepared for inclusion in another year or two.

Various high ranking coaches say they isn't enough high end talent to warrant more teams being added - which brings me back to what I've been saying for quite a while now that there should be relegation back to State based Cups.

If they dont introduce a relegation system every league team will be playing with
no B league!

Bit of a washout for me this weekend I'm sorry to say.

Panthers and Sharks lost, my Storm bet won.
I think after the next round if Panthers and Sharks lose again I'm ditching them,
I'm gonna have to draw a line in the sand.

In the URC both Munster and Leinster were beaten. For Leinster they are a very
strong team with massive depth in the squad, I thought by missing a few
key players there were worthy replacements waiting?

I saw the entire Townsville (north Queensland) Vs Gold Coast (South East Queensland) game in the Sports Bar at the Star Casino on the Gold Coast. After Townsville opened with their only try of the first half, the crowd became very raqus by half time and into the first few minutes of the second half when a NQ try was disallowed.

Then, Townsville poured on the points to win 50 - 18 and you could hear a pin drop except for one or two of us cheering the Cowboys on.

Im pleased to report the Tigers won by two points!

🤪

Right - well I have I have my two bets on for this round of the NRL.

First match Sharks to beat the Eels
and last match Storm to beat the Raiders

Panthers are ditched, I cant take it any more with all the losses, I really should have
done this approach last year!

UNION

Its Champions Cup weekend coming up with the URC on a rest weekend.

Its semi finals:
Leinster v Northampton Saints
Bordeaux v Toulouse

I think I can see a Leinster v Toulouse final shaping up! - the two favourites this weekend.

I saw the Women's State of Origin Game One in a local "sports bar" - or rather tried to. On the big screen was the "fox sport" channel (interviews with former players). One the next largest screen was a pub quiz ( that kept going until half time ) - the only screen that had the game live was one tiny scr3een on the diagonally opposite wall from where we were sitting. Two minutes after the game started I requested that the game be put on the largest screen (which no one was watching) the bar fly behind the counter replied the boss won't like it - went off and came back saying the big screen is for fox, the small screen if "just" channel nine and if I wanted to watch the game, go over the other side (where the pub quiz was in full swing) and sit there.

At half time when the pub quiz wrapped up, most patrons cleared out. The ones who remained behind remained seated with their backs to the medium screen which had now been changed to yet another generic fox sport channel.

As to the game, NSW scored within the first five minutes which is always a bad omen at Lang Park for Queensland. It rattles the players and they loose quite substantially. Last night was a 32 - 12 drubbing of Qld by NSW,

Tonight, the Sharks (28) easily beat the Eels (18), followed by a game between the Roosters (36) and the Dolphins (26) - (their late game comeback just wasn't enough).

The Blues (40) and Western Force (19) game was a one sided affair.

On Sunday, the HSBC 7s Women's games kick off in L.A. C.A. U.S.A. N.Z. are tipped to win.

... and on Monday a certain south American team is tipped to win the men's competition. Good luck to all.

https://www.sofascore.com/rugby/match/western-force-queensland-reds/FIbsVOi

In the Rugby 7's mens side it is gard to see anything but an Argentina win. They
are sitting in top spot and have medaled in all bar 1 round, close in second is Fiji.
I cannot believe Ireland are second from bottom after such a fantastic season last year.

On the Womens side its the two dominant sides in 1st and 2nd, New Zealand and
Australia.

First of my two bets in the NRL won - thankfully, Sharks did the business!

Bad news for Leinster in the European Champions Cup, against the odds they
were beaten by Northampton Saints and in the second semi final against my
thinking Bordeaux beat Toulouse. The final is the 24th of May, In my book they
are two unlikely opponents.

United Rugby Championship

Its Round 17 of 18 this weekend and the two top teams Leinster and Glasgow
Warriors have Italian opponents, Benetton welcome the Warriors, which will be tough
for them, Leinster welcome Zebre. There will also be a scramble for the lesser teams
to try and get to the finals and to secure some European Rugby next year in either the
Champions cup or Challenge cup.

The Eels Vs Dolphins game has just gotten underway with the Eels more favoured to win by the bettors.

Well the Dolphins won that one, looks like a lot of people got that one wrong!

I had 1 from 2 last wetk with the Storm and Sharks, I'll go again with them this week.
Storm v Wests Tigers - Storm @ 1.16
Sea Eagles v Sharks - Sharks @ 2.15

and because I didnt bet on the Panthers last week they won! They are favourite
tomorrow against the Cowboys...The first meeting of these a few rounds ago had
the Cowboys win, can they do it again?

Panthers gave some key players back which is a big consideration.

I meant to post later in the evening after the game. Last year, the betting site I'm on sunk money on who they thought would win and almost always, they were right, so it was a case of betting on who the rest were betting on. This year however, nearly half the time, they are right and the rest of the time they are hopelessly wrong such as last night with a lot of money bet on the last placed Eels making a miraculous comeback win. Although it was a good game, the Dolphins edged ahead and didn't look back.

Tonight, Newcastle and the Gold Coast clash - on paper the knights are ahead, so we will have to wait and see. Later on, South Sydney and the Red Hill do battle - the Broncos should romp home in their game.

Already underway are Fijian Drua (who put in a solid effort last week to win) and the Blues. In around 90 minutes from now, the Waratahs and Reds play - likewise, I expect the Waratahs to overcome the Reds.

In about ten hours time, Leicester v Sale go head to head with Leicester tipped to win.

Is it my imagination about the NRL being somewhat unpredictable this season so far,
or is it too early in the season to think that? all teams bar 4 have lost more than 50%
of their matches so far and still a long season to go.

The Lions Tour is scheduled for the end of June and the team has been announced.

There will be 10 matches with 9 played in Australia and the opening match
played in Dublin against Argentina.

https://www.lionstour.com/fixtures/

No, it's not your imagination - I watched the Broncos game the other evening and had to turn the ABC Sports radio game play off as their lead commentator spent the whole game rubbishing the white kit being worn by the players. It was very disrespectful. At half time, the score was 14 - 0 to the broncs who then LOST 14 - 22 against the Rabbitohs who piled on points in the last few minutes of the game. Unsurprisingly, one of their key players has returned after four or five week ban. The same happened in the Panther's game where their star kicker had been practicing field goals prior to the Panther's truly remarkable comeback tie with the Cowboys in Townsville. I only heard the last 15 minutes of the game (and then the two five minute Golden Point halves) on the radio, but the fans in Townsville where the game was played certainly got their monies worth.

Similarly, I'm hoping the Tigers get the job done - their star recruit from the Panthers ranks has fired them up.

The Sharks and Sea Eagles are both on ten points - I expect the Sea Eagles to dig deep given their captain is the Queensland Captain and this year's State of Origin kicks off in seventeen days time. (that fact was empasised by the ABC commentators during the Broncos match that the Qld selectors were in the audience and about five Broncos are previous year Origin players hoping for a call up this week). If they are selected, then that annual mid season slump by the Broncos has already begun.

well it looks like this seasons title is open with the Panthers struggling, there are possibly a
number of teams who can collect the 2025 title.

I put another bet on the Panthers last weekend - thats it, not doing any more bets on them,
nearly start betting against them. The draw is a killer for everyone and great for the bookies!

My bets on the Sharks and Storm turned Green which was great, Storm made up for the
previous weekends narrow loss to the Raiders.

I meant to report here about the Rugby 7's and Timelord you were right in saying that
South Africa would win the round on LAX and who are the overall champions. Not sure
what happened to Argentina even though they collected only the Bronze position in the
last round and Fiji with a slight chance to catch Argentina for top spot lost all of their 3 matches.
SA seems to have taken the world championship.

On the womens side the final in LAX was contested yet again by Australia and New Zealand,
NZ coming out winners and overall top spot winners too.

Tonight is the second Women's State of Origin game. In the fortnight ahead of tonight's game, the media talk has been in including a women's SOO game at the start of the year, which is in stark contrast to a month ago when the airwaves were abuz for a fortnight before game one with the female players complaining the SOO series is held prior to the commencement of the year's games.

Queensland is down and must win tonight to stay in the running to win the series which they've won for the past three years.

Game two was a very wet, muddy encounter with the New South Welsh women blitzing their Queensland opposition.

Tonight's early game sees the Knights and Eels clash. In the later game, the Bulldogs should chase down the Roosters.

I'm not making any bets this weekend in the NRL, my top two teams Sharks and
Storm are facing off against each other and if I was inclined the Panthers are
on a bye this round.

In the URC its the last regular round this weekend before the finals.

It just so happens that top spot Leinster play last years winners and current 3rd
spot Glasgow Warriors, I'm not betting on that - its going to be a close one.

I've just gone for two home SA teams Stormers and Lions

NRL

A lot of Bye's this week ahead of the State of Origin series week 1 and I know the teams
will be missing key players but . . .

I'm going with two bets this round: the Panthers to beat the Knights @ 1.49,
I just hope they are making some sort of comeback, they are up to 13 on the ladder!
and the Sharks to beat the Roosters @ 1.27

EPC Rugby - European champions cup

The grand final kicks off the week end between Northampton Saints and Bordeaux Begles,
two outside teams at the start of the season. All eyes would have been on Leinster and
La Rochele and Toulouse last years and previous finalists. Cant pick a winner this year.