We take a look at the 4 Varsity Cup matches taking place on Monday night and suggest a bet in each game.
Let’s kick-off with a look at the latest Outright Betting where the Eagles are trading at 16/10 favourites ahead of Maties at 9/4, the Ikeys and Shimlas are both trading at 3/1 and you can get 20/1 Wits and 100/1 and better the balance.
Click here for all of the long-term markets including season head-to-head where the Eagles are trading at 7/10 to finish higher than the Maties on the log.
WITS v UCT IKEYS – Click here to bet
Wits are currently 5th on the log with 2 victories and 2 losses in their 4 matches. They were away to Pukke last week and after taking the lead early, Pukke wore them down to win going away 51-22. The week before they had been at Maties and lost 23-12 and they had opened their campaign with a 56 point win away at UWC and a 17 point win at home to CUT.
UCT are currently 3rd on the log with 3 victories and 1 defeat. They were in impressive form last week when they beat CUT 44-7 at home having beaten UJ 32-21 at home the week before. Prior to that they lost by 5 points at home to Maties in a low scoring affair and beaten the Shimlas in a high scoring match 38-32 in Bloemfontein to get their campaign going.
I thought Wits were unlucky to take such a hammering against Pukke last week and I am going to back them to beat the handicap.
Suggested Bet: Handicap, Wits +10.5 at 17/20
UWC v MATIES – Click here to bet
UWC are bottom of the table and they have lost all four of their matches with a points difference of minus 128. Since taking a 56 point hiding at home to Wits in their opening game, they lost by 34 points away at Pukke, 17 points at home to CUT and 22 points away at Shimlas. Though all of those are big defeats they have beaten the handicap in their last 3 matches.
Maties are 4th on the log with 1 loss and 3 victories. Their loss came in their opening game at home to Pukke when they went down by 11 points in a low scoring match and they then beat UCT 15-10 on the road. They have beaten Wits by 11 and UJ by 32 points in Stellenbosch in their last 2 fixtures.
The handicap is massive here with UWC + 41.5 and with Maties often slow starters I am going to back the home team to beat the half-time handicap.
Suggested Bet: First-Half Handicap, UWC +20.5 at 17/20
UJ v NWU EAGLES – Click here to bet
UJ are currently 7th on the log and they have lost all 4 of their games with a points difference of -50. They were away at Maties last week where they looked good early before fading to lose 54-22. The week before they lost 32-21 at UCT and in their only home game of this season, they lost 31-34 to the Shimlas.
The Eagles are 2nd on the table with 3 victories and 1 defeat. That defeat came away to the Shimlas in their penultimate start when they lost by 9 points, but they bounced back last week to beat Wits 51-22 at home. Their other away match this season was a 23-12 win over the Maties.
I feel UJ have been a bit unlucky this season but the handicap of +18.5 looks about right and I will be going overs on points in this game.
Suggested Bet: Over 58.5 points at 17/20
CUT v SHIMLAS – Click here to bet
CUT are 6th on the log with 2 victories and 2 losses. They were well beaten at UCT last week going down 44-7 on the road and this will be only their second home game having beaten UJ 23-19 in Week 1.
Shimlas currently top the table with 1 loss and 3 victories. That loss came in their opening game at home to UCT, but they have subsequently beaten UJ away, Pukke at home and UWC at home. Their lowest scoring match has been 61 points.
The handicap here is CUT +23.5, but once again I am going to be looking for a high scoring game as it is a strategy I have followed on Shimlas matches with some success.
The points line is high at 66.5 but I think this one will go 70+
Suggested Bet: Over 66.5 points at 17/20
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
