 |
| Rugby Ken's Magners League and Heineken Cup Betting |
Ireland A team vs. English SaxonsLooking at the Irish and English A sides I ask myself, "are these teams 6 times worse than their respective full International squads"? Well if I want to go watch Ireland play France on Saturday I'll pay six times the €15 I'm going to pay to watch this match tonight. So at least I've found some value on rugby this weekend!
Some would actually argue that the Saxons players should really be on the first side as Johnson reverts to type and goes old school with his full side. I don't blame him for sticking Sir Charge Down Ciprani in this squad as he needs game time and to restore his confidence. However he won't do it in this game, this won't be a classic.
Co-incidentally Ireland have another low on confidence no.10 starting as well, Johnny Sexton. Their backline is looking strong enough around the edges but would not match the English centres and wingers. However their defensive abilities are strong with Trimble and Duffy showing some good experience and Sexton's kicking game is actually quite good. The Irish centre partnership is slightly worrying due to its lack of expierence however this will be a forwards dominated game. I really think that the Irish pack are superior compared to England's with a good blend of youth and expierence. Jennings and Best will love any opportunity they get to 'front up' and even if the front row is a little weak, I think our back row can easily beat their all Harlequinns back row.
What will impact the most on this game is the weather, see photo from 8am this morning. Just for you I cycled past Donnybrook at 8pm last night (Thursday) and walked into the grounds to have a look. It was still covered in about 5cm (a couple of inches for you Saxons) of snow and was very mucky and slushy. Today will be no classic of a game and England's advantage in the backs will be nullified because of the heavy feet conditions, you wouldn't be able to side step a corner flag. Also I had a look at the Schools Cup fixtures and league fixtures and there have been 3 games played in Donnybrook in the last 7 days. It's been raining or snowing heavily in Dublin since Saturday so we've had at least two games played in poor conditions. This pitch has to be cut up.
So free flowing rugby it probably won't be and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if it was called off. It won't be raining during the game but it will be a tough match to score tries in so you have got to be looking at a low scoring game.
Recommendation: Total Match Points, under 37.5pts @ 2.0 for 2pts on Betfair or 2.0 under 37pts with Bet365.
For more comments and recommendations from other blogs click here
Thanks for the "on the ground" info on tonights game Ken, great stuff. For my mind I would have loved to have seen half the Saxon's backline play tomorrow against Italy, but yet again Johnson has stuck with his old pals routine. As for tonights game, on a dry track I would expect the England lads to run in too many tries against what looks an inexperienced Ireland back division. However, on tonights pitch it has all the makings of a slog fest and there shouldn;t be much in it either way. Might watch the in-running market to see if there is an opportunity to nick a few points on the handicap.
ReplyDeleteThanks again
KB
http://www.sixnationsrugby.info
I'd have to agree with you Kiteboy, this backline should be starting for the firsts.
ReplyDeleteVery disappointed by the teams attitude not to play. Shows a little over confidence and protectionism in their mind set. They need to go out and win and not worry about a slightly hard ground. It wasn't that bad.