Weekly Articles "Road to Riches" by Rich 'Tighty' Prew
The Road to Riches Weekend of 13th-14th September
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Bath, Chester, Doncaster, Lingfield and Musselburgh.
- Football, Premier League fixtures include Manchester City v Manchester United.
- Cricket, Vitality Blast T20 finals day and England’s T20 series against South Africa continues in Nottingham.
- Rugby Union, the Rugby Championship: Australia v Argentina and New Zealand v South Africa.
- Golf, The French Open on the DP World Tour
- Tennis, ATP China and Japan Opens.
Free Tip
Rugby championship Round 4
New Zealand v South Africa Wellington Saturday 8.05am
New Zealand beat South Africa 24-17 at Eden Park in round three of the Rugby Championship last weekend. South Africa weren’t too far off the All Blacks in the end, they were attacking under the posts at the end with a chance to draw but paid the price for inaccuracy and a comparatively poor kicking game. Their “bomb squad” of substitutes had got them back into the game from 17-3 down early on.
The result consolidates the All-Blacks’ position at the top of the Championship and they now have 10 points, while the Wallabies are one point adrift in second spot with the South Africa and Argentina level on five points apiece.
It was a vastly improved showing from Scott Robertson’s hosts as they showcased their defensive strength with a number of outstanding defensive stands. The Springboks will need to shore up their suspect lineout in Wellington this weekend for Round four. They had the edge at scrum time but the kicking game was imprecise.
All week coach Rassie Erasmus has rued the ‘stupid errors’ that cost his side, and alluded to the coaching staff making mistakes with their selections for the match and forecasting changes for Wellington. These then occurred with seven changes to the starting line-up including dropping Pollard from the match-day 23, returns for de Jager and Wiese in the pack and Reinach and Feinberg-Mngomezulu at 9-10 and the return to a 5-3 bench.
New Zealand have a couple of enforced changes too because of injury plus a couple of big calls too notablhy at scrum-half.
South Africa went off +3 last weekend and are +4.5 (6/4+ outright) for this game, where they should be improved it being clear where they needed work this week, and away from Eden Park. This time we get the 3-point penalty goal onside so I will try the handicap.
11 points South Africa +4.5 points at 10/11 generally
Changing the Hundred
After six months of negotiations after a live-auction process in January six of the eight Hundred franchise sales were completed prior to the 2025 Hundred.
Investors include four IPL franchises and another two winning bids involved Indian businessmen and some other very Bottom of Form
influential business figures amongst them the chief executives of Google and Microsoft in London Spirit and ex-NFL superstar quarterback Tom Brady at the Birmingham Phoenix.
£419m from the six completions has been transferred to the ECB (the £100m due from the sales of Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets remains outstanding as they have yet to be completed).
The Hundred is likely to look very different in 12 months, however, with the new investors eager to make changes. With such a big Indian presence in the new ownership groups there is a clear majority in favour of switching to Twenty20, the globally recognised short format.
The Hundred’s main broadcaster, Sky Sports, expressed reservations about moving to T20 when the idea was first floated two years ago and its contract runs until 2028, but the power of the new money may be enough to bring it around. The BBC would definitely prefer the shorter format as matches are easier to fit into their evening schedules, but the corporation is not contributing much to the £35m-a-year joint deal with Sky, so will have less influence.
The name of the competition is unlikely to change even if the 100-ball format is dropped, as the ECB has spent more than £100m marketing it in a bid to bring in a new younger audience, which has been largely successful.
While the ECB technically owns the competition, the eight franchises will have 16 of the 20 votes on the new Hundred board that will control its governance.
All of the £520m-plus windfall will be handed over to the 18 first-class counties in the hope of ensuring their financial health for a generation. The grassroots game will receive a £50m investment. Having been tied into ECB commercial contracts since the Hundred began in 2021, the franchises are now free to do their own deals and given the contacts and expertise of many of the new investors, income levels are set to soar.
The so-called “tech titans” who have bought into London Spirit, for example, are already understood to have secured a lucrative new kit deal with Nike that will begin next season, while Sun TV and Reliance Industries (who are buying Oval Invincibles and own Indian TV monolith JioStar) are already working on new overseas broadcast deals.
In the short term at least most of the extra revenue will be spent on increasing the salary cap to attract better players in the hope of establishing the Hundred as the second-biggest short-form tournament after the IPL. With the top salary bracket for men’s currently £200,000 there was a lack of big names in this year’s competition, with Australian stars such as Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell preferring to play in the more lucrative Major League Cricket in the United States. The aspiration is to treble pay within the next few years. Recruiting Indian players would be a genuine gamechanger, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India is likely to continue blocking them from overseas competitions.
The investors have secured a veto on expanding the competition to 10 teams, which has been mooted by the ECB, so while new teams in the North East and South West will not be added imminently the identities of some of the existing franchises will differ from next season.
New names including the Manchester Super Giants have already been agreed, while despite some objections from Surrey the Oval team are likely to be rebranded as MI London, named after the Mumbai Indians, whose owners Reliance Industries Limited bought a 49% stake in the team.
The optics of an injured Ben Stokes pulling out of the Oval Test after bowling himself into the ground in a five-match series with India being crammed into 44 days to keep August free for the Hundred were awkward for the ECB, which has already acknowledged this error. The schedule has been changed next year and England will play two Tests against Pakistan during the competition.
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 6th-7th September
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Ascot, Haydock, Kempton and Thirsk. Over the jumps at Stratford-on-Avon and on the all-weather at Wolverhampton.
- Football, World Cup Qualifiers including England at home to Andorra and away to Serbia.
- NFL, Week 1 of the new Season
- Cricket, England’s ODI series against South Africa continues in Southampton.
- Rugby Union, the Rugby Championship: Australia v Argentina and New Zealand v South Africa.
- Formula One, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
- Golf, The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on the DP World Tour and the Procore Championship in California on the USPGA.
- Tennis, ATP Hangzhou Open
2025 NFL Season
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“What to Expect” is live now, free to read here
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Free Tip
Rugby Championship Round Three
New Zealand v South Africa, Eden Park Auckland, Saturday 7.05am
This is looking like the most evenly fought Rugby Championship in years. In the first two rounds South Africa lost one of two home games to Australia, whilst in Round Two Argentina secured their first home victory against New Zealand. They’ve now beaten New Zealand home and away in the last three years, dramatic progress for a side who only entered the Championship just over a decade ago.
This is South Africa’s first appearance at Eden Park since 2013. Last year they came back from 17-27 in Johannesburg to register a four-point win 31-27. They completed the double in Cape Town over the All Blacks the next week. Their winning streak over New Zealand is now four in a row.
This is the most formidable home venue for New Zealand. The All Blacks have not lost at Eden Park since 1994. They've gone 50 matches without defeat in that time against 12 different opponents There have been two draws – South Africa in 1994 and the Lions in 2017.
To understand the magnitude of fortress Eden Park, consider that South Africa have won four World Cups since the All Blacks last lost there.
There was a common theme in the early stages of this Rugby Championship.
‘The All Blacks are playing like the Springboks, the Springboks are playing like the All Blacks’ ie New Zealand playing with forward power, the kick-chase and a territorial game, South Africa playing expansively.
South Africa were certainly ambitious and for 20 minutes produced some spellbinding rugby to go 22-0 up against the Wallabies in the first round. They then were too loose and were well beaten in the second half. In worse weather in Cape Town in round 2 with Pollard at fly-half and Etzebeth back in the forwards they reverted somewhat to type and won.
For New Zealand their approach came unstuck in Argentina in Round Two when poor discipline resulted in three yellow cards, they were beaten in the aerial game and Argentina kicked lots of penalties. Perhaps playing 30 minutes of the game down a man, we can make allowances for the All Blacks’ struggles in attack but unfortunately their backline failing to really fire has been a common theme over the past 12 months.
They also have an injury crisis at scrum half, with three players injured, the least severely injured is on the bench.
This should obviously be a very close game. New Zealand are -3.5 on the handicap spread but really with New Zealand mid-transformation to a more prosaic chance South Africa will never have a better chance to win at Eden Park. It’s potentially going to be wet on Saturday night, there is going to be a lot of kicking and in those circumstances there is no one better than Handre Pollard at controlling a game.
10 points South Africa to win at 6/4 Betfred, StarSports, 7/5 Bet365
Solvents.
Bath Rugby is facing mounting financial pressure, along with all the clubs in the Gallagher Premiership, as experts warn over the future of the sport. Despite their Premiership win in June which saw them win their first title for 29 years off the pitch there is less to celebrate.
Bath Rugby Limited turned over £20.8m for the financial year ending June 30, 2024. This was up on the £19.7m the year before, but it still made a loss of £3.6m, while its net debt stood at £17.2m.Each of the teams in the Gallagher Premiership was in the red for the financial year ended June 30, 2024.
Runners up Leicester Tigers. The club’s operating company Leicester Football Club Plc made a loss of £3.5m for the period despite turnover increasing to £21m from £19.4m the year before.
In the short term owners/benefactors are responsible for funding the clubs and their debts but the the prospect of the current overall loss-making trend being reversed looks slim. One estimate suggests that 60% of English clubs are technically insolvent at a time when broadcasting rights deals that have placed the domestic sport behind a paywall appear to have peaked and competition from countries like France, drawing top players out of the league with tax incentives, has proved challenging.
Potential approaches such as splitting broadcasting agreements or tapping into other formats, as cricket has done, might be approaches worth considering.
In addition the salary cap is still too high to aid a path to profitability. For the 2025-26 season, the Premiership has confirmed the salary cap is £6.4m, with a number of credits and exclusions, meaning that clubs can spend at least £7.8m plus an excluded player salary.
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 30th-31st August
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Goodwood, Newmarket, Redcar, Windsor and York and over the jumps at Cartmel.
- Football, the Premier League fixtures include Liverpool v Arsenal.
- Cricket, the Final of the 2025 Hundred.
- Formula One, the Dutch Grand Prix.
- Golf, The Irish Open on the DP World Tour.
- Tennis, the US Open continues
2025 NFL Season
We have added the NFL 2025: 17-week regular season. Just £99 & includes three ante-post reports going live from this week.
“What to Expect” is live now, free to read here
Ante-Post part one, Team Markets is live now here
Ante-Post part two, Player Markets out Monday midday.
Subscribe here
Free Tip
The Hundred Eliminator at The Oval Saturday 6pm
Trent Rockets v Northern Superchargers
Second and third in the league table meet in Saturday’s eliminator, the winner heads to Lords for The Hundred final on Sunday where they’ll meet the Oval Invincibles looking for their third title in a row and likely to have Australian leggie Adam Zampa in their line-up replacing Rashid Khan. Zampa has played for the Invincibles in 2023 and 2024 and played a key role last year with 19 wickets at 11.5 in nine matches. Khan is required at an Afghanistan series this month, a big loss that will no doubt have both of Saturday’s teams thinking they have a shot at toppling the Hundred’s best team over several years.
Good news for this game, and probably for both teams, is that it’s at the Oval. In a tournament beset by low scores and slow, tired pitches the Oval (and Headingley) have provided the best batting surfaces including teams chasing 180 down during the league stages.
The Northern Superchargers first (with Andrew Flintoff at the coaching helm), They’ve won 10 of 15 matches with Harry Brook as captain. They're the only team that Oval Invincibles haven't beaten in the last two seasons by the way. Interesting if they make it through this game. They’ve won 5 of the 8 matches this year. I think it’s fair to say the batting line-up is key here, and probably more powerful than the bowling line-up.
Zak Crawley (that renowned Northerner from Canterbury) has 280 runs in this season’s Hundred, third behind Jordan Cox and Jos Buttler, off 172 balls at a strike rate of 162. Alongside him Dawid Malan has 182 runs off 128 balls.
The real stardust of course is provided by Harry Brook with 221 runs off only 134 balls, batting four, and a strike rate of 164. With Dan Lawrence at 3 and David Miller at 5 this is a high-powered unit.
The bowling line-up sees Durham’s Matt Potts as top wicket-taker with 9 with New Zealand’s Jacob Duffy and England A’s Tom Lawes with 8. Mitch Santner’s loss through injury has been a blow, Samit Patel has come in as the slow-bowling all-rounder.
Turning to the Trent Rockets who won on Wednesday night to get to a league record of 6-2.
Leg spinning all-rounder Rehan Ahmed is a front-runner for player of the tournament in The Hundred. He’s scored runs batting at number three, taken wickets and been a huge part of the Trent Rockets success. That, along with his 5 hundreds in the Championship should give him a good chance of being on the Ashes trip this winter. Rehan took 3-15 and scored 37 off 23 in the last league game.
At the top of the order the dasher Tom Banton opens with Joe Root and both have scored 228 runs so far at identical strike rates. Ahmed has 189 runs and they are the only three batsman with over 100 runs as the team strategy packs the team with all-rounders beginning with Willey and Stoinis at 4 and 5.
I think its definitely the case that the Rockets have a deeper bowling line-up. Lockie Ferguson, Sam Cook and David Willey supported by Marcus Stoinis is a strong experienced unit and Rehan leads all of them with 10 wickets.
Outright odds for the game are the Rockets 4/5 Superchargers 1/1 and I’d agree that the Rockets should be modest favourites.
Interesting player prop prices are:
- Rehan 5/1 top Rockets batsman (behind Root 11/4 and Banton 3/1) In a competition where top scores can come at big prices down as low as 7-8 this is rare as the market is usually a three-way go. Willey and Stoinis come next at 6/1.
- Harry Brook is 100/30 joint favourite to be Superchargers top batsman alongside Crawley with Lawrence and Malan 4/1 or below. This though is a more competitive market than the one above.
10 points Rehan Ahmed top Trent Rockets batsman at 5/1 BetVictor, 9/2 with Bet365 and Ladbrokes/Coral
What now?
At Red Bull Racing Max Verstappen sealed his fourth consecutive world title last season but it is now in a period of change with the departure of Christian Horner their team principal for all of the 405 races they competed in until he was sacked.
Laurent Mekies has moved from the sister team Racing Bull and has now been thrown in at the deep end with the future of Max Verstappen top of his inbox.
At Racing Bulls he worked in tandem with Peter Bayer, who took on the role of chief executive while Mekies was team principal. Mekies will have to do both jobs at Red Bull, at least in the short term, a tough ask for someone with no experience in the chief executive side of the role. However, the real decision-maker is Oliver Mintzlaff, the Red Bull GmbH managing director, even though much of his background is in football. Perhaps the leadership roles will ultimately be split with a Chief Exec coming in from parent Red Bull.
Yuki Tsunoda, who is particularly struggling at Red Bull, performed well under Mekies for Racing Bulls. Perhaps instilling confidence in the Japanese driver is one quick fix the Frenchman can look at.
Is there a possibility that, for the greater good of Red Bull, they may need to hit rock bottom before they can rebuild? Verstappen stays for the 2026 season with new regulations instead of a move to Mercedes and he will be driving a car with an engine expected to have a deficit, from early wind tunnel results, to their biggest rivals, and doing so with a splintered leadership team.
When Verstappen is not winning, he is unhappy. Red Bull are 288 points adrift of McLaren in the constructors’ championship and Verstappen has 69 points to make up on Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ standings.
Were Verstappen to leave, the immediate future would be bleak. Red Bull may not just be mediocre but if the dismal form of Tsunoda is more typical of what the majority of the drivers can get out of their car rather than the exceptional talent of Verstappen they could be at the back of the grid.
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 23rd-24th August
Coming up this weekend
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Goodwood, Newmarket, Redcar, Windsor and York and over the jumps at Cartmel.
- Football, the Premier League fixtures include Manchester City v Tottenham and Newcastle United v Liverpool.
- Cricket, the 2025 Hundred continues.
- Rugby Union, the Rugby Championship: South Africa v Australia and Argentina v New Zealand.
- Golf, The European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre on the DP World Tour.
- Tennis, the US Open
2025 NFL Season
We have added the NFL 2025: 17 week regular season. Just £99 & includes the ante-post, part one of which will be published next Friday along with a "What to expect" report next Thursday.
Subscribe here
Free Tip
Rugby Championship Round 2 South Africa v Australia, Cape Town Saturday 4.10pm
It’s not often you get an 18-point favourite turned over in top level Rugby. At 22-5 to South Africa at half time having scored 22 points in the first twenty minutes in the Johannesburg game to open the Rugby Championship last weekend Australia were any price you like.
At half time I was called away to go to a barbeque (I mean, who arranges one of these things when there is sport on TV?) and was resigned to a losing bet. I checked the score an hour later and did a huge double take on seeing that Australia had scored 33 unanswered points from five tries in the second half to win 38-22 and win for the first time in Johannesburg since 1963. Crazy stuff.
In the first 25 minutes the Australian tight five forwards were in trouble playing at altitude but as the half wore on the back row began to win the break-down battle and scoring the first try before half time gave them a tiny foothold in the game.
South Africa then went away from their strengths in the second half and played very expansively but inaccurately and Australia were absolutely lethal on the counter-attack. Australia certainly have a tremendous backline in these circumstances, led by full-back Tom Wright whilst winger Max Jorgensen can finish from anywhere. Ikitau and Suaalii are gelling in the centres and after a wobbly start at fly half James O’Connor’s outrageous passing came off.
One factor that came into play was the South Africa have a new defense coach, installing a new system and the wide defenders were constantly left exposed and beaten one-on-one in the second half.
South Africa pride themselves on the basic metrics of the cornerstones of Test rugby – the breakdown, the aerial battle, defence and set-piece. To read that overall they achieved just 68% in the lineout, missed 26 tackles and lost the post-contact metre battle by some 70 metres (325m playing 395m from the Wallabies) was very unexpected.
Only two of the Australian tries came from less than 22 metres out, four were run in from the area between the 22 and halfway line, really unusual and a measure of how many times the hosts coughed the ball up and were in turnover.
Looking ahead to Cape Town this week. I expect South Africa to win. Certainly last week Australia were battle-hardened by three Lions tests and I’d expect South Africa to get back to basics, be more tuned up and leave the fancy stuff alone for large parts of the game. They have made 10 changes from last week notably Handre Pollard at 10 and a lock Franco Mostert at 7 which suggests a more physical approach with more of a kicking game, plus a 6-2 bench so the “bomb squad” is back. In the backs Inside centre De Allende and winger Kolbe are back too, both big boosts.
In addition Australia are injury-hit. Winger Dylan Pietsch broke his jaw and starting prop James Slipper has an Achilles injury. Captain Harry Wilson misses out too, important given how well the Australian back-row went but at least Rob Valetini is back.
For South Africa Captain Kolisi and Du Toit are out too, which is two of last week’s starting back row, but generally we’d regard the South African depth as a real strength.
South Africa were -18.5 points at kick-off last week and lost by 16. This week they go off -13.5 points. I’d love some Australia +14 an important number representing two converted tries, if you see that.
11 points Australia +13.5 points at 10/11 generally
Slow Horses.
Slow over-rates were a feature of England’s Test Series against India and an issue across all series in recent years
Only 72.3 overs were bowled on day two of the third Test at Lord's. 15 overs were lost from the match not because of rain or bad light but because of the slowness of play. A further 19 overs were lost over days three and four.
England were subsequently docked two points in the World Test Championship (WTC) and fined 10% of their match fee for a slow over-rate.They were deemed to be below the required rate despite mitigating circumstances.
The rules are as follows:
In a five-day Test, 90 overs are scheduled for each day.
To prevent teams tactically wasting time to ensure a draw, all of the overs must be bowled on the fifth day, barring interruptions for the weather. On the previous days, the overs must be fitted into the six hours of play, with an extra half hour made available at the end of the day. While time can be made up for overs lost to the weather, there is no such provision when the reason is simply slow play. If overs are not bowled in that time they are lost from the match.
There are some penalties already in place in the International Cricket Council's playing conditions but they have limited impact.
An umpire can, after an initial warning, award five penalty runs to an opposition if one team are deemed to be wasting time. This rule has never been enforced in Test cricket.
A stop clock was also introduced last month where a timer counts down from 60 seconds between overs. Again, five penalty runs can be awarded but, despite warnings during the first two Tests, neither captain was punished.
More common are fines against captains and, in the WTC league phase, points deductions.
At the end of a WTC match various caveats are taken into accounts, such as injuries and umpire reviews, and a calculation is made as to how far behind the required over-rate a team was.
The regulations state: "A team will have one point deducted from its points total for each penalty over it incurs."
England were docked 22 points during the 2023-25 cycle. Captain Ben Stokes has pointed out his team are at a disadvantage because pace bowlers, with their longer run-ups, bowl more overs in the UK than other countries where spin plays a greater part.
The number of overs bowled per hour has dropped steadily throughout the history of Test cricket, in part down to developments in the game such as umpire reviews, boundary checks, concussion protocol and TV advert breaks. Prior to World War Two the average over-rate was about 21 per hour. That dropped to 18 between 1945 and 1974, 14.3 from 1975 to 1999 and 14 since 2000.
A major factor in the recent series was the ball. Both teams have repeatedly asked for the ball to be changed because it has gone soft and out of shape. This has led to delays to allow umpires to check the shape and possibly replace the ball.
Joe Root has suggested teams should only be allowed three attempts to change the ball per innings to save some time. Others believe that fines will never work, nor docking WTC points and you have to impose penalty runs.
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 16th-17th August
Coming up this weekend:
- Horse Racing, On the flat at Doncaster, Goodwood, Hamilton, Lingfield, Newmarket and Thirsk.
- Football, the Premier League season starts on Friday night with Liverpool hosting AFC Bournemouth.
- Cricket, the 2025 Hundred competition continues.
- Rugby Union, the Rugby Championship: South Africa v Australia and Argentina v New Zealand.
- Golf, The Tour Championship on the USPGA Tour and the British Masters on the DP World Tour.
- Tennis, ATP Winston-Salem Open.
York Ebor Festival
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2025 NFL Season
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Free Tip
The Rugby Championship
Round One South Africa v Australia, Johnanesburg 4.10pm Saturday
Current Rugby Championship winners South Africa host Australia for the opening two rounds of the 2025 tournament in Johannesburg and Cape Town with the All Blacks heading to South America to face Argentina to open the competition. South Africa will then hit the road taking on the All Blacks in New Zealand while the Wallabies will return home to host Argentina.
The Springboks are currently the number one world ranked side. They have sealed back-to-back Rugby World Cups and followed up that success in 2023 with an impressive 2024, winning 11 of their 13 matches including five of their Rugby Championship six matches while the Wallabies will be determined to build on their final Lions Test win and redeem themselves from last year's Rugby Championship where they finished with just one victory.
This will be the last tournament before the beginning of the Nations Championship in July 2026 involving 16 teams worldwide which will see the Rugby Championship move to a biennial basis.
Outright odds for the 2025 edition are as follows:
New Zealand 5/6
South Africa 11/8
Australia 9/1
Argentina 25/1
New Zealand are favourites as they have two home games against South Africa in rounds 3 and 4, hence the tougher task for South Africa this year compared to last.
Australia were certainly under-cooked at the start of the Lions series and improved markedly in the second half of the series with the introduction of three forwards Skelton, Valetini and Tupou central to winning physical battles up front.
Unlike in the first test in Brisbane where they found fire only when 24-5 down, or the second test in Melbourne where they let the initiative slip when leading 23-5, in the Sydney third test the Wallabies showed a ruthless edge leading for all 80 minutes, albeit the terrible weather was a huge leveller in terms of any side being able to come back from an early deficit which the Lions had to do.
For this game Australia will be without the two first choice fly-halves with Tom Lynagh ruled out with a concussion and Noah Lolesio out for the season with a neck injury sustained in the Fiji Test in July. They also lose the preferred scrumhalf Jake Gordon to the hamstring twinges that cost him an appearance in the third Test.
That means the attack in South Africa will again fall to an unfamiliar combination. 35-year-old James O’Connor is in at fly-half for his first appearance since 2022 having rekindled his career with the Crusaders in New Zealand. Scrum half Nic White was due to retire post-Sydney but is needed for at least this game against the Springboks.
The key to South Africa’s success in the 2024 Rugby Championship were the two home victories over New Zealand 31-27 and 18-12. Last month at home they eased to two victories against Italy and one over Georgia and have been in training camp since.
Given their massive player depth and forward strength (all the big guns Nche, Marx, Etzebeth, Du Jager, Kolisi, Du Toit etc have been selected) and with the first game at altitude (although Australia have been in Johannesburg for a fortnight prior to the game) this is a huge step up for Australia compared to the Lions Tests. Bar Handre Pollard, the suspended Jasper Wiese and backs Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe who have been given another week to recover it’s a first choice South Africa side and the visitors will need to replicate their approach that proved successful in Sydney of quick line speed and dominant tackles merely to be competitive. Fall off this and the game might be quite one-sided.
Australia went off for the three Lions Tests at +12 +8 and +8 and covered all three times. The step up here is obvious and the market recognises this, Australia are +18.5 in Johannesburg and the spread has risen from the first published lines. That’s a huge spread for a South Africa side playing their first really competitive game for nine months though.
South Africa will win, but I like Australia to cover.
10 points Australia +18.5 points at 10/11 generally
Clubbed.
The ECB is exploring the viability of a revamped "World Club Championship" for T20 cricket, more than a decade on from the final edition of the defunct Champions League T20 (CLT20).
Several countries have launched new short-form leagues in the last five years, including England (The Hundred), South Africa (SA20), the UAE (ILT20) and the United States (MLC). Global club-based tournaments are also emerging in other sports: football's expanded 32-team Club World Cup recently was one, and rugby union will launch its own Club World Cup in 2028.
The ECB are interested in the idea of bringing a CLT20-style event back to life with a global tournament that could add context to the recent proliferation of franchise cricket seen as the next logical step in the sport's evolution.
The CLT20, which ran from 2009-14, was run by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa, and was discontinued after six seasons. Organisers cited a limited public following as the primary reason for its demise, and the tournament struggled commercially despite initially securing a lucrative broadcast deal.
The ECB was not actively involved in the governance of the CLT20 and English teams did not take part in the final two editions due to a clash with the final stages of the County Championship season. Finding a suitable window in cricket's packed global calendar is among the biggest challenges in relaunching a similar tournament.
A World Club Championship would also require significant buy-in from Indian franchises: eight of the 10 IPL owners and four of the five WPL owners have interests in short-form leagues outside India. England would likely be represented by the winners of the Hundred, rather than the T20 Blast, if the event were to go ahead.
Last year Guyana launched a 'Global Super League' which brings together teams from five different leagues. The second edition of the tournament took place last month featuring the champions of three global leagues, Australia’s Big Bash League, New Zealand's Super Smash and the UAE's ILT20 but remains invitation-only.
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.
