Betting on Rugby in the UK
Rugby is one of the world’s most popular sports, and especially in the UK, it is very well regarded in terms of professionalism, fair play and overall excitement. Despite this, betting on rugby is not as common as betting on football or even tennis, as a lot of fans are simply not confident on betting on this sport.
This is a basic guide to betting on rugby in the UK.
Types of bets
For obvious reasons, one of the most common types of bets in rugby is called match betting or money line. It is very simple, you place a wager on which team you think will win and if they do, you win your bet. It is very rare to see a draw in rugby, but some companies like Findbettingsites will still offer one, although money line bets will not offer a draw.
Another popular type of betting is handicap betting, also known as spread betting. This is when you bet on a team according to a hypothetical advantage or disadvantage. For example, if you fancy a team to win convincingly, you can bet on them to win by +7.5 points, or whatever other amount of points you like. This is good to bet on when you feel like the result is already certain before the game, or you have a good feeling about the underdogs.
You can also bet on individual players. For example, you can bet on who you think will be the first try scorer. This is very difficult to do accurately, which is why the odds are very good. You can also bet on other things like which player will score the most points, or which player will get booked. Betting on the team’s kicker, especially in international games, for top points scorer is often a good idea.
Finally, the other main thing you can bet on in rugby is tournament and season bets. You can bet on a team winning a tournament or finishing in a certain position in the league, which is long term betting but has less variance than over one game.
Competitions and Tournaments
The biggest rugby tournament in the world is of course the Rugby World Cup. It is held every four years and sees the best international teams in the world come head to head. Only four teams have ever won it, with England being the only country from the Northern Hemisphere joining New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. More often than not, the All Blacks are the favourites to win but anything can happen.
The Six Nations Championship is an annual competition that attracts a lot of attention. France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy face off for the title, and if a team beats every other team, they earn the Grand Slam accolade as well as the title, something that you can also bet on. Scotland and Italy rarely do well, but in general it is quite an open competition and any team can do well, with upset victories in virtually every edition of the competition.
General tips
Betting on rugby should be done similarly to betting on other team sports. It is necessary to research your bets beforehand properly and a lot of thought should be taken every time to maximise long term betting. Rugby can be very volatile however, and last minute tries are relatively common, so in play betting can be a good thing to look at.
Finally, if you just want to place a bet, a good shout is always to back New Zealand to win!
