How to Bet on the Champions Cup

Rugby is famously a sport which takes no prisoners and allows us to enjoy a fast and thrilling game where strength and skill combine to allow one team to emerge victoriously. At the top levels, players are equally matched, and it can be hard to predict who will come out as a winner! With so many talented athletes competing, you can guarantee a fast-paced, brutal match that takes us back to the primal love of sports.

Playing rugby can be a little scary, but that doesn’t mean you cannot still be included. Even spectators can take part in the biggest games by placing bets on the best players, predicting the final scores and outcomes, and trying to determine who will be the player to watch! The key element here is finding the right site with which to place your bets, to allow you to increase your chances of a win!

Rugby – What you need to know

Before you get started placing your rugby bets, it is a good idea to get clued up with a thorough understanding of some of the key elements of the sport, to allow you to fully enjoy the action! Here is a brief rundown of everything you need to know to get started.

History of Rugby

The game of rugby first appears in history during the Roman period, when it went by the name of ‘harpastum’, a Greek word meaning ‘seize.’ This name implies that the players would ‘seize’ or carry the ball as is common in the game we are all familiar with.

Rugby shows up again during the medieval period, which saw young men leaving work early to play in games of football, representing their town or village. A law passed in the Tudor period which banned the “devilish pastime” of football due to too many injuries and fatalities occurring, and these were depleting the workforce. In particular, many conflicts arose on Shrove Tuesday, and this would result in physical altercations between players which occasionally ended in death.

The 18th century saw the arrival of the modern sport first saw the light in the 18th century when a school relocated to the town of Rugby in Warwickshire. During a game of football, a gentleman named Willian Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it: this became the start of a brand new game, known by one and all as rugby. The popularity of the sport never diminished, and it is still played and loved by fans all over the world even today.

How To Play

Rugby can seem like a complicated game, but once you have your head around the rules, it is actually fun and accessible. The sport is ruled by ‘tries’ and these can be scored in three main ways. Firstly, if you get the ball into the opponent’s try zone and touch down, you will receive 5 points, as well as a chance to attempt a conversion kick, which could add another 2 points to the score. A penalty can be awarded if the other team breaks the rules or stops play, and a penalty kick will net you 3 points. A drop-goal attempt can also earn 3 points; this occurs when the ball is played back to a back-row player. This player will then attempt to place the ball between the uprights during ongoing play – this is worth 3 points.

The ball can only be thrown backward or sideways but can be kicked forward to another player, or even the same player. When attempting to score, the offense team band together to form a horizontal line, and will pass the ball between them until they expose a hole in the defense, which allows them to push forward. Passing the ball forward is forbidden, and doing so grants an automatic penalty to the other team, and dropping or bobbling the ball both count as forward passes.

If a player is behind you after you kick, they can touch the ball. If this is not the case, it is offside. In addition, you may not kick a ball to any teammate who is already further down the field than you, unless you run past them at some point.

Tackling is also a popular method to help stop the attack of an opponent and is the main source of defense. The goal when tackling is to bring the player to the ground as quickly as possible. Any tackles must be targeted below shoulder height, and players must make sure they wrap their hands around the player being tackled. You must also return to your feet after a tackle before trying to win the ball back. There is absolutely zero tolerance for picking up and dropping another player, and the rules around tacking are strictly monitored and enforced for the safety of all players involved in the match.

Each match lasts for 80 minutes, and the winning team is that which has the most points at the end.

The Ones To Watch

In every sport, there are players whose reputations precede them, and who come up time and again as top choices to bet on. Whether you are a seasoned and experienced punter on the circuit or looking to place a bet for the very first time, these are the names you should be looking out for when you are preparing to gamble and increase your chances of a serious win!

The top players do tend to vary, but these are the current names you should be keeping an eye out for if you are looking to boost your chances.

• Joe Cokanasiga
• Adam Hastings
• Tomos Williams
• Tadhg Beirne
• Demba Bamba
• Luca Sperandio

Betting Platforms for Rugby

Betting on rugby is always a great idea for both fans and those who are new to the game, and the sport is able to offer a wide variety of platforms to increase your chances of success, and to cast your bets on. Spreading your bets across platforms helps increase your chances of success, and widen your net to cover more players. The Champions Cup, in particular, is a very popular choice.

Betting Exchanges

With the rise of technology and the popularity of the internet, it was perhaps inevitable that betting would also evolve with the times. A betting exchange is a popular choice for online betting, and it differs from a traditional sportsbook by allowing punters to place and lay bets against other punters, rather than a sportsbook or traditional bookmaker. This results in higher prices and better odds.

Click here to review the best betting exchanges.

Rugby Sportsbooks

This is the typical, traditional and recognised the betting format. Sportsbooks are a company which accepts bets on anything from football matches to horse racing and is a popular choice for rugby. They are different from bookmakers; this is a single person who accepts bets.

Click here to review all the best sportsbooks.

Rugby Spread Betting

Another hugely popular choice, spread betting works by allowing punters to make multiple predictions on a single competition or tournament and allowing you to place bets on the final position of your preferred team or player.

Click here to understand spread betting more.

Rugby Sports Trading

A popular choice in rugby, sports trading allows the punters to place two bets against each other in order to guarantee a profit before the sporting event ends. Punters are able to lay at short odds, and back at higher odds, allowing them to make money before kick off has even started!

Click here to understand sports trading more.

Rugby Matched Betting

Matched betting is a hugely popular choice because it almost guarantees a win for the person placing the bet, no matter the outcome of the match or race. Punters bet on one outcome and lay a bet on the opposing side for a guaranteed profit.

Rugby Betting Markets

There is a range of types of bets available when it comes to rugby. These include bets such as:

Double Result

When the match outcome is split into two halves. There are nine potential outcomes: Win/Win, Win/Draw, Win/Loss, Draw/Win, Draw/Draw, Draw/Loss, Loss/Win, Loss/Draw, Loss/Loss. Both halves must be guessed correctly to win.

Head to Head

The simplest type of bet, this simply requires you to bet on who will win the match.

Winning Margin

One of the hardest things to judge in rugby is the winning margin. To win here, you need to guess the number of points which will separate the two teams at the final whistle. These tend to start from 1-5 points and go up to 46-50.

Line Betting

This is a popular tool used by bookmakers when one side looks set to win by a huge margin. The predicted stronger side is handicapped by the bookie by a certain number of points. You then wager on whether you think they will win by more than the specific margin.

Conclusion

Rugby is fast-paced, addictive and fun, and there is a lot to be said for the spectators too! Betting on the Champions Cup is a great opportunity in the world of bets, and has the potential to net you a major profit by planning your bets carefully and doing your research.