We’re approaching the mid point of the season. Plenty of time to sort your tipping out and make a charge for the top of the table. Read on to get the good oil. Find out the details that separate a top tipper from a mug punter.
Round 8.
I feel like a broken record some times, but the tipping is just a nightmare this season. Some of you are killing it though and doing so consistently. I’d like to say there’s a bit of luck in it but when you’re performing week in week out, then there’s got to be more to it than that. So to you The Rhumdoggs on behalf of the rest of us, what’s your secret? It really is as simple as reading my weekly pearls and then bunging the tips in isn’t it? Anyway, whatever you’re doing, keep it up and don’t forget to let me know when and where I need to be for my Bledisloe flights.
Tough stuff
There’s six games this round and let’s not beat around the bush; they’re all tough, so let’s look at which teams have form.
In the first game of the round, the Highlanders take on the Bulls in Dunedin. The Highlanders have generally done well against the Bulls with an 11 and 6 record against the men from Pretoria. Both teams have had some mixed for of late but the Highlanders showing perhaps slightly more enterprise. Playing at home in this comp is always worth a few points and the Bulls will have traveled a long way for this one and I’m sure that’s why most of you seem to be favouring the home side.
The second Friday night game is between the Reds and the Brumbies. Usually this game can be depended on to be quite close but the Brumbies are heavily backed to leave Suncorp Stadium with the win. You can never take the Reds lightly though and I’m certain the Brumbies won’t be. Injuries have hit both camps heavily of late so neither has a completely settled side. The Reds will be stinging from thier loss to the Force last week and the Brumbies will wanting to make right their round 1 loss to the Reds. Expect fire and brimstone. I’m not sure the home ground advantage will be enough to get the Reds home.
On Saturday afternoon, the Chiefs return home from South Africa to host the Rebels. Whilst the Chiefs played some great Rugby on tour they also leaked a ton of points and came home with two draws. They are now missing their maestro in the no 10 jersey, Aaron Cruden, and may struggle without his presence in the backline to control play and set up attacks. The Rebels have been very good of late but were still unable to get their first win outside of Australia last week in numberswiki.com
Dunedin and so it will be hard to tip them against the Chiefs for that reason alone.
Saturday night, the Western Force will be looking to make it 5 on the trot when they host the weary Tahs (see what I did there?) as they also return from South Africa. The Force are playing exceptionally well with a very settled side. The Tahs will be welcoming back a few key players from injury and will be looking to build on their formidable 8 and 2 record over the Force. Depending on who you listen to, there is plenty that feel there is still some bad blood between the two camps, with both having something to prove. The Tahs are reasonably strong favourites for this one and whilst that probably suits the Force, it makes me wonder what they have to do to shake the underdog tag?
Sunday morning features two games from South Africa. In the first, the Cheetahs host the Crusaders. It’s really hard to work out who to back in this game. The Cheetahs haven’t won a game since round 2 but the Crusaders, while winning a few don’t fill me with confidence either. The Cheetahs launched out of the blocks against the Chiefs last week and looked set to put a cricket score on the defending champs but despite heading to half time with a 34-10 lead, they failed to close it out. The Crusaders beat the Lions at home, which no other team has done this season and are less affected by travel as many of the other teams are so should be good enough to edge this one.
The second Sunday morning game, and the last of the round is a good old South African derby. The Lions host the Sharks and like most derby games across this competition, this one could easily go either way. The Sharks are 15 and 4 with 2 draws against the Lions with the average points difference being just over 10 pts to the Sharks but the Lions have shown enough this season to suggest that their previous records don’t mean much this year; they can mix it with the top teams. The Sharks won the first encounter of the two teams this year in Durban so the Lions will be looking to even the ledger at Ellis Park. Can they do it, I’m not so sure.
The Joker
Each game this week could go either way so there is simply no obvious choice for the Joker. The game I settled uneasily on though was the Chiefs vs the Rebels. Even without Cruden, its hard to see the Rebels getting up over the Chiefs in Waikato. They will get their first overseas win soon, but just not this week. That’s it. That’s my lock. Don’t over think it, just get on it.
