I was brought up into a rugby league family, so it comes as no surprise I was hooked onto the sport from an early age. My Great-granddad was the first on my Dad's side of the family to follow the local rugby league team, Warrington Wolves. I am the fourth generation to suffer a wide range of emotions for eighty minutes every week following the team, but it does mean my knowledge of the sport is vast and on numerous occasions friends have asked questions, and I have instantly known the answer.
And most of the time my betting record shows it. One very particular bitter sweet moment occurred midway through the 2008 Super League season. Using my brain instead of my heart, I placed a £5 bet against Warrington to lose by a winning margin of 1-5 points at odds of 8/1 before they were due to play St Helens. Warrington performed the best they had done all season, outperforming the league leaders for 79 minutes. A Sean Long drop goal for St Helens three seconds from full time ensured they won the match, but with more than a few tears in my eye I collected £40 later that night.
Back to the present and as I tried to enter my local Ladbrokes the door became jammed making me look like a fool trying to force open an unlocked door. I hope it wasn't an omen.
To start the new-found venture, I decided to make it a double header by placing a bet on each match during the final week of the Rugby League European Cup group games. Sky Sports were to show both Scotland V Lebanon and Wales V Ireland. Both games were to act as semi finals, as both the Scots and Lebanese had already defeated Italy in group one. In group two Wales and Ireland had thrashed Serbia. The scene was set so whoever won in both games qualified to the European Cup final.
Scotland went into their game against Lebanon as group leaders on points difference. But that didn't affect the way I betted. I decided to bet £5 on Lebanon to win outright with odds of 11/4. From previous viewing of the Lebanese team, it looked like a license to print money. Lebanon were unlucky to miss out on qualification to the sport's World Cup two years ago, showing physical flare and performing brutal tackles in the process. Despite their inexperience and low skill level, I expected Lebanon to out muscle the Scottish side.
This was not what happened.
Lebanon fell foul to awful weather conditions and their own mistakes counted against them despite leading 4-0 for over twenty minutes in the first half. Scotland were full of semi-professional players from the second and third tiers of British rugby league and leapt upon their opponent's mistakes scoring two tries from Lebanese handling errors. The final score was Scotland 22-10 Lebanon.
The Wales V Ireland game was too close to call on paper. The majority of bookmakers gave Wales a six point start on the handicap, which in my opinion was a fair call. The Irish squad certainly looked stronger, but Wales' performance against England in a friendly two weeks ago would have given Wales a morale boost ahead of their European Cup campaign. A £5 bet for Ireland to win by a winning margin of 6-10 points was what was placed at the Ladbrokes outlet with odds of 9/2.
Ireland started off strongly leading 12-0 after fifteen minutes. But for the rest of the game, Ireland let Wales get on top of them. Two tries from Wales thanks to soft defending on behalf of the Irish on their own try line sent the two teams level going into the half time break. But after half time Ireland's performance dropped faster then the economy. Wales cut through their defence like a knife through butter and ended up 42-12 winners.So after a dismal first effort, my target of reaching £200 profit is off to a poor start. My knowledge of rugby league let me down today, which goes to show no matter how much you know about a sport it can still be unpredictable.
Profit after 2 bets: -£10
Picture Nicholas Woodward
No comments:
Post a Comment