Heineken Cup Preview
After a long summer break, the Aviva Premiership and Magners League, both now in full swing, have given rugby union spread bettors a chance to blow off the cobwebs. Now the Champions League of egg-chasing, the Heineken Cup, gets underway on the 8th October offering spread punters yet another tournament in which to take on Sporting Index's rugby traders.
London's finest are represented with Saracens, Wasps and London Irish all competing, and joined by Premiership rivals Bath, Northampton Saints and current domestic champions Leicester Tigers. However, there is likely to be more punters buying the outright index spreads of the French sides after their domination of last year's tournament. The 2010 final was contested between two gallic sides - Toulouse eventually narrowly beating Biarritz at the Stade de France - while a further two French clubs, Clermont Auvergne and Stade Francais, reached the knockout stage. In contrast, Ireland provided two quarter-finalists and England (Northampton) and Wales (Ospreys) supplied one each.
Spread punters buying the outright spread of favourites Toulouse may have noted that last year's victory, their fourth since 1995, makes them the most successful club in the competition. However, sellers will note that Irish clubs have seen the most success of recent years, with three Irish winners in the last five years.
Of thirty previous finalists, Wales can only boast a single runner-up, Cardiff, back in the first Heineken Cup competition. However, spread punters may be more inclined to buy the outright spreads of this year's four competing Welsh clubs given that this year's final is to be contested inside Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. One can only imagine the excitement should a Welsh club get the chance to run out for the final in front of 80,000 proud Welsh rugby fans.
The first televised match of the tournament will take place between Pool 1's Northampton Saints and Castres Olympique at Franklin Gardens and spread punters who like to bet on the individual player markets will surely be anticipating the performance of Saints winger Chris Ashton. The former rugby league star not only topped the try-scoring charts domestically - and any spread bettor who bought his try minutes in Guinness Premiership matches last year will thank him for it - but he also was joint-second top try-scorer in the European competition with six tries in his six Heineken Cup appearances.
Munster are a little further down the outright index list, but are sure to attract plenty of spread buyers thanks to their solid record of two wins from four finals since 2000. The Irish side also boast arguably the best half-back pairing in the competition in Tomas O'Leary and Ronan O'Gara. The two open their Heineken Cup account in what is sure to be an engrossing contest against London Irish. Buyers of Munster kicking metres match spread will be counting on O'Gara to continue the form he showed last year, when he notched 98 points from his eight matches in the competition.
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