The Boks have scored 52 points on tour thus far … and BetFlash will give you 100/1 on that remaining as is! Sure the French would need to shut the Boks out, which is unlikely, but …
Tank Lanning
The Bok’s overall record against France is not too bad: Played 38, won 21, lost 11, drawn 6. And for games played in France the record is fairly similar: Played 17, won 11, lost 5, drawn 1.
However the last 4 games played in France have been won by Les Bleus, meaning that the Boks last won in France in 1997, when the Boks hammered the home side 52-10 at Parc des Princes. And at the venue for Saturday’s Test, the Stade de France, France have won both Tests played there, 20-10 in 2001 and 26-20 in 2005.
And with enforced changes at scrumhalf where Ruan Pienaar comes in for Fourie du Preez (who is back with his club in Japan) and at tighthead, where re-treaded loosehead Coenie Oosthuizen gets his first start at tighthead (in place of the injured Frans Malherbe), meaning that Lourens Adriaanse makes his debut off the bench, the Boks are a little green in key positions.
With a 6/2 split on the bench, it is pretty damn clear what the game plan is going to be – blunt force trauma via 14 sledge hammers disguised as Bok forwards! Sure the French will need to play out of their boots, and fight fire with fire up front (something coach Saint-Andre has already alluded to), but a win at home for them is a real possibility.
South Africa (4/10), Draw (21/1), France (2/1)
No money to be made on a Bok win, and with draws being like hen’s teeth, a ballsy R50 on the French could net you and 4 mates a Spur R20 brekki special on Sunday morning to soak up the stuff that went in on Saturday night to drown the sorrow of a Bok loss …
The other basic odds for the weekend:
WALES (1/100) to beat Tonga (115/100)
ITALY (8/10) to beat Argentina (1/1)
AUSTRALIA (15/100) to beat Scotland (5/1)
NEW ZEALAND (1/100) to beat Ireland (125/10)
Given that the Aussies might be in a bit of strife after 6 of their players took an internal 1 match ban for boozing during the week prior to their game against Ireland, a dabble on Scotland at 5/1 could be an option, but then again, the men in canary yellow might have been galvanised by the whole saga …
What about Scotland to lead at half time, and AUS to Win the game? BetFlash will give you 5.75 on that in their Weekend Easy Bets … Not too shabby that one!
How about these little FlashPots to tickle your fancy:
SA, AUS, NZ, WAL, ITA – 15/10
SA, AUS, NZ, WAL, ARG – 17/10
FRA, AUS, NZ, WAL, ITA – 4/1
FRA, AUS, NZ, WAL, ARG – 5/1
SA, SCO, NZ, WAL, ARG – 10/1
SA, AUS, IRE, WAL, ITA – 30/1
FRA, AUS, IRE, WAL, ARG – 75/1
SA, SCO, IRE, WAL, ITA – 100/1
15/10 on all the favourites to win. Not bad … That bloody Italy vs Argentina game is the stickler though. No one has any idea how that one is going to pan out. Only 17/10 if the Argies come through in Rome …
10/1 on wins for the Boks, Kiwis, Wales and Argentina and an upset win for Scotland looks the most inviting. Just R10 bucks down gets you that Spur brekki for you and 4 mates on Sunday!
And after the Bok’s 28-0 hammering of the Scots, the other 2 Bok tour FlashPots are now a lot easier to call, hence the change in odds. And the culling of the total points difference between the Boks and all of Wales, Scotland and France in the 3 games.
So to the total points to be scored by the Boks in all 3 of their games on tour:
SA Total Points More than 88 – 6/1
SA Total Points 84 to 88 – 3/1
SA Total Points 78 to 83 – 9/10
SA Total Points 72 to 77 – 3/10
SA Total Points 67 to 71 – 9/20
SA Total Points 60 to 64 – 3/1
SA Total Points 55 to 59 – 7/1
SA Total Points 50 to 54 – 100/1
The Boks have scored 52 points on tour thus far (24-15 vs Wales and 28-0 vs Scotland) … 100/1 on the total points remaining as is! Sure the French would need to shut the Boks out, which is unlikely, hence the odds, but at 100/1 that has to be worth a dabble. R10 on that gets you and 15 mates a top of the range Spur Ranch brekki (yep, none of those pesky R20 specials if you come good on this one) on Sunday!
Not sure what happens if the Boks score 65 or 66 points though … Perhaps BetFlash will let us know J
All above odds available on the BetFlash site …
My weekend predictions:
WALES to beat Tonga by 12
SAMOA to beat Georgia by 9
ITALY to beat Argentina by 3
CANADA to beat Portugal by 5
USA to beat Russia by 3
JAPAN to beat Spain by 11
FIJI to beat Romania by 11
AUSTRALIA to beat Scotland by 9
SOUTH AFRICA to beat France by 5
NEW ZEALAND to beat Ireland by 11
Times and teams for the TV games:
Friday 22 November
21:30 Wales vs Tonga, Millennium Stadium
Referee: Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Luke Pearce (England)
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Owen Williams, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 James Hook, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Ryan Jones (captain), 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Andrew Coombs, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Rhodri Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Paul James.
Bench: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Dan Lydiate, 20 Sam Warburton, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Jordan Williams.
Tonga: 15 Vunga Lilo, 14 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Sione Piukala, 11 Viliami Helu 10 Latiume Fosita, 9 Taniela Moa, 8 Viliami Ma’afu, 7 Nili Latu (captain), 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Joe Tu’ineau, 4 Lua Lokotui, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Vaea Taione, 1 Eddie Aholelei.
Bench: 16 Suliasi Taufalele, 17 Taione Vea, 18 Tevita Mailau, 19 Hale T Pole, 20 Opeti Fonua, 21 Samisoni Fisilau, 22 Fangatapu ‘Apikotoa, 23 David Halaifonua.
Saturday 23 November
16:00 Italy vs Argentina, Rome
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Giovambattista Venditti, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Valerio Bernabo, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo
Bench: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Marco Bortolami, 20 Joshua Furno, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Tommaso Benvenuti.
Argentina: 15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14-Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 13-Horacio Agulla, 12 Gabriel Azcarate, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo; 8 Benjamin Macome, 7 Julio Farias Cabello, 6 Juan Manuel Leguizamon (captain), 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Bench: 16 Santiago Iglesias, 17 Nahuel Lobo, 18 Matias Diaz, 19 Tomas Lavanini, 20 Pablo Matera, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Javier Rojas, 23 Santiago Cordero
20:00 Scotland vs Australia, Murrayfield
Scotland: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Nick de Luca, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 David Denton, 7 Kelly Brown (captain), 6 Johnnie Beattie, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Moray Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant
Bench: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Euan Murray, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Kieran Low, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Max Evans
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Christian Leali’ifano, 12 Mike Harris, 11 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper
Bench: 16 Saia Fainga’a, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nic White, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Bernard Foley
22:00 France vs South Africa, Stade de France
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Sofiane Guitoune, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Bench: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Jean-Marc Doussain, 22 Frederic Michalak, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud
Springboks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts , 6 Francois Louw, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Bench: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Siya Kolisi, 22 Jano Vermaak, 23 Pat Lambie.
Sunday 24 November
16:00 Ireland vs New Zealand, Lansdowne Road
Teams yet to be announced
Want to believe the 5 for SA thing, but got a bad feeling about the French this weekend.
Rather going to put my money on Argentina, some decent tom to be made and it is about time.
Not much cash to be made on even odds on Argentina meneer. Rather go with the 2/1 odds on France if you reckon the Boks will stumble