
Ireland travel to Italy as the 1/6 favourites, and should complete a massacre for the bookies. France and Wales weren’t exactly comfortable yesterday, but they obliged as the first 2 legs of the 4/9 treble.
Ladbrokes took at €20,000 bet on Wales for yesterday’s match and have been forced to cut Ireland into 1/9.
They were impressive in finally beating the French (30-21) and have never lost at the Stadio Flaminio - bad news for 7/1 Italy.
Declan Kidney will be fielding the same team, with Paddy Wallace at centre.
Mauro Bergamasco has a terrible game at Scrum Half at Twickenham, and will be playing in the 3rd line. Nick Mallet has reported the team to be working well this week, so I could be confident in backing Ireland with the -13.5 handicap.
The First Tryscorer market is difficult to get involved in, but Tommy Bowe is the 10/1 favourite with Skybet and should get involved. Alternatively you could back no tries at 33/1! The bookies are expecting plenty of points, but at 5/6 I’d be below the 42.5 line.
William Hill go 4/1 that the Irish get off to a great start, scoring a try as the first scoring play. An Italian penalty would be an exciting bet at 2/1 though.
For those readers who backed Ireland at 7/2 before the France match, I can’t see any reason to have a bet today. It’s a bit of a shame that we didn’t back Ireland at 11/1 for the Grand Slam, because it would’ve been a great trading bet ahead of the Wales match on the 21st March.
Compare odds on bookies.com before having a bet on the rugby:
Italy v Ireland Handicap Betting