Rugby Championship Odds – Rugby Union Betting

All Blacks almost unbackable in upcoming Rugby Championship

Rugby Betting

Betway are currently the only major bookmaker prepared to put their head above the parapet by pricing up this summer’s Rugby Championship.

The former Tri Nations is a four-cornered affair nowadays with all teams playing each other home and away but you can get 100/1 about relative newcomers to the party, Argentina, upsetting their more established rivals. The South American side have collected the wooden spoon in each of the five Rugby Championship campaigns they undertaken since 2012 and it will be a huge surprise if the Pumas don’t finish bottom of the pile again among the southern hemisphere countries.

Only once since the format was expanded have New Zealand failed to win the tournament and that was in 2015 when it was a three-cornered affair due to Argentina withdrawing. The All Blacks are 2/11 with Betway to extend their dominance and few will want to bet against the world champions. They won all six matches last year, accumulating 246 points with more than 50 of those coming against arch-rivals Australia at the ANZ Stadium.

The Wallabies’ outspoken coach Michael Cheika says he will quit if Australia don’t win next year’s World Cup so that’s obviously where their priorities lie but they had a terrible time of it in the autumn internationals, losing to Scotland among others. It’s a team in transition and one which needs massive improvement to win in Japan next year. Cheika has only won just over half of his 45 matches in charge and they are not expected to trouble the All Blacks in the 2018 Rugby Championship, which is why they are 13/2.

South Africa are even harder to fancy at 9/1 as they have just sacked head coach Allister Coetzee and replaced him with Johan ‘Rassie’ Erasmus. The former Springboks loose forward has yet to be officially confirmed but he’s already been studying future opponents and has been to Japan to inspect facilities for next year’s World Cup. The Springboks are only rated sixth in the world at present behind England, Ireland and Scotland and you could argue that Wales are better than their current ranking. South Africa play Wales in a one-off international in Washington DC in June before hosting England in a three-match Test series ahead of the Rugby Championship so Rassie should have an idea of what’s required by the end of the summer. For rugby fans in the northern hemisphere, the Rugby Championship will show what the home nations are up against in next year’s World Cup.