Rugby World Cup 2015

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Although it has only existed for about thirty years, the Rugby World Cup is the pinnacle of the Rugby World. This is where the best of the best compete for a title that has been held by the greatest teams of the last few decades, a title that requires ultimate dedication, strength, skill and consistency. The Rugby World Cup is a memorable event to play in, a nail-biting one to watch and an exhilarating one to gamble on.

Rugby fans and gamblers are in luck as well, because although this event only comes along once in every four years, 2015 is one of those years. What’s more, the World Cup is held in England, the Northern Hemisphere, and as we shall discover shortly, this bodes well for the neutrals and the gamblers everywhere.

In this article we will look at the best ways to gamble on the Rugby World Cup, along with some tips on making a big profit. Our focus will be on the BetFair betting exchange which, as well as being the biggest betting exchange in the world, is the one that offers the best odds. BetFair is also available around the world, with Canadians given free rein on this huge betting site.

Outright

The beauty of the forthcoming Rugby World Cup is that it will be played in England. This is poignant only when you consider that the best teams in the world are New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, all of which are in the Southern Hemisphere, whilst the teams that follow these, Ireland, England and Wales, are not only in the Northern Hemisphere, but will be where the cup is held, or in Ireland’s case, just a stone’s throw away from it.

This means that the teams that often get edged out now all have home advantage, which opens this tournament up for many different teams to win. If England, Wales and Ireland compete the way they did during the Six Nations, and if the mighty All Blacks get a little homesick, or struggle with the cold, wet and windy conditions (even towards the end of summer) then this could be a tournament for the outsiders.

Either way, one of the bets you need to consider is the outright bet, which is when you place your money on the winner of the tournament. You can also safeguard your bet by selecting the “Each Way” option on the BetFair Sports Book, or by using the “Place” option on the BetFair Exchange. This means that if your chosen team makes it all the way to the final and then loses, then you will still make some money, albeit not as much as you would if they won.

As far as our tip goes, our suggestion is you get your money on both England and Ireland, as we are really struggling to separate these two and think that either of them could win it. We also like to make some throwaway bets, although by doing so we are not expecting these teams to win but rather we hope they will do well, surprise everyone and then earn us a profit. All world cups in all sports produce outsiders that raise eyebrows by having a good run, and the beauty of BetFair is that you can “cash-out” bets and make a profit on them if their odds shorten. So, if the USA are a rank outsider (which they are) but they begin by grabbing a surprise win or two and look like they might actually do well, then their odds will drastically reduce and you can make a profit.

As we said, they won’t win it, but they can make it past the group stages and if you wait until that point then you can make a lot of money. There are also many other, smaller priced bets that you can make a profit on when it comes to the group stages.

Group Stages

The world cup begins with a group stage, with each team playing each other once, and the top few progressing to the next round, which is a knockout stage. In the group stage anything can and often does happen. This is the perfect time to bet on outsiders and to make money from them, because one surprise win by an outsider and a single poor performance by a favourite can turn the tides of the entire group immediately, with the odds changing as a result.

A couple of the rank outsiders that we anticipate will have a few surprises up their sleeves are the USA, Fiji and our own Canada. The USA and Canada in particular have shown a lot of promise in recent years and with a solid foundation and some immensely talented players coming through, they might have what it takes to grab a surprise victory or two and to make a competition out of this Rugby World Cup.

Handicaps

Gamblers who have used the “Spreads” will be familiar with the handicap system. This basically evens a game out by giving points to the teams that are expected to lose, and taking them away from those teams that are expected to win. The “worse” the team are, the more points they will be given, and vice versa.

In a tournament such as this, the first game can be a great chance to take advantage of the handicap system. If a rank outsider is playing a favourite then it may seem like an obvious choice and the bookies could give the favourite a huge handicap of around 35 or 40 points. The first game is always nervy for everyone though, and with a lot of travelling involved beforehand, a lot of pressure and expectation on the “better” side, and the fact that they won’t necessarily be putting everything into a game like this (instead saving it for the more difficult games) means that the outsider can get much closer than the bookies give them credit for. We’re not saying that you should back these outsiders to grab a win, but rather that you should focus on the + Handicap market and get your money in when it feels good.

You need to do your research to discover the best bets, using the factors discussed above, but these bets can earn you a lot of money early on, which can then be used for the latter stages of the competition.