Super Rugby Pacific has been thrown in disarray this week with Covid running through the Crusaders, Hurricanes and Blues camps. Due to this, only one of the New Zealand Conference games will go ahead this weekend with a reshuffle seeing Moana Pasifika scheduled to play the Chiefs.
Friday 18 March
To win (80 Mins)
Brumbies 9/20 | Draw 20/1 | Reds 18/10
Handicap
Brumbies 9/10 (-5.5) | Reds 9/10 (+5.5)
The biggest of the Australian clashes is next up with the Brumbies taking on the Reds in Canberra.
Both teams head into this one having yet to lose a game with the Reds beating the Rebels 23-5, the Waratahs 16-20, The Force 16-29 and the Drua 33-28, while the Brumbies have beaten the Force 29-23, the Drau 42-3, the Waratahs 27-20 and the Rebels 17-36.
Both sides were slightly off the boil last weekend with a last-minute try seeing the Reds scrape a victory against the Fijian Drua, while the Brumbies failed to really put a very poor Rebels side to the sword as they beat the Melbourne outfit by 19 points.
This one should be a really tight fixture with both teams having solid but far from spectacular starts to their respective campaigns. I’m leaning towards the Reds for the win here at 18/10. Of course, you can play it safe and back the Reds on the + for a bit of safety.
Saturday 19 March
To Win (80 Mins)
Drua 22/10 | Draw 22/1 | Force 7/20
Handicap
Drua9/10 (+7.5) | Force 7/20 9/10 (-7.5)
The Drua will be looking to put in another impressive dispaly when they take on a Force side that has been desperately unlucky this term.
The men from Fiji’s season has burst into life over the past two weeks as after a very poor start to the season that saw them hammered by the Brumbies and Waratahs, they have registered a come from behind 31-26 win over the Rebels and then ran the Reds close going down 33-28 courtesy of a very late try for the Queenslanders.
The force have only managed one win thus far with the victory being a 3-28 Round 2 win over the hapless Melbourne Rebels. They really deserve to have another win on the board with a late try seeing them lose to the Brumbies in Round 1 and a late surge against the Waratahs not enough to overturn the New South Wales’ side lead as they had to settle for a losing bonus point going down 22-17.
I really liked what I saw from them last week and if they play in a similar vein I can see the Fijians bagging the points here at a very tasty 22/10.
To Win (80 Mins)
Moana Pasifika 7/1 | Draw 40/1 | Chiefs 1/14
Handicap
Moana Pasifika (+18.5) 9/10 | Chiefs (-18.5) 9/10
The next game we’ll take a look at is the rescheduled fixture between Moana Pasifika and the Chiefs. The Chiefs were originally supposed to play the Hurricanes this weekend while Moana Pasifika were set to take on the Highlanders but an outbreak of Covid in a number of the Kiwi camps has forced a reschedule.
Moana Pasifika have only played one fixture thus far with their other three games being called off due to Covid outbreaks. They looked decent enough in their one outing going down 12-33 to the Crusaders.
The Chiefs, on the other hand, have already played three fixtures beating the Highlanders 26-16, going down to the Blues 24-22 and beating the Crusaders 21-24 in an absolute thriller this past weekend.
I really do think Moana Pasifika will run the chiefs close here. The men from Waikato are yet to run away with a game and I reckon this one will also be a close-run affair. They look really good value at (+18.5).
Waratahs 1/8 | Draw 33/1 | Rebels 5/1
Handicap
Waratahs 9/10 (-13.5) | Rebels 9/10 (+13.5)
The weekend’s action comes to a close at the Sydney Cricket Ground where the Rebels will be looking to break their duck against a vastly improved Waratahs outfit.
The visitors’ start to the season went from bad to worse last week as they were beaten 17-36 by the Brumbies. This was their fourth successive loss and followed a 31-26 defeat to the Drua, who they allowed to come back into a game from a position where the Rebels looked home and dry.
The Waratahs have enjoyed a far better start to the season and have won two of their four fixtures with their victories coming over the Drua (40-10) and the Force (20-17). They also gave the Reds and Brumbies – who inflicted defeats upon them – real problems and claimed bonus points from both of those losses as they went down by seven points to the Brumbies and four to the Reds.
The absence of Jake Gordon is a blow for the Waratahs and this coupled with the fact a number of Rebels will return from injury this week is why I’m backing the Rebels on the plus.
