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New Zealand v British Lions Betting Tips
It’s been a mixed bag for the British & Irish Lions on their tour of New Zealand so far. They’ve won three of their five games so far against club teams, much weaker than the All Black team they face in the first test on Saturday.
A silver lining may be that so far the Lions have won both of their Saturday games over there, but that doesn’t stop New Zealand being far and away favourites at 2/9.
If Warren Gatland’s men are to overcome the 1/3 odds SkyBet hold against them they need to hit the All Blacks hard and earn as much possession up the field of play as possible. Even in that case, they’ll have to beat Steve Hansen’s men for the first time on home soil since 2009.
They’re currently on a 43 game winning streak which has seen them comfortably beat almost every team bar a close tie against France in the 2011 World Cup and a 28-27 win over England in 2014.
Which makes this a tough ask and all the odds suggest a first test win for New Zealand could be by a considerable margin. A 6-10 point win over the Lions is thought to be the most likely at 5/1 with Ladbrokes, which makes sense as the most they’ve been beaten by on the tour stands at 11 by the Highlanders.
Of course, New Zealand have plenty more quality however and a points gap of 16-20 at 11/2 at 888sport is our top tip.
Any win for the Lions will likely be by a much smaller margin and while most are writing the team off, a 1-5 points win at 17/2 is the best chance of picking up a few winnings.
What might be the main problem for Gatland’s men is they’ve failed to develop a settled team and with the likes of Stuart Hogg, Billy Vunipola, and Ben Young missing it makes the task even harder.
Meanwhile, only 15 members of the squad were in the tour of Australia four years ago, which could mean a lack of experience will also play a part.
That has been evident in the tour so far. Sonny-Bill Williams did a demolition job of the Lions for the Blues, while their defeats against the club sides have proven that the New Zealand game simply has a higher standard of player.
Preparation will be key in this one but we can really see a whitewash in this series and at 4/6 so can most others too.
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One win in the series for the Lions offers much better odds if you think the forward line of George North, Anthony Watson, and Jonathan Joseph can overcome the Barrett brothers just once you’ll get 2-1 series win at 3/1. A Lions series win 4/1 is one for the brave and a whitewash, which we probably wouldn’t advise you put any money on at 25/1 is for the sort of punter that put money on Leicester City to win the Premier League.
We know what happened there, but this looks like it’ll be a predictable series with the Lions heading back home with their tails between their legs.
