Rugby Betting

The high-scoring nature of rugby makes it great for betting. With so many markets to choose from, punters are spoiled for choice. In our article below we look at the different rugby bets offered, alongside the bonuses, betting strategy and other tips, to inform you about rugby betting essentials.

Placing an online rugby bet is as simple as going to the bookies all you need to do is:

• Choose your betting site
• Head to the sports section
• Find rugby
• Choose your match
• Place your bet

Punters should note that most sites will require you to have an account before you start betting online. Find out how to sign up and register here

Different Bets You can Place on Rugby Matches

While there are a huge number of different ways to place a bet on it, there are some specific betting choices that are more popular than others. We’re going to cover some of the popular ways to bet on rugby in order to give you an idea of how it takes place.

Results

The most obvious way that people bet on rugby is betting on the result of a single game. There are three different options that you can bet on when betting on the result of just one game. These are a home win, an away win or a tied game. Each option is quite obvious. The odds for each game will be impacted by the kind of form that each team is in, where they are ranked in the competition that they are playing in, and which team is at home. If you bet on the favourites in the game, you will get a smaller payout than if you bet on the underdogs. However, there’s obviously a much lower chance of an underdog bet being successful.

Accumulators

Another highly popular way of betting on rugby is to create an accumulator. An accumulator, or acca, is a collection of single games where you choose the result for each of them. For example, if you chose five different games, you would need to get all five of the games right in order to win your acca. Just one game being wrong would make your bet a losing one. While this is much more difficult to win, it does mean that the payout would be larger than if you placed five single bets on those games. The reason behind this is that the odds stack in an acca, so your winnings will be a lot higher. If you want to win money betting on rugby, then an acca will give you the chance to do it with bigger rewards.

Live Bets

Online bookmakers also give the chance to use in-play betting. This is when you place a bet on a game that has already started. You can then place bets on different markets that are impacted over the course of a game.

Most of the other bets that can be placed on rugby are tied into the different markets that are on offer. For example, some people might place a wager on who will score the first try. Others might bet on how many points will be scored over the course of the first half. Any stats that can be calculated accurately can be used to create markets within the game of rugby.

When is the rugby season?

UK

Punters wishing to place a bet on rugby should note that Rugby Union season takes place between September and May, while the Rugby League season runs from February to October.

International

The popular 6 Nations tournament between England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, and Italy usually kicks off in February and runs until April.

Rugby World Cup

Just like with football betting fans will see that the Rugby World Cup (RWC) takes place every four years in a different country. The next Rugby World Cup is due to take place in France in 2023

Tri Nations

Now known as the 4 Nations Rugby, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina take part in this southern hemisphere rugby tournament in Autumn each year.

Most Popular Rugby Teams to Bet on in the UK

Rugby is played up and down the UK as well as internationally, according to YouGov these are the most popular rugby teams to place a bet on:

1. England National Rugby Union Team
2. England National Rugby Union Sevens Team
3. England’s Women’s National Rugby Union Team
4. New Zealand National Rugby Union Team (Kiwis)
5. British & Irish Lions (The Lions Tour)
6. Wales National Rugby Union Team
7. Scotland National Rugby Union Team
8. Ireland National Rugby Union Team
9. Wales National Rugby Union Sevens Team
10. South Africa National Rugby Union Team (Springboks) 

Here are some factors to consider when choosing a Rugby Betting site in 2022.

Wide Coverage

When choosing your personal favourite Rugby betting site, one factor to consider is the sites global coverage to ensure that it caters to your betting style. Some sites go that extra mile, whereas others prefer to keep things more local and bespoke to their native customer base.

Biggest Rugby Tournaments to bet on

• Six Nations
• Gallagher Premiership
• Guinness PRO 14
• Heineken Champions Cup
• European Rugby Challenge Cup
• Mitre 10
• Super Rugby
• Currie Cup
• Rugby Championship
• Tyrrells Premier 15s
• Security

You have to be sure you’re choosing a safe and secure site. You should never compromise your safety and security when placing bets. You should, therefore, ensure you’re using a site with maximum protection.  The payment processing speed should be a factor here. Take a look at our payment methods page if you’re unfamiliar with processing times

Betting on Rugby is a matter of winning or losing. Losing on bets is a common occasion, but if you lose your money unfairly, then it means you’re dealing with an unreliable site. For instance, you might lose your money if the site shuts down unannounced. This might be a planned or deliberated act. Illicit operators have even been known to cheat their punters through rigged software or withhold players’ winnings without reason. Most people end up writing their money off or siting it as bad luck.  The worst scenario is having your personal details exposed – Any site that misuses or doesn’t protect clients’ information is a scam. Therefore, you must use a trustworthy and reputable gambling site.

Always make sure your chosen operator is regulated by some form of gambling authority. In the UK this is usually the UKGC. This information can usually be found in the footer of the operators website

Value

Once you’re comfortable with the range of betting options available, it’s time to work out which offers the best value.

Platform Functionality

A reliable betting site should allow you to place bets and check results while going about your every day business. You should not be limited to your desktop PC at home. A reliable bookie will always ensure the site is compatible with your smartphone and offer and attractive and easy to use platform.

Most rugby betting bonuses can be found at online bookmakers. This is because high street bookmakers don’t have the technology in place to give players effective bonuses. However, some high street bookmakers will offer acca boosts or price boosts on certain games. These are much rarer than at online bookmakers though. Online bookmakers can also offer similar rugby betting bonuses to players, with acca boosts being one of the most common available.

A rugby betting bonus that’s usually only available at online bookmakers is giving customers their stake back on a losing bet. For example, during a big tournament such as the World Cup, the bookmaker might say that any bets on England to win against New Zealand will get the stake returned if England don’t win.

Much rarer is the free bet. This is usually given to players who haven’t played at an online bookmaker for a while, or to new players as a welcome bonus. This bet allows a free bet to be placed, but unlike with a normal bet, only the winnings are returned, not the stake.

When it comes to the question of how to win when betting on rugby, this is not a simple question to answer, and like all betting, there isn’t a definitive answer that will work every single time. However, there are some strategies that you can carry out that will increase your chances of winning when you bet on rugby.

Understand how rugby betting works

The first step is quite evident when betting on any sport. You need to understand betting on rugby. If you don’t understand the different intricacies of how to bet on rugby, then you will never manage to have any long-term, sustained success. Make sure that you understand the game and how to bet on it and you will have a better chance of winning more often than you lose.

Research Rugby teams

The second step is where research comes into it. One of the best markets for rugby is picking a winner and choosing a points handicap. You can often increase the odds on a heavy favourite if you give them a points handicap. For example, for South Africa against Ireland, you will get better odds on South Africa to win by at least 10 points than you would on just South Africa to win.

In order to carry this out effectively, you need to know the average number of points that a team wins by. This will make it easier for you to judge how many points you should choose to handicap the favourite by. Once you have seen how many points they are likely to win by, you can see if the increase in odds makes the bet worth your while.

The odds on a game of rugby are impacted by two main factors. These factors have different degrees of impact depending on the market that is being bet on.

The first factor is how likely something is to happen. For example, if you’re placing a bet on the strongest team in a competition against the weakest team in the competition, then you are unlikely to get high odds when betting on the favourite. Of course, if you bet on the weaker side, the odds will be much larger and will therefore offer a much bigger payout due to the small chance that your bet will be successful.

Lenny’s Advice: An example of this would be odds of 2/9 on the stronger team winning. If you put a stake of £9 on this bet and it came in, you would get £11. This would be made up of the £9 stake being returned and £2 as winnings. However, if you used in-play betting, you could potentially get better odds. For example, if the weaker team went into an early lead, it makes it less likely that the stronger team would actually win. In this case, the odds might improve to 3/6. Here, if you placed a £6 bet on the stronger team mounting a comeback and winning, you would get £9 back – your £6 stake and £3 winnings.

Usually, the best odds for rugby are found at online bookmakers. There are a lot of different reasons for this. The most common is that the sheer amount of competition means that online bookmakers have to try to attract customers any way that they can. Offering better odds is usually the best way to do this.

• Accumulator: choosing a collection of single games and choosing the results for all of them. They all need to be correct in order to win.
• Full-time result: choosing the outcome of a game at the end of regular time.
• First try: picking the player that will score the first try of the game.
• Winner and handicap: choosing the winner of the game and adding a points handicap in order to increase the odds that are on offer.
• Points totals: choosing a range of how many points you think will be scored in total during the game.

Being able to cash out is something that’s only offered to customers of online bookmakers. This option gives players the ability to cash out a bet before the event has finished. If the bet looks like it is winning, then you will be able to cash it out before full time – however, you won’t get the full payment that you would have if you let it run to the end.

If the bet looks like it is losing, then sometimes you will still be offered the chance to cash out. You will be offered less than the value of your stake but still more than the nothing you would get if the bet lost.

This option is usually found in the live bet section of an online bookmaker’s website. You must be logged into your account to carry out this action.

Lots of different online bookmakers offer players the opportunity to live stream events. As long as the game isn’t being shown on television in the UK, the game will be available to stream through the online bookmaker’s website.

This means that players have a lot more choice in terms of games to watch than in the past – especially as rugby hasn’t traditionally been a widely broadcast sport in the same way that football is. By using the online bookmaker sites to live stream games, you can also keep a closer eye on any bets you have made, and then potentially you will be able to use the cash out system to your advantage much more effectively.

References

Yougov.co.uk

sixnationsrugby.com

Blackheathrugbyclub.co.uk