England head into Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final in Yokohama as big underdogs to cause an upset and halt New Zealand’s defence of their title. The All Blacks are looking to win the tournament for a third successive time and the way they blew Ireland away in the quarter-finals showed they are clearly the team to beat once again.
Japan will have fond memories of facing South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, when famously pulling off a stunning upset to prevail 34-32. The Brave Blossoms have been superb on home turf this time around, claiming the scalps of Ireland and Scotland, so they could well test the Springboks again.
Ireland have won two of their last three games against New Zealand and can be competitive in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash. The All Blacks are still the team to beat as they chase a hat-trick of titles, but no longer seem able to totally dominate other top nations at this level.
England were beaten by Australia at the last Rugby World Cup but have won all six meetings since then and look in better shape at present. Eddie Jones’ side cruised through the group stage as Pool C winners, albeit without having to face France, whereas the Wallabies laboured to second place behind Wales.
With the typhoon-battered pool stage of the Rugby World Cup now over, attention has turned swiftly to the knockout rounds where the eight remaining teams are vying for glory. We’ve analysed every full international match since the tournament was established in 1987 for clues about how the rest of the competition will pan out.
Scotland are fancied to keep their World Cup hopes alive by seeing off tournament hosts Japan. Gregor Townsend’s men must come out on top to qualify for the quarter-finals, but can take heart from having prevailed in all seven past meetings with the Brave Blossoms.
Saracens are fancied to beat Exeter in the Premiership Rugby final for the third time in four years when they clash at Twickenham. Mark McCall’s men prevailed 28-20 in the 2016 decider and romped to a 27-10 triumph 12 months ago, with the Chiefs edging out Wasps to lift the trophy in between.
We’ve picked out our Premiership Rugby predictions ahead of Saturday’s play-off semi-finals and are looking at the handicap markets for a bit of value. Last season’s two finalists are red-hot favourite to reach the decider again, but will they be able to cover double-digit starts this term?
More than 40,000 fans are expected at Celtic Park on Saturday for the Pro 14 final between Glasgow and Leinster, so home advantage could play a big part. The Warriors will be roared on by a strong support, as they seek to lift this trophy for the second time, having previously prevailed in 2015.
We’ve got Super League predictions for all six matches at this year’s Magic Weekend and are hoping to land an 11/1-plus pay-out if they all prevail. Anfield will stage the latest renewal of British rugby league’s mid-season spectacular and every team will be keen to impress in Liverpool.
Leinster and Saracens have dominated the European Rugby Champions Cup in recent years and are set for a titanic tussle in this season’s final at St James’ Park. The Irish province are the holders of this trophy, while Sarries claimed outright glory in 2016 and 2017, so big-match experience is not an issue.
With the 20th iteration of the Six Nations now underway, we’ve analysed the data from the previous 19 tournaments to work out what we should expect in each round. We’ve also analysed the squads from the last four World Cup years to see how much Six Nations performances predict about the sport’s showpiece event in Japan.
We’ve analysed the fortunes of the six northern hemisphere sides who compete in the Six Nations, along with the four southern hemisphere teams who contest the Rugby Championship, to see how much their performances and squads can be predicted by their efforts in the Autumn Internationals.
We’ve got three autumn internationals predictions from Saturday’s big rugby matches and are hoping to land a 5/1-plus treble on the handicap markets. With the Rugby World Cup nine months away, Europe’s top nations will be keen to show they can compete with the southern hemisphere superpowers.