Welcome to the Rugby portal

From a betting perspective, the sport has taken off in recent years with a wide selection of betting markets now available, not only in Rugby Union but also in the Rugby League 13-man code, which has now branched out from its traditional winter north of England domain into summer super leagues.

Union's move from amateurism to professionalism in the last decade, along with live television exposure, has raised its profile to both the betting and sporting public. The recent Rugby Union World Cup is a perfect example and with England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland representing the home nations, betting interest was high with a reported £50milllion wagered domestically on the tournament.

A plethora of fixed odds markets and spreads, both on individual players, teams and matches, are available from all bookmakers, with the most popular choice being handicap betting.

Rugby Case Study

Handicap Betting

In rugby or football matches it is quite common for bookmakers to offer markets on both the outright result and also the result on a handicap basis, where one team is given a points or goals start. Ideally backers should stipulate which market... more

Latest Rugby Headlines

From BBC Sport

England Saxons find themselves in tale of the unexpected: England Saxons will contest the final of the Churchill Cup in Harrison, New Jersey, on Saturday but their opponents, unexpectedly, will be Canada.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463701/s/b28ba85/mf.gif' border='0'/> <a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199115040/u/0/f/463701/c/32313/s/187218565/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199115040/u/0/f/463701/c/32313/s/187218565/a2.img" border="0"/></a>
Martin Johnson wants more than just legal victories in Australia: At least England have Australia by the throat on one front — the legal one.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463701/s/b2821e9/mf.gif' border='0'/> <a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199221375/u/0/f/463701/c/32313/s/187179497/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199221375/u/0/f/463701/c/32313/s/187179497/a2.img" border="0"/></a>
Australia gets a taste of its own medicine: Humour is seldom far away in Australia, particularly when there’s a bunch of Poms around. So when the England squad had tucked themselves onto their Qantas flight from Perth to Sydney and were more than halfway cross the country, the co-pilot decided the time had arrived to tell the rest of the aircraft about “the large gentlemen in blue” and who they were.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/463701/s/b2821ea/mf.gif' border='0'/> <a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199221374/u/0/f/463701/c/32313/s/187179498/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199221374/u/0/f/463701/c/32313/s/187179498/a2.img" border="0"/></a>

Watch your bets

It is unusual for bookmakers to offer a market on who will score the first points in a rugby union game. The usual market is on the first try scorer. The onus is always on the backer to ensure that he is placing his bet on the correct market.