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[aoluain]

Rugby Union - European Rugby Champions Cup

Who am I betting on:

DHL Stormers at home to beat Harlequins
Leinster at home to beat home rivals Ulster
Rochelle to beat Gloucester
Toulouse at home to beat the Vodacom Bulls

Just catching up with the games from last weekend, akl 4 above won with really low odds.
Quarter finals coming up this weekend - this is the business end of the Champions
Cup season.

I am half thinking of going with the 4 teams above again, have to check the odds....


In the Womens Six Nations Ireland were hammered again by France last weekend
and our Celtic cousins clocked up another win against Scotland 22 - 34.

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[Timelord2067]

I picked the Roosters over the Storm, but they tanked.

The Bulldogs are ahead over the Rabbitohs who are having off field issues while I'm going with the Dolphins over the Cowboys in tonight's "other local derby"

[aoluain]

R6 of the NRL has kicked off yesterday with a win for Storm over the Roosters which
lifts them into 2nd spot on the ladder behind the Broncos.

Second game today in the 1st half is the Bulldogs leading the Rabbitohs, but the Rabbitohs
in theory should win.

Next up are the Cowboys v the Dolphins, I have the Cowboys backed to win this as well
as the Panthers tomorrow to beat the Sea Eagles, neither odds are great though, 1.23 and 1.32 .

[Timelord2067]

I'm watching the Bulldogs Vs Rabbitohs game in an airport bar - (I've got a funeral to go to - I'm surprised more people aren't travelling today)

Score is 8 - 6 to the Bunnies.

Edit, make that 20 - 6 to the bunnies.

Final scores 50 - 16 to the Rabbitohs.


Later on I caught the second half of the Dolphins teaching the Cowboys how to play league winning in the last two minutes with an unconverted try 32 - 22.


Much later on now and I'm watching a replay of last night's Crusader's Vs Moana Super Rugby Pacifica game.score at the start of the second half is 17 - 21.

In a couple of hours The Sea Eagles and Panthers face off. They are fairly evenly matched with the Panthers playing catch up it should be a good game. My monies on the Sea Eagles, however, the Panthers could claw they way in front with a win.

Later on tonight the Broncos should fend off the Raiders.

[aoluain]

Later on I caught the second half of the Dolphins teaching the Cowboys how to play league winning in the last two minutes with an unconverted try 32 - 22.


In a couple of hours The Sea Eagles and Panthers face off. They are fairly evenly matched with the Panthers playing catch up it should be a good game. My monies on the Sea Eagles, however, the Panthers could claw they way in front with a win.

Later on tonight the Broncos should fend off the Raiders.

Damn, I was following the score line on the match centre on NRL.com yesterday.
I thought the Cowboys would do it with about 10 minutes to go. The score at half
time was 12 - 26 to the Dolphins and up to the 75th minute in the second half
the Dolphins hadnt scored. The Dolphins are definitely worthy of being in the premiership
so far!

They had to have been good odds if the Cowboys were heavy favourites! same with
the next game, Panthers v Sea Eagles - Sea Eagles are 3.85, great odds for potential
winners.


Union European Champions Cup

Leinster blasted Leicester back to England with a 55 - 24 win at home in the first of the
Quarter finals last night.

[aoluain]

Rugby League Australian NRL

I think we can safely say the Panthers are well and truely back and its only a matter of
time before they take top spot.

Panthers 44 - 12 Sea Eagles

They clocked up 32 points in the first half and the Sea Eagles only scoring in the second half.

The Broncos may be starting to creak at the seams after losing to the Raiders, a
game they really should have won.

Panthers, Storm and Rabbitohs starting to float to the top of the ladder with wins!

[Timelord2067]

Two days ago I was able to see a replay of the Canterbury Union match, then the live Highlanders game in Dunedin.  Then, the Broncos annihilation by the Raiders with a really serious head wound injury with less than our minutes remaining.  I don't believe the Broncos would have clawed their way back - in the end the Raiders score showed they have some fighting spirt keeping the opponent near scoreless.  It's been quite a while since I've managed to see that much live action back-to-back.

In yesterday's games the Titans managed to win over the Dragons while the Knights won convincingly against the Warriors.

This afternoon's Monday game sees the Tigers stare down the Eels and like last year around this round, I'm wondering if the Tigers can claw their way off of the bottom rung of the ladder.

[aoluain]

^ That game has just started now.
I would be seriously worried for the Eels if they cannot beat the Tigers. I'm going to
try an in play bet to see if there are better odds on the Eels...


The semi-finals are set for the European Rugby Champions Cup this coming
weekend. 3 of my 4 picks came through the semi's, onlt the DHL Stormers were beaten
by the Exeter Chiefs very convincingly 42-17!

I'll be going with the two home sides again....which would be a replay of last years final!!

[aoluain]

News out today is that World Rugby is considering introducing an "Orange Card"

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/arid-41114734.html



Information is a bit sketchy or minimal, my understanding that the idea is that a player
issued with an Orange card leaves the field for an initial 10 minutes while the TMO reviews
the fowl play and has the option to bump the Orange to Red or not!

So does that mean there would be 3 cards...
Yellow - 10 minute sin bin
Orange - 10 minute sin bin while under review
Red - immediate dismissal

?


NRL

Bit of a dilemma for the first game in R7 tomorrow...
While the Rabbitohs are favourites they have had a sketchy start to the season,
can the Dolphins who are 4.2 for a win tomorrow beat the Rabbitohs?

[Timelord2067]

I wonder if say three players were involved in a high tackle and the two from one team who caused their opponent to be eating grass get an orange card and then the video ref about eight minutes later determines one of the two was directly the cause (i.e. they reached out and grabbed the player) while the other player was simply charging and was putting their shoulder out for the collision.   The charger comes back on and the thrower gets the red card ??

It could be useful.


In about eleven hours the Dolphins will hopefully stare down the Rabbitohs to climb back up the ladder with five from seven matches. The Rabbitohs have had three good wins, so it's possible they will also be playing hard.

I'm putting a dollar on the Dolphins and tomorrow night I'm leaning towards a Roosters win over the Sharks Inspite the Sharks having good midladder stats. Both should be great games before the Storm plucks the Sea Eagles who never seem to recover after an initial loss the week prior.

[aoluain]

...well the Dolphins were looking good up until half time! but then the Rabbitohs played
for real in the second half and held the Dolphins scoreless.

I'm thinking the Dolphins run has come to an end and the Rabbitohs are hitting their
stride now and have found their form.

I have gone with Storm also for tomorrow.


Union

R17 of the United Rugby Championship is up and running again while the Heineken
Champions Cup takes a break.

We are coming to the end of the rounds and will be heading into the finals  after
R18. While the race is on to get into and stay in the top 8 for the finals there is also
the competition to get into next years Heineken Champions Cup. This round
sees a good few mismatches, top of the table playing the bottom of the table.

An interesting matchup is the Lions in 11th spot playing Leinster in 1st, its pretty much
evens - 1.9 v 1.91 - thats a great price for Leinster who I cant see losing.....hmmm

[Timelord2067]

The Auckland Warriors are of to a good start against the Townsville Cowboys at half time leading 10 - 8 with an unconverted try by the Cowboys in the 37th minute. (My monies on Auckland this round)

In about ninety minutes the Panthers and Knights will clash. This season anything is possible (except the Tigers making it into the top eight) so the knights could get up, but I'm playing it safe with a dollar on Penrith.

I agree to a point the Dolphins are starting to swim against the tide. A couple of archair experts at work have said the honeymoon is over and now the morning after hangover has begun.

[aoluain]

I have emptied the remainder of my wallet on the Panthers to win by 13.5 points! which I
think they should do, they are making up for a shaky start to the season. Look at their
last two wins, +41 against the Raiders and +32 against the Sea Eagles.

The Warriors beat the Cowboys earlier 22-14, the Cowboys are F'd and remarkably
the Warriors are in #2 spot on the ladder behind the Broncos.

And what about Storm losing yesterday to the Sea Eagles?

[Timelord2067]

At half time, the Panthers are trailing the Knights 14 - 6

I'll only be down a dollar if they don't recover. Hope you're not too out of pocket. 🤔


At half time a few hours later, the Titans are ahead against the Broncos 14 - 10.

In what must have been a thrilling climax, the Panthers won 16 - 15 against the Knights who scored just one additional point in 40 minutes of play. 


... and I'm watching the Warritahs pound the western force 29 - 6 after nearly 55 minutes of game play.


... and the Broncos won emphatically to remain top of the ladder with six wins from seven outings.  This screen grab shows easily they scored tries in quick secession.



Final scores 43 - 26

[aoluain]

6 wins from 7 outings for the Broncos is impressive, never would have guessed they would
be in top spot at this stage, although there have been a lot of unexpected results thus far!

What the hell was that result by the Panthers on Saturday to only win from the Knights by
1 point....strange after the previous 2 weeks winning with big margins.


No upsets in the weekends games really, Leinster as expected won away but only
by 3 points, Munster also won away and all other games had home wins!

Last round coming up this weekend . . .

[aoluain]

NRL

Two very interesting games in Round 8 of the NRL starting tomorrow, Rabbitos v Panthers.
I fancy the Panthers but I also really dont know what to think of them, they have two big
wins in two weeks and last week just scrape through with a marginal win and the Rabbitohs
havent started great either.

First game on Friday sees what could be described as top tier tear team^{before this season}
the Eels take on surprising ladder toppers the Broncos, this will be a great test for the broncos
to test again where they are.

I fancy both favourites

[Timelord2067]

I'm going with the Rabbiohs and the Broncos, but can't help but wonder if the Eels are doing the same thing as last year where they lost at first then were able to build their way up to make the Grandfinal?  There may yet be an upset for the Broncos if the Eels beat them.

[aoluain]

Union - URC

Round 18 - the final round before the finals, I think the final 8 has been decided. Position 8 and 9
are the crunch positions, Cell C Sharks in 8 are 5 points ahead of Benetton in 9th.

Benetton play the Stormers so they are not winning that and the Sharks at home play Munster,
that will be a close game.

...and for the overall winner, its hard to see any other team than Leinster winning.

[Timelord2067]

What a game last night!  The Pink Panthers nearly scored a runaway try 90 seconds from Kick-Off then flubbed again after five minutes.  I saw the firs ten minutes then the last thiry minutes of the game. In the last ten minutes the tension was electrifying.  The Panthers scored with six minutes to go, then the Rabbitohs scored twice to be 20 - 18 the last set kick-off occured at 79:57 (i.e. three seconds of game play and it almost looked as though the Panthers would score yet another try, but missed metres from the try line with the ball rolling out.

The Rabbitohs converter kicker needs to work on the static field goal kicks missing three chances.

All in all the Rabbitohs are on the rise this year.


Tonight should be a more sedate game unless the Eels can find their end of last year form that got them to the Grandfinal:

Parramatta Eels - Brisbane Broncos 21 Apr 2023 20:00 Money Line Brisbane Broncos @ 1.66 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Payout: 0.083 mBTC
Canterbury Bulldogs - Cronulla Sharks 22 Apr 2023 17:30 Money Line Cronulla Sharks @ 1.16 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Payout: 0.058 mBTC
North Queensland Cowboys - Newcastle Knights 22 Apr 2023 19:35 Money Line Newcastle Knights @ 2.27 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Payout: 0.114 mBTC
Redcliffe - Gold Coast Titans 23 Apr 2023 14:00 Money Line Redcliffe @ 1.69 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Payout: 0.085 mBTC
Wests Tigers - Manly Sea Eagles 23 Apr 2023 16:05 Money Line Manly Sea Eagles @ 1.28 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Payout: 0.064 mBTC
Sydney Roosters - St George/Illawarra Dragons 25 Apr 2023 16:05 Money Line Sydney Roosters @ 1.19 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Payout: 0.06 mBTC
Melbourne Storm - New Zealand Warriors 25 Apr 2023 19:00 Money Line New Zealand Warriors @ 3.69 Taken Amount: 0.05 mBTC Possible Payout: 0.185 mBTC

[aoluain]

Thats an amazing win by the Rabbitohs over the Panthers, In all Rugby codes place kicking
is unbelievably important, I've said it before that I have seen it before where games have
been won solely by the penalty points kicked by the Fly-Half ^{No.10 Rugby Union}

And an even bigger win IMO by the Broncos over the Eels and as the away team. The Broncos
have proven to be a serious outfit. Great win over the Eels 16-26

Two good picks Timelord!