Having already faced Australia and Argentina, life doesnâ??t get any easier as England take on a strong New Zealand side. Rugby Union spread bet buyers of Englandâ??s win index will be concerned that since winning the World Cup the Red Rose have lost all of their seven matches against the All Blacks, the sideâ??s longest winless streak against NZ in their history. Three of these defeats were on English soil. Buyers of the All Blacks win index spread will be further pleased that NZ have an immaculate autumn record against all teams since the 2003 World cup finals, taking the spoils in every one of their 15 games.
Spread punters may conclude there is more value in the supremacy spread knowing that New Zealand will be heavily handicapped. Sellers of the spread might well point to the narrow 19-23 loss in 2005, where England trailed by just three at half-time but supremacy spread buyers will have a stronger recollection that England failed to breach their opponentâ??s try-line in New Zealandâ??s last visit to Twickenham, which ended 32-6 to the Kiwis. The average winning margin in head-to-heads since 2003 is as much as 26 points. Another note of caution for sellers of NZâ??s supremacy lies in the fact that England have only got within 15 points once since, in 2005. Their largest defeat was by 42 points back in 1998 and spread sellers should also be aware that in the last seven matches between these sides NZ have accumulated a total of 249 points compared to Englandâ??s 92.
These figures will also be interesting to buyers and sellers of Sporting Indexâ??s total points spread market, who can work out from this that in this time total match points between the sides have averaged just less than 49. In addition, seeing arguably the best fly-half in the world, Dan Carter, back in the All Blacks starting XV after his ban for a high-tackle against Wales will be a huge positive to total points spread buyers. He has played in every one of these seven Tests for his country scoring an awesome total of 137 points in the process â?? an average of 20 points per match. Even at Twickenham, he averages 18.67 points, five points more than his average in all games away from New Zealand. He is not only useful as a kicker – for buyers of his try minutes spread market, he has also scored a try in four of the seven.
Punters looking for a spread bet on the total tries market should be aware that New Zealand have scored at least two tries in every one of these games and, frighteningly, average 4.2 tries a match. Spread buyers should look at the other side of NZâ??s game too though – they have stopped their opponents scoring seven times, including in each of the last four games. Sellers of England tries will be hoping it will soon become five-in-a-row.
Rugby Unionâ??s autumn tests kick off this weekend with an absolute cracker for spread betting fans as England take on old adversaries Australia at Twickenham. Those spread bettors supporting England will be concerned that Martin Johnsonâ??s options have been severely limited by injuries with as many as 20 players forced to pull out of the elite squad. Thereâ??s plenty for spread punters behind Australia to worry about too, after their young and experimental squadâ??s forgettable Tri-Nations. Despite earlier wins over the Barbarians, Italy and France, Robbie Deanâ??s side went on to win just one of their six matches against New Zealand and South Africa.
Overall, England and Australia have met on 36 occasions with the Wallabies winning 21, losing 14 and a single draw. To the delight of buyers of the Australiansâ?? win index spread (25 points for win plus winning score) that includes winning the last meeting at Twickenham 28-14. Spread sellers and buyers of Englandâ??s win index will, however, point to the fact that the English were victorious in the previous game, a tight 12-10 win during the 2007 World Cup. Those same spread bettors will be impressed by the more recent head-to-head record, as will sellers of the Aus/Eng supremacy spread – in the last 12 matches against Australia, since 2000, England shade it with seven wins to the Aussiesâ?? five.
Supremacy spread buyers would dearly love a repeat of the Wallabiesâ?? highest winning margin over the hosts, a 76-point drubbing in 1998, while spread punters predicting a home victory might expect a narrower margin of victory given that Englandâ??s largest win over their rivals was by 17 points in 1976. The closest result between the sides was a thrilling 32-31 England victory in 2002. During Martin Johnsonâ??s last six games, in which his team recorded just three wins, England scored an average of just over 26 points per game with an average winning margin of 11 points.
Punters looking at the total tries spread market will be interested to know that in the last ten matches between the sides a total of 41 tries were scored. Those keen for a spread bet on England total points should also know that in their previous ten against the Wallabies they have averaged 18.4 points while, in the same period, the total average points accumulated by both sides is just under 45. Sporting Index offer plenty of other exciting markets for spread bettors who might be unsure about the outright result including their performance supremacy spread, where points are awarded for match outcome, tries, kicked goals and deducted for missed kicks and cards shown. Other punters may defer their spread betting decision until kick-off and take advantage of Sporting Indexâ??s in-running spread markets. Spread punters doing so should note that England have lost 12 of their last 17 final quarters at Twickenham but – as anyone who remembers Johnny Wilkinsonâ??s last-gasp drop goal in the 2003 World Cup final will know – anything can happen in international rugby, and in this fixture in particular.