The Varsity Cup continues on Monday and we take a look at the four games from a betting angle.
Let’s start with a look at the Outright Betting where Maties remain favourites, after their narrow win over Ikeys last week, they are priced at 16/10 with Shimlas 28/10 after beating Tuks on the road. Tuks who were second favourites behind Maties have drifted to 3/1 third favourites, the Ikeys are 9/2 and you can get 10/1 and better the balance.
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NWU v Shimlas – Click here to bet
NWU got their season off to a strong start when they beat UJ 41-28 at home last week. The betting had opened NWU -4.5 so it was a comfortable victory for the home team on the handicap.
They face a Shimlas side that started 6.5 point underdogs away at Tuks but started the game quickly and held on for a 1 point victory.
Last season the Shimlas hosted NWU and lost the match 22-32. I can see another high scoring encounter here and I am going to take a stab that we get 57 points or more.
Suggested Bet: Total Points Over 56.5 at 17/20
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Wits v UJ – Click here to bet
Wits opened up their campaign with a thrilling 59-49 victory away at CUT last week. Incredibly there was a total of 108 points in the match so defence clearly wasn’t a focus of either side.
UJ had gone down 41-28 on the road to the NWU Eagles. Another game which delivered for overs points backers with 69 points in total.
UJ hosted Wits last season and won 29-24.
Based on last week’s result the total points line of 57.5 looks generous.
Suggested Bet: Over 57.5 points at 17/20.
UCT Ikeys v Tuks – Click here to bet
Ikeys came away from their first game away at Maties with a 2 point defeat in a low scoring encounter. They must have been scratching their heads though as to how they managed to lose the game. Still there was joy for Ikeys handicap punters as they started the match +7.5.
Tuks hosted Shimlas last week and were quickly behind as the visitors began quickly. They fought their way back into the game, but unfortunately couldn’t do enough to win going down 25-26.
Tuks hosted the Ikeys last season winning 38-30.
I agree with the bookmakers that there is not much between these sides and I am going to go with the defending Champions to get their title defence some momentum with a victory.
Suggested Bet: Tuks win at 8/11
Maties v CUT – Click here to bet
Maties made hard work of beating UCT 21-19 at home last week. The bookies certainly expect a much easier match for them at home to CUT.
CUT were priced at +6.5 at home to Wits and they only went down by 10 points, but the nature of the 49-59 loss suggests they have plenty of work to do on defence.
CUT hosted Maties last season with Maties running out 52-19 victors.
Maties managed to beat CUT by over 30 points on the road last season and I am expecting them to hammer their opponents in front of an enthusiastic Stellenbosch crowd.
Suggest Bet: Handicap, Maties -30.5 at 8/11
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
