The 2024 Rugby Championship: New Zealand Vs Australia Betting Tips
A disastrous 2024 Rugby Championship for both New Zealand and Australia comes to an end in Wellington this weekend, when the All Blacks will be hoping to avoid their first third-place finish in this annual event since it was the Tri-Nations series back in 2004.
With home advantage this time potentially favouring the All Blacks, rugby betting sites have widened the spread by a further five points despite New Zealand falling well short of covering it last weekend.
New Zealand Vs Australia Betting Tips: Cruise Control For All Blacks
Following their third loss of three or fewer points to the All Blacks in three years, the next challenge for the Wallabies is to string together consecutive competitive Bledisloe Cup performances.
Last year they got so close in Dunedin the week after a 31-point loss in Melbourne, whilst in 2022 a two-point defeat in Melbourne preceded a 26-point thrashing at Eden Park. In 2021 back-to-back games at Eden Park were lost by margins of eight and 35 points respectively.
Scrum-half Tate McDermott vowed during the week that the team are “done with the whole 'almost got there in the end'” part of their rivalry with New Zealand, and head coach Joe Schmidt does have a history of developing teams to go beyond their expected potential.
But there’s no denying that New Zealand cost themselves seven tries over the space of an hour last week, plus the two yellow cards, which was ultimately the difference between the final score and a very comfortable win for the All Blacks.
They rarely string together consecutive poor performances, so if they can fix their discipline and play some simpler and more humble rugby, they should be far too good on home soil.
New Zealand Vs Australia Prediction 1: New Zealand -18.5 Points - 1.73 With BetVictor
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New Zealand Vs Australia Predictions:
- New Zealand -18.5 Points - 1.73 With BetVictor
- First Half Highest Scoring Half - 2.0 With Bet365
- Andrew Kellaway To Score A Try - 3.4 With William Hill
When: Saturday 28 September, 5.05pm AEST (Aus), 7:05pm NZST (NZ)
Where: Sky Stadium, Wellington
Watch: Nine, 9Now, Stan (Aus), Sky Sport 1, Sky Sport Now (NZ)
Best Odds: New Zealand 1.08, Australia 8.00
New Zealand Vs Australia Betting Tips: First-Half Deluge On The Cards
The All Blacks’ major issue in this Rugby Championship has been a lack of penetration and impetus off the bench, resulting in a failure to outscore any opposition in the second half.
In fact, they’re without a single point beyond the 60-minute mark at this tournament, whilst their second halves at home to England earlier this year were also a struggle for both teams.
Subsequently, six of their eight games this season saw the majority of points scored after half-time, with the two exceptions coming against South Africa’s infamous ‘bomb squad’ that overpowered them on both occasions.
The Wallabies have also seen three-quarters of their eight games in 2024 produce higher scoring first halves, which goes against the general norm of international rugby union.
Therefore, there’s a great opportunity available to take Evens with Australian betting sites for this unusual trend to continue.
New Zealand Vs Australia Prediction 2: First Half Highest Scoring Half - 2.0 With Bet365
New Zealand Vs Australia Odds: Keep Kellaway On Side
Amidst the embarrassment of their highest ever total conceded in a game of rugby, Andrew Kellaway gave regular followers of our Rugby Championship best bets blog some joy by scoring immediately upon his shift to full-back.
For whatever reason, Kellaway has a much better strike rate away from home when it comes to scoring tries, with three of his last four try-scoring appearances for the Rebels or Wallabies taking place at opposition venues.
He has also recorded braces on two separate occasions in losses to the All Blacks, at Marvel Stadium and at Eden Park, wearing the 14 and 15 jerseys in those two matches.
Like his opposition, he too doesn’t often play poor matches in back-to-back rounds, so following a forgettable night in Sydney punctuated by six missed tackles, we’re backing him to bounce back in style at 3.4 with the best betting apps.
New Zealand Vs Australia Prediction 3: Andrew Kellaway To Score A Try - 3.4 With William Hill
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