The year 2017 places rugby second only to football regarding global popularity. The game with a rich and occasionally controversial history is growing leaps and bounds by becoming an Olympic sport last year. This is because rugby is for all body forms and shapes, and focuses more on strength and endurance than size. The game's advantages are both practical as well as theoretical. For instance, the squat and short find places in the front row, the lofty and thin in the second one and the smallest, and smartest are the scrum-half, while the speed demons are on the wings.
It is only a given that the economic rise of any sport lends a passage to the betting industry. The point that rugby is one of the more predictable games in the world (4-6 top teams meeting in World Cup Semis) makes it all the more attractive for punters. Financially, the Rugby Football Union recorded a whopping £407.1 in revenue in 2015.
Here are eight super solid reasons to start wagering on rugby now:
- IT SEPARATES MEN FROM BOYS
The pure physicality of rugby is one of the prime reasons why adrenaline-junkies love betting on it. There are authentic reasons as to why there are innumerable rugby's biggest hits collation videos on YouTube with several thousand views each. This is because no other sport with the 13-a-side game can compete on such an extreme physical level. Moreover, it encapsulates all physicality of the game without featuring numerous stoppages that are part and parcel of many American sports. An 80-minute roller coaster ride of rugby offers smashing runs, chomping tackles, few whistles and zero shots of a coach's beseeched face in between plays.
- A TRULY GLOBAL SPORT
From Rugby's four-yearly World Cup to a multitude of intercontinental competitions across the northern and southern hemispheres, the game has a wide-ranging reach that flexes to nearly every corner of the globe. The European Rugby Champions Cup is rugby's answer to the UEFA Champions League, incorporating the leading English, Irish, Welsh, Italian, Scottish and French clubs.
Super Rugby is an 18-team competition that welcomes club teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Argentina. Moreover, there are strong domestic competitions in France (Top 14) as well as in England (Aviva Premiership) that boast some of the globe's finest rugby talent in their arsenal.
- ONLINE BETTING
The rapid rise of online betting, the proliferation of mobile betting apps and the ease to play, and win virtually anywhere is a large contributor to the popularity of wagering on rugby. However, with the availability of so many websites there is always a danger of falling victim to a digital portal of dubious credentials. Therefore, save yourself time and agony by visiting the writer-recommended FreeBets in the UK and elsewhere since there's good comment as well as offers here.
- RUGBY IN-PLAY BETTING
Rugby is a game that has more defined patterns than football. As teams gain territory and proceed through the phases, it is possible to score a try or kick a penalty. It is critical to note that rugby's game play advancement can provide a comfortable in-play betting experience as it is easier to cut out potential game-changing events.
Furthermore, if you know the strengths of a particular team in specific areas of the game then you have a secret advantage. For instance, if a team has a dominant driving maul and they have gained a lineout close to the try line you can assuredly judge that a score is coming.
- BET IT FOR WILLIAM
The roots of rugby remain rather mysterious, but the most widely accepted myth credits a clergyman named William Webb Ellis for conceiving the sport in 1823. His invention stemmed from something all of us who had played football as teenagers have dreamt. Seemingly irritated with using his feet only, William picked up the ball and ran with it. Ellis' brainchild continues to prosper to this day, with the game alive in the spirit of its boisterous inventor.
Also, to honour its inventor the international rugby committee renamed the Rugby world cup as the William Webb Ellis Cup.
- The Advantageous Handicap Betting
There are some astonishingly one-sided matches in rugby offering seven points for a converted try, besides three for a drop goal or penalty. In contrary to football, where the goal's value is significantly greater scoring is far more repetitive. It also means that a punter would find tremendously short priced odds. For instance, he or she can place a wager on home favourites England at the odds of 1.18 when facing Argentina in the internationals.
Here handicap betting comes handy for such odds-on shots. For example, England winning with a 15-point handicap is available at 2.0 and will represent better value given the fact that England is often likely to win comprehensively. In the quoted example, England outran Argentina by 31-12 and would have delivered a winning wager.
- OPEN FIELD TO MINT MONEY
Rugby is not the ultimate game for making money, but there is no misgiving that in the echelons of sports betting some smart operators are making steady money from wagering on the most physical team sport in the world. This is because rugby is a quintessential example of a game where a broad lack of interest or knowledge amongst the majority opens a window for the minority (the limited number of bettors who do their research, watch games and follow the industry news).
Therefore, if you are ready to put in consistent effort to know the internal and external mechanisms of the game, its key influencers, history, laws, then your probability of success will increase massively. Moreover, with the continuing rise in profile of rugby particularly at the country versus country level as viewing numbers and spectator levels escalate year on year there is every reason to get moving. Following are eight handy tips for calculated wagering:
- A preliminary assessment of team form is necessary.
- The need to make adjustments to the recent W-D-L figures.
- What is the previous head-to-head form?
- Checking the weather forecast and the playing conditions.
- Who is in the starting XIII or XV for that matter?
- Where is the game being played?
- Check the time of the season as well as the date in the schedule.
- Handicap betting is king.
- Who is the referee?
- Rugby's Average Probability of Winner
They (the experts) say that rugby is one of the most unpredictably predictable team sport in the world and a statistical research has placed rugby's average probability of winning at 0.54. It is more than Cricket (0.52), Soccer (0.38) or Ice Hockey (0.37). The probability was determined through geometric means and also took into consideration the likelihood of ties.
Moreover, it is an archetypal team sport whereby it is tough to tell one player from another. The most valuable player is often the kicker. In the World Cup, the same 4-6 teams reappear in the final time after time. There is almost never a major upset. The high rolling national teams often go a year or more without losing. It is the major sport where a weak team is least likely to beat a good team.
