Weekly Articles "Road to Riches" by Rich 'Tighty' Prew
The Road to Riches Weekend of 8th-9th November
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Doncaster, Over the jumps at Aintree, Doncaster and Wincanton and on the all-weather at Wolverhampton.
- Football, Premier League fixtures including Manchester City v Liverpool
- NFL, Week 10 fixtures include the Philadelphia Eagles at the Green Bay Packers.
- Rugby Union, the Autumn International season fixtures include England v Fiji, France v South Africa and Scotland v New Zealand
- Formula One, the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo
- Golf, The Bermuda Championship on the USPGA and the World Tour Championship in Dubai on the DP World Tour.
- Tennis, ATP World Tour finals in Turin
Free Tip
Autumn International Rugby France v South Africa 7.10pm Saturday
Two of the top four world ranked sides meet in Paris on Saturday, reigning world Champions South Africa, ranked 1st play hosts France ranked 4t. This is the first meeting between the two teams since the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, where South Africa won 29-28 in the Quarter-Finals in a classic which France should have won but came up against the formidable major tournament will-to-win of the Springboks.
This significance of this and the Autumn Internationals played in the international window over the next three weeks is that the 2027 World Cup draw takes place in early December and world rankings are frozen at the end of November. The top six ranked sides at that point head a pool each for Australia in two years’ time.
South Africa have won eight of their last nine matches against France however each of their last three victories has come by margins of just three points or fewer. Meanwhile France have won 15 of their last 16 matches at the Stade de France, the exception being that loss against South Africa in 2023. They’ve won each of their five since then by an average margin of 23 points, scoring 30+ points on each occasion.
South Africa have won 17 of their last 20 matches, with their three defeats in that run all coming in The Rugby Championship (which they won again this year with four wins out of six whilst trying out players and combinations midway through a World Cup cycle). They’ve won 21 of their last 23 fixtures outside of that tournament including their last eight in a row.
South Africa warmed up for this game beating Japan 61-7 at Wembley last week. A key loss is world class loose-head prop Ox Nche injured but one thing the South Africans do not lack at any position is strength in depth.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has started the last four Springboks Test matches in the number 10 jersey and starts again over the more experienced Libbok or Pollard.
For France Dupont is still out but this is a dangerous team that won the 2025 Six Nations with 4 wins out of 5, missing out on a Grand Slam losing by a point at Twickenham butchering multiple try-scoring opportunities. The first-choice squad didn’t tour New Zealand this summer and may be fresher than South Africa coming to the end of a long season.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey has scored the most tries of any player for a Tier 1 nation in 2025 (8), while Damian Penaud is just one try away from overtaking Serge Blanco as the all-time top try scorer in men’s rugby (38 each currently), but has failed to score in each of his last five outings against South Africa. Both are the spearhead of a tremendous back division.
Prices for the game are South Africa -1 and 4/5 outright, France Evens. I think I would try France at odds-against for value, but not available.
Bet365 also offer an over/under points market, priced up as o/u 51.5 points. I have searched everywhere else and can’t find it but will recommend it for those that can: the over.
Global rugby is a changing game, much more emphasis on attack, offloads from 1-15, creating chances from the aerial game too. France have tremendous try-scorers and in the last two years South Africa have really expanded their style to keep pace with the changes taking place in the game. South Africa still place a huge emphasis on their set-piece, kicking and defence but one significant development has made a big difference to their attacking improvement and that’s carrying lower and looking to offload.
Take South Africa game point totals in their six games in the rugby championship this year:
60, 52, 41 (at Eden Park, New Zealand), 53 (at Wellington, New Zealand), 92 and 56.
Then take France in 2025 game by game points:
46, 60, 58 in New Zealand this summer
43 (Wales scored 0), 51,97,71,51 in the Six Nations
I checked the weather forecast, dry for Saturday night. I think the over is much more likely than under 51.5 points.
20 points over 51.5 points 10/11 Bet365
Congestion Charge
Between 2015 and 2022 England were the pre-eminent side in white-ball cricket.
Yet since the 50-over World Cup two years ago, England have won ten out of 27 games and no side has had a worse record against teams ranked in the world’s top eight. England are ranked No 8 in the world in that format at present in between Afghanistan and West Indies and struggling to qualify for the next World Cup.
Brendon McCullum took over as coach at the start of 2025, before the tour to India and the Champions Trophy. There have been 13 ODIs since only four of which have been won. There have been mistakes around selection and strategy, especially before and during the Champions Trophy.
In the recent New Zealand Series England were 6-56, 5-81 and 7-102 on seaming pitches, struggling to find the right balance between attack and defence against the moving ball.
Trying to succeed across formats in a congested schedule is tough, but the 50 over game is especially tough for England to succeed in currently because the International players no longer play the format outside ODIs. The Domestic 50 over competition runs concurrent with the 100 and is essentially a development competition for the second tier of English professional cricketers. The conditions for success that enabled England to set the benchmark in that golden period after 2015 no longer exist and are unlikely to in the future.
That World Cup winning team had an outstanding specialist captain in Eoin Morgan and contained players who had extensive prior experience in domestic list A cricket.
It is early days for Harry Brook, only nine matches in charge of the 50-over team so far, and he is playing across all three formats and his captaincy very much has the sense of learning on the job.
While Trevor Bayliss was England’s coach across formats in the period of sustained success, Morgan, as a white-ball specialist, had the time to be able to plan and prepare for each assignment, a luxury that will be denied McCullum and Brook. While Morgan’s team had its share of multi-format players, it also had a specific white-ball identity.
The 2019 World Cup-winning squad included some multi-format players, such as Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, but there was a core for whom white-ball internationals were their priority. The delineation between formats was emphasised especially by the examples of those not selected, like Stuart Broad and James Anderson, who were saved for Test cricket. The present policy is to align the squads closer together.
The present belief is that the best Test players are also the best 50-over players, as seen by the batting line-ups being essentially the same. In practice, though, whether the strategy survives the gruelling and congested fixture list remains to be seen.
Consider the list A experience, outside of ODIs. Of the current team Jamie Smith, Jacob Bethell and Brook have played 46 non-international list A games between them; Buttler, Alex Hales and Jason Roy the top three in 2019, played 122 50-over matches before their international careers began in earnest.
When the new participation agreements for the Hundred kick in next year, England will wave goodbye to their players for three months of the calendar, two months of the Indian Premier League and the month of the Hundred.
It is no secret that administrators are tiring of the 50-over format. The present edition of the Asia Cup is T20 rather than 50 overs to fit in with the demands of the global schedule. The next ICC event is the T20 World Cup in early 2026 but is a likely precursor of future trends, with ODIs feeling the squeeze. By the time the 2027 50-over tournament comes around in South Africa, there will have been seven World Cups in eight years.
No one plays as much Test cricket as England, who have played a quarter as many Tests again as their nearest rivals, India and Australia, over the past decade. Achieving simultaneous and sustained success across formats will not be straightforward.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page has been updated on 1st October 2025. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be inning + £65,159 All bets have an ROI +2.45%
A £4000 bank betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,158, a 1629% increase.
The Road to Riches Weekend of 1st-2nd November
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, Over the jumps at Ascot, Ayr and Wetherby and on the all-weather at Newcastle.
- Football, Premier League fixtures including Tottenham v Chelsea
- NFL, Week 9 fixtures include the Kansas City Chiefs at the Buffalo Bills.
- Rugby Union, the start of the Autumn International season including England v Australia, Ireland v New Zealand in Chicago and Wales v Argentina
- Cricket, New Zealand v England ODI in Wellington
- Golf, The Worldwide Technology Championship in Mexico on the USPGA and the Abu Dhabi Championship on the DP World Tour.
- Tennis, ATP Moselle Open
Free Tip
England v Australia Autumn International Rugby, Saturday 3.10pm
England begin their Autumn International series with this game followed by fixtures against Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina.
A year ago England lost to the “big three” in successive weeks 24-22 to New Zealand, 37-42 to Australia and then 20-29 to South Africa. Subsequently after the 9-point first-round Six Nations defeat in Dublin England have won seven straight Test matches including beating France at home and two wins in Argentina.
It is a shame that they’re not facing South Africa this year but England should be targeting at least three wins this autumn.
A concern is that England have had barely any training time before this Test. They sacrificed their usual training camp in Girona, Spain, to hand back the players to their clubs for one more Gallagher Prem match after the RFU organised this Wallabies game outside of World Rugby’s international window.
England met for just three days last week, mostly for meetings, and then reconvened on Sunday night in Surrey to start their preparations in earnest on Monday. This is unfortunate as England have just recruited a new backs/attack coach Lee Blackett (from Bath Rugby) and it’s a stretch to expect much to be put into game-plans with such limited preparation time.
England’s team has Tommy Freeman moved to outside centre for England’s first Test of the autumn with Ollie Lawrence missing out.Steve Borthwick is leaning heavily on the cohesion of Northampton Saints by picking one of their players at scrum half and in both centre positions outside George Ford at fly-half for Saturday’s game. It appears given the limited time with the new attack coach the plan is an aerial assault and the power game in midfield.
Aerial contests have become a major part of the game in the last year as a result of a law change in 2024 that prohibited the use of escort runners/blockers preventing the attacking player's path to the ball. As a result often out wide there are frequent one-on-one contests. England have George Ford for pinpoint kicks and two wingers renowned for their aerial prowess. Australia selected their team second and have picked a 5-3 bench rather than go 6-2 as England did and try to match them in an arm-wrestle.
In the England forwards Ellis Genge and Will Stuart are only just back playing after the Lions tour and Tom Curry just fit again after his wrist operation. All three are on a strong looking bench alongside Henry Pollock and Finn Smith.
Australia have issues too. They’ve already played eleven test matches in 2025 with a full Autumn campaign to come, three tests against the British and Irish lions, six in the Rugby Championship and then and a very physical Fiji team so there might be is a degree of fatigue. They warmed up for the game winning in Japan 19-15 in a rain-soaked game.
Australia tore England’s defence apart in this fixture last year which brought Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to global attention. They have cut the British & Irish Lions and South Africa to ribbons at times in 2025 too. Unfortunately, key players Skelton, Ikitau, Tom Hooper and O’Connor are all unavailable with the game taking place outside the European International window. There are ongoing half-back issues too though former World Cup fly-half Carter Gordon comes back into the international frame following confirmation of his return to the Queensland Reds after a stint in the NRL. Gordon started at No.10 in five Tests during 2023.
Before I looked at prices for this game I made it Australia +5/+6, clearly underdogs but probably within a score on the spread. I then see that Australis are up at +9.5 and 11/4 outright. I think +9.5 is clear value given this is the first game of the Autumn for England in a way I probably wouldn’t have done if it was the 3rd or 4th game with England fully in-sync.
15 points Australia +9.5 points at 10/11 generally
Into the Void
As their NFC East divisional rivals the Dallas Cowboys struggled to properly pay their best players in timely fashion leading to the blockbuster trade of Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles cracked the code on how to manage the cap while keeping a championship-calibre team together.
Beyond knowing whom to pay and when to pay them, the Eagles have maximised the use of voidable years in their contracts. As explained recently in the Wall Street Journal, the Eagles have $380m attached to cap charges that will land in voidable years of current contracts. That’s more than double the amount of any other team. The current annual salary cap for each NFL team is $279.2m.
All of these charges become due in 2030 and beyond, after the point when the current NFL deals expire in 2029. There is an understandable expectation that this will propel the salary cap up but still, it’s a very different approach to roster and cap management to front-load the talent on the roster in the short term, potentially at the expense of a much weaker roster down the line when these bills become due.
Spending now with the cap charges hitting later requires an owner who is willing to write the cheques as it is cash spending upfront. Getting an owner willing to put the cash up to get the void years is the reason why not all teams do it. It's about cash spending, not cap spending. Void years require bonuses. Not every team is “cash rich”. Not every team has an appetite for risk that the Eagles do.
The key to the voidable-year approach is the ongoing growth of the cap. It makes the relative cap charge smaller, because dollars paid in one year have a reduced impact when they hit the cap in future years. And, in those future years, new voidable-year contracts can push current cash even further down the road, when the cap will be even higher.
For the Eagles it is all about extending their Super Bowl window as long as possible before rebuilding is necessary as player financial demands begin to exceed the salary cap flexibility a successful team has. It also requires the Eagles to pay as many of the right players as possible, and to refrain from paying the wrong ones.
The approach has helped to deliver a Super Bowl win. It could lead to more. And their status as contenders will continue to deliver as long as they draft talented players, develop them, and reward the ones whom they believe to be critical to current and future success.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page has been updated on 1st October 2025. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be inning + £65,159 All bets have an ROI +2.45%
A £4000 bank betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,158, a 1629% increase.
The Road to Riches Weekend of 25th-26th October
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Doncaster, Newbury and Wolverhampton. Over the jumps at Cheltenham and Kelso.
- Football, Premier League fixtures including Aston Villa v Manchester City
- NFL, Week 8 fixtures include the Green Bay Packers at the Pittsburgh Steelers
- Formula One, the Mexican Grand Prix
- Cricket, New Zealand v England ODI in Mount Maunganui
- Tennis, ATP Rolex Paris Masters
Free Tip
Gallagher Prem Rugby Bath v Bristol 3.05pm Saturday
Two teams who have won 3 of their first 4 league games of the season meet in an always feisty local derby this weekend.
Bath lost 22-20 at Leicester last weekend to the last kick of the game to lose their first game of the season to fall to third in the early league table. Not a great performance by their standards, especially from Finn Russell who had an off day but also they struggled with Leicester’s uncompromising approach up front.
Bristol are known for their explosive attacking game, all high tempo and work rate, which they have displayed in both home matches this season, putting 42 points on Leicester in the first game of the season and 49 against Gloucester last week.
Away performances have been less prolific, a 18-14 loss at Exeter and a 50-17 loss at Saracens.
This game is their first meeting since the Play-off semi-final last season at Bath which the hosts won 34-20. Funnily enough the point spread for this game is Bristol +15.5. That’s an interesting spread, getting above the key number of two converted tries (14 points) against a team that, in their home games, has beaten Sale by 12 points and Gloucester by 21 points so far this season. Bristol are a better team than Gloucester and at similar levels to Sale.
11 points Bristol +15.5 points at 10/11 generally
Giving rugby wings
Newcastle rugby has struggled over several years at the foot of the Gallagher Premiership rugby table, protected by the absence of relegation, finishing bottom in each of the past three seasons.
Prospects looked gloomy for the current season with a recruitment freeze in place.
Their fortunes were then transformed with a takeover this summer by global energy drinks company Red Bull. For the league itself, the arrival of such a big company is a sign of the green shoots of recovery, following on from increased television audiences and a long-term broadcast deal with TNT Sports and part of a plan to make clubs as investable as possible rather than relying on funding from wealthy supporter-benefactors to survive.
Newcastle have been desperate for new investment, there were genuine fears that they could go the same way as Worcester Warriors, Wasps and London Irish and go out of business altogether.
Instead Newcastle can now draw upon the expertise of Red Bull and their wide sporting portfolio. Newcastle's new owners will use their experience in how to market teams and athletes to generate further interest in the English club game.
Part of their plan will be to invest in talent and a pathway and there's a huge amount of talent in the North East.
Given Red Bull's record of turning struggling football and Formula 1 teams into superpowers and heavyweight investment in top-end cycling and ice hockey, they are surely not going to stand for scraping the bottom of the Prem for long.
When the club opened season ticket sales after the news they recorded the highest demand for 10 years, up 197% on 2024's first-day trading.
In the short term the takeover came a bit late for this season. The recruitment cycle was over in France for this season for example but Red Bull made funds available before completion to end the recruitment freeze.
All bar one subsequent signing have contracts that run to the end of the season, suggesting they are stop-gap signings, while bigger names are lined up.
Newcastle are bound by the Prem's spending cap. Red Bull is worth billions, but can only spend £6.4m in wage with one marquee player excluded from that limit.
Credits exist for producing home-grown talent and penalties are liable for fielding too many players who do not qualify for England.
Red Bull's entry into the Prem marks the end of a year-long search for a buyer for Newcastle. Early last autumn, long-time club owner Semore Kurdi brought in A&W Capital, specialists in the sale of sports teams, to find someone to take the club on.
It was a pressing concern not just for Kurdi, who has put many millions of his own money into the club since becoming owner in 2011, or Newcastle, but the league as a whole.
After the demise of Worcester Warriors, Wasps and London Irish, another club going under would have reduced the Prem to nine teams. Each round would involve only four fixtures and the gate receipts and product for broadcasters and sponsors would shrink. Other top-flight clubs, along with CVC Partners who part-own the league, were prepared to loan Newcastle £4m to keep them upright.
Newcastle's dire circumstances and Kurdi's desire to see the club in good hands meant Red Bull could cut a deal with little initial cost beyond taking on responsibility for the club's £39m debts.
The plan to rename Newcastle Falcons as Newcastle Red Bulls was simple and supported.
Prem Rugby hopes it is the start of a new sustainable era, in which clubs are owned and grown by corporate investors, rather than propped up by local business owners and benefactors.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page has been updated on 1st October 2025. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be inning + £65,159 All bets have an ROI +2.45%
A £4000 bank betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,158, a 1629% increase.
The Road to Riches Weekend of 18th-19th October
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Ascot, Catterick and Wolverhampton. Over the jumps at Newton Abbot and Stratford-on-Avon.
- Football, Premier League fixtures including Liverpool v Manchester United
- NFL, Week 7 fixtures include the LA Rams at the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley stadium
- Formula One, the US Grand Prix in Austin
- Cricket, New Zealand v England T20I in Christchurch
- Golf, The Bank of Utah Championship on the USPGA Tour and the Genesis Championship in Korea on the DP World Tour.
- Tennis, ATP Erste Bank Open and the Swiss Indoor Open
Free Tip
Prem Rugby Leicester v Bath 3.05pm Saturday
Leicester Tigers went to Northampton last week and lost 32-26, in a game where they lost the lead five times.
With a new head coach this season, the departure of several very experienced senior players and Australian marquee player fly-half James O’Connor settling in (he started on the bench at Northampton) some lack of accuracy and cohesion problems made the difference between a narrow loss and holding on for the win in the second half.
With only one win from their first three league games this season admittedly with two tough away games at Bristol and Northampton included, its been a slow start for the Tigers but I would expect them to be much better in the second half of the season.
Defending Grand Final champions Bath rugby meanwhile are very much the finished article and have won three out of three to start the season.
Finn Russell is now back after 10 weeks off following thr Lions tour, Ollie Lawrence is back from injury and new recruits Henry Arundell and Santi Carreras provide more firepower.
Up front Thomas Du Toit is back from playing for South Africa in the rugby Championship to play in the front row alongside Will Stuart and in the back-row Sam Underhill remains one of the best defensive players in the league at the breakdown.
Results so far show a prolific attacking unit, 47-31 against Harlequins, 28-16 against Sale Sharks and last week 38-17 at home to Gloucester. In those three wins Bath have made the most visits to the opposition 22 of any team this season.
For now, Bath are some distance ahead of Leicester, and whilst they are away here the -4.5-point quote is skinny given the differences in the teams.
15 points Bath to win -4.5 points at 10/11 generally.
Overton Window
Playing on an Ashes tour should be the defining moment of a cricketer's career. So, the news that Jamie Overton has rejected the chance to go to Australia this winter is big news and another sign of changing priorities for some players operating on the franchise circuit and in Test cricket. Overton cannot risk an injury (he’s had two stress fractures of his back in the last three years) that would jeopardise a lucrative franchise future.
Overton has in the last year played in the Hundred, IPL, Big Bash and ILT20 in the Middle East. Salaries can hit £200,000 in Australia's Big Bash, or the SA20, or £150,000 in the ILT20. For a cricketer such as Overton on the fringes of the test side having played in two games so far, with perhaps a few years at most of maximum earning potential left, favouring franchises is logical given a fast bowlers career is fragile.
Is this a sign that other, younger players might follow? We’ll see.
This news came at the end of an August dominated by The Hundred and with no Test cricket, the exciting five India test matches being shoe-horned into six weeks beforehand.
There is no prospect of this changing now August is given over to The Hundred apart from the county 50-over competition now mostly played as a development tournament.
Undoubtedly the Hundred has proven a terrific success for the Women’s game and is attracting a new audience (30% of the attendees are women, 40% families). Where there is unlikely to be a rapprochement is with the cricket hard-core following/county members who beyond disliking the Hundred format (and disliking change overall!) see disruptions to an established summer schedule to benefit something they do not attend or watch.
There are significant changes due for the Hundred in 2026 now that the strings are going to be pulled by the new part-owners including five IPL owners. A move to T20 is favoured by the new stakeholders, plus a new auction recruitment process to further promote the idea of parity. The Oval Invincibles have just won three Hundreds in a row, and five players have played every Oval game over all five Hundred years so far. It looks likely that the Invincibles side will now be broken up.
Quite what new fans of the Invincibles side are meant to think when they see, for example, Sam Curran turning out for a side based in Leeds or Cardiff next year is not clear yet. Perhaps they won’t care as traditional cricket fans would.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page has been updated on 1st June 2025. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be winning + £65,960 All bets have an ROI +2.55%
A £4000 bank betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,960, a 1649% increase.
The Road to Riches Weekend of 11th-12th October
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Newmarket, York and Wolverhampton. Over the jumps at Chepstow and Hexham.
- NFL, Week 6 including the Detroit Lions at the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.
- Football, World Cup Qualifying, Latvia v England on Tuesday
- Golf, The India Championship on the DP World Tour.
- Tennis, ATP Almaty, Nordic and European Opens.
Free Tip
Gallagher Premiership Rugby
Northampton v Leicester Tigers 3.05pm Saturday
The third weekend of the new season sees the Midlands derby between Northampton and Leicester, bitter rivals.
Northampton have begun the season with two high scoring games, firstly a 33-33 draw at home to Exeter. They were 33-7 up at half time! Then a 37-35 win at Gloucester. They were 31-0 up at half time in that one.
Leicester meanwhile lost 42-24 in Bristol on opening weekend before beating Harlequins 29-19 at home last weekend from 16-0 down.
In the putative league table this means 4th plays 5th here.
I was at the Harlequins game and the first half was really poor from the Tigers with a woeful lineout. Very predictable in attack and hammered at the breakdown.
In the second half they scored 29 unanswered points behind a dominant scrum and were clinical in the red zone.
It’s not surprising that Leicester will be a “work in progress” in the first part of the season. There’s a new Head coach in ex Leicester/England player and recent Australia forwards coach Geoff Parling and in the off-season there were departures/retirements fo important players like Pollard, Montoya, Youngs and Coles.
New fly half James O’Connor was called back to play in the Rugby Championship for Australia too. He's back in the UK now and might well play this weekend.
Leicester’s traditional strengths are in the forwards and the kicking game but the arrival over the past two years of wingers Ollie Hassell-Collins and Adam Radwan have given them speed and finishing potential out wide helping the team (which finished second to Bath last year) keep pace with a changing domestic game that sees more attacking (fitness and specialist attack coaches) and bonus points for 4+ tries in a game.
Northampton have been in the vanguard of that change as an exciting, attacking side. 70 points in the first two weeks of the season missing their Lions quartet of Tommy Freeman, Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell and Henry Pollock is a good start, and they are all available this weekend. but there is an Achilles heel in the defence as conceding 68 points to two presumed bottom-half of the table sides shows. "Of course, its a mental thing. Sometimes its hard to coach that" their director of rugby said about their early season defensive frailties in the second half.
The game is priced up Northampton 1/3 Leicester 12/5 outright and Northampton -7 on the handicap spread. I think the definite value is Leicester with the points on the assumption that Parling is on the way to tightening the defence and the Leicester attack can keep pace with Northampton.
12 points Leicester Tigers +7 at 20/21 Bet365 and 10/11 generally
Shelved
County chiefs voted to turn down a 13-game structure for the Championship from next summer after earlier plans to cut the schedule to 12 matches were shelved. The competition has been played over 14 rounds in a two-divisional structure since 2017.
There has been a county-led review into the whole domestic calendar following pressure from players and some administrators over the condensed schedules.
“We have 18 counties that agree that it’s not right, but 19 different versions of what the answer is” said the review chairman.
Any change required a vote with two-thirds (i.e. 12 out of 18 counties) in favour. Counties announced earlier this month they had agreed to cut the Vitality Blast schedule from 14 group matches to 12, with the knockouts and Finals Day following straight after, before the Hundred.
On the County Championship a number of options were mooted with a strong push to cut the schedule to 12 games. However, it became clear that, after resistance from their members, enough counties would oppose the proposals. Counties who told their members they would not support a reduction were: Middlesex, Surrey, Somerset, Kent, Essex, Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
That left a 12-game structure dead in the water, but counties then discussed a tweaked 13-game structure. Changes would have started next season with the aim of keeping the same structure in place until 2031.
Exactly how a 13-game structure would have operated is unclear, but it was highly likely to include a top flight of 12 teams split across two pools of six, above a lower tier “Championship 2”, consisting of six teams. The top 12 for 2026 would have been made up of the 10 Division One teams for this year, plus the two teams promoted from Division Two. The two pools would be seeded based on ranking from the previous season.
One option was thought to include a 12-match regular season then a “13th round” against teams in the equivalent position in the other pool to decide final standings. Another was a 10-match regular season (home and away against the other five in that team’s pool), plus a three-match series against a team in a similar position in the table to determine final placings and prize money.
Betting Emporium results
The detailed results page has been updated on 1st June 2025. They can be found by clicking RESULTS
If you bet £10 per point on every recommended bet since launch you would be winning + £65,960 All bets have an ROI +2.55%
A £4000 bank betting £10 a point on all selections would now be worth £69,960, a 1649% increase.
