The 18th and final week of the Super Rugby regular season takes place this weekend and judging by how much money I have already got down, it is going to be very much a make or break weekend for me. 

If I feel that the opening lines on matches will move during the week then I get my bets done early and I am heavily invested in the Highlanders to beat the Waratahs by 11 or more, the Chiefs to beat the Rebels at 1/1 and in the final match of the weekend the Blue Bulls to beat the Lions at 8/10.

It should be an interesting weekend and while the 3 Conference Winners and indeed the 4th place position has been decided, positions 5-8 haven’t.

Looking at the latest outright betting the Crusaders are 13/20 favourites to win and given they will finish top of the log, they are guaranteed of home advantage in all of their playoff matches.  Second in the betting at 4/1 are the Hurricanes who will host their quarter-final, but will likely have to travel to the Crusaders in the last 4.

I have seen 11/1 about both the Brumbies and the Jaguares chances and with the Jaguares set to finish 2nd on the table, they are assured of a quarter-final and a semi-final at home and assuming they win both of those then they will likely face a trip to Christchurch.  I watched them in action against the Sharks and having backed them to beat the visitors by 6 points or more I was never really concerned as they turned in an impressive performance. 

It got me thinking that they are going to be a really tough team to beat in Argentina and I think there is every chance that they will find themselves playing in their first ever Super Rugby final.  There is no doubt if they travel to play the Crusaders they will start as underdogs, but should they be almost 20 times the Crusaders price?  I don’t think so and I am going to suggest that the 11/1 about the Jaguares winning the tournament should be taken on price alone.

You don’t have to place a big bet at that price and the way they are playing who knows, they could give the Crusaders a run for your money in the final.

Twitter: @BrentGraham

 
This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 13th of June 2019.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and sends a  free weekly e-mail list just CLICK HERE to register