Betting.Betfair

[i]The Betfair Contrarian has already presented the case as to why New Zealand won't be crowned champions at the end of the seventh Rugby World Cup later this month, now he's ready to tell you who will. Here's why he's excited by the 6.8 available on Wales taking the trophy back to the northern hemisphere...[/i] [u]Wales are on a roll [/u] Warren Gatland's side have plenty of momentum, having responded to a narrow defeat to South Africa in their opener with four straight victories, each one more impressive than the last. It's been noticeable in recent years that when Wales hit form, they are very difficult to stop. Two obvious examples are their 2005 and 2008 Six Nations triumphs when, after convincing starts, they twice completed the Grand Slam. They failed to even finish in the top...

If there's one thing the Rugby World Cup has taught us, it is that as a coach or manager you can make all the rules you like, but in the end it comes down to the players. If they choose to ignore them you've not got a prayer. It's why Martin Johnson is arriving home as a failure today and Warren Gatland is still in Auckland being feted as a genius. Jonno set a code of conduct for his England players and believed he could trust them to behave like men. He thought it was fine for their wives and girlfriends to keep them company, and for the single lads to be able to enjoy an occasional night out and a drink. He had meetings to talk about standards of behaviour. And in the end half his side didn't take a blind bit of notice, and some of the married boys went out and got plastered too. Meanwhile,...

The Dragons welcome back James Collins, though will be without the suspended Craig Bellamy and David Vaughan, while doubts remain over Jack Collison. Darren Bent and Micah Richards are the only absentees for the Three Lions, having withdrawn from the squad over the weekend. [u]Match Odds [/u] England appeared invigorated against Bulgaria with a youthful line-up and balance to the formation. Scott Parker and Gareth Barry holding in midfield offered greater confidence for the front four - headed by the vivacious Wayne Rooney - and the performance spoke volumes, albeit against poor opposition. The only points dropped by Capello's men during European Championship qualification came at home, with draws against Montenegro and Switzerland. Indeed, England have not won any fixture at Wembley...

A competent display by England saw the Three Lions return to winning ways against Wales with a 2-0 success at the Millennium Stadium. The victory took Fabio Capello's side level on points with Montenegro and firmly on course (1.18) to top UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group G - but, in the words of Barry Davies, frankly, who cares? It wasn't just that England, 110 places higher than Gary Speed's men in the FIFA world rankings, were odds-on to win a complete mismatch, or that the 'should John Terry be England captain?' debate might rear its ugly head for the 12,000th time this week; it was the fact that this viewer, at least, was indifferent to the result. The only thing duller than international qualifiers are international friendlies, but don't worry, we've got one of those coming up on...

When it comes to talking a good game, Warren Gatland is right up there with the best of them. A few weeks ago he was rubbishing England's scrum before watching them take his own Welsh forwards to pieces. And now he's at it again. Hot on the heels of less than convincing wins over Scotland and Italy he's sent Martin Johnson a warning. "I don't think England will win all their games and if they slip up we are waiting to pounce. We can still win the title," is his Six Nations verdict. When I read it first I laughed. And Betfair's punters aren't taking the idea too seriously either. Despite them occupying second place in the table you can currently get 55.0 to back the Welsh as outright winners with Ireland 50.0 and France 9.4 ahead of them in the betting. (Grand Slam chasing England,...