European Challenge Cup Rugby Union Betting 2008

The Rugby Union European Challenge Cup got under way last night when Northampton headed off down to Toulon to totally thrash a French side in such turmoil that there’s no knowing what they might have produced. Their new coach, ex All Black captain, Tana Umaga, has struggled to fashion an influx of eighteen new players brought in from all over the shop. The New Zealand coach, will shortly be replaced by John Connolly who used to be head man at the Wallabies and has also, done stints with Bath and Swansea. It’s something of a panic move and his first task will be to move the side up from eleventh, precariously near relegation, in the French Top 14. The Saints director of Rugby, Jim Mallinder, was under no illusions and knew how important this match was to both sides. Online betting sites had them evenly matched for tonight’s game despite, rightly, as it turns out, seeing Northampton as the stronger side within the tournament.

English Clubs Dominate The European Challenge Cup

A number of French sides have mirrored Toulon’s efforts to beef up themselves up with an influx of imported players. It remains to be seen how successfully they will have been integrated. We won’t have to wait long because in the same pool as Northampton is Bristol who also cross the channel on Friday to meet Montpellier. Bristol faces an uphill battle and the French side are odds-on favourites for a win. There’s a wide variation in prices on offer from the bookies on online . It’s always worth checking for the bets odds and free bets available. There are sites to help you do this if you get confused. And remember that you can bet on a huge range of options now including

  • First scoring play
  • Number of points scored by team A or B
  • Total tries
  • Total match points
  • Winning margin
  • Half time/full time position

    • And that’s not all. The best innovation is live betting where you can dip into any Sports game at any time and place a bet. This keeps any match exciting right through to the end. Spread Betting is also available but needs careful thought and is not for the faint-hearted. Most online betting sites have been around a long time now and have had ample time to build up their reliability, trustworthiness and customer care.

    The European Challenge Cup Betting

    The tournament has been dominated by English clubs in recent years and the French are going all out to bring back their old control. It’s not going to be easy for them, according to the bookies, with Saracens outright favourites, and London Irish and Worcester next in line. Saracens are in a soft group and should have a nice jaunt through to the quarters along with Newcastle whose group contains a challenging Brive side but two easy gimmes as well. Worcester has the strong Bourgoin to contend with while London Irish Have Connacht and Dax/Albi to contend with in their reasonably unchallenging group.

    All in all it’s going to be an intriguing tournament; not least because of everything the French have thrown at it in their efforts to strengthen their teams. This is the unknown factor in a competition that year on Year demonstrates the huge improvements in the quality of play across all European teams. Lots of it will be on the telly and it’s a great excuse to invite friends around for bevies and a few wagers and all nice and easy with a few clicks on the laptop and you’re all set.