Six reasons why the Lions can win the series in South Africa

Ian McGeechan could lead the British and Irish Lions to glory

Despite some impressive results so far on their South African tour, the British and Irish Lions are still 3.95 on Betfair to win their series against the Springboks, which starts on Saturday. Here’s why we think it’s worth having a punt on them:

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1. The Lions won on their last tour of South Africa in 1997, triumphing in the first two tests to take the series with a game to spare.

2. Appointing Limerick-born Paul O’Connell as captain was a wise move. The last time the Lions’ travelled to South Africa with an Irish captain - Willie John McBride in 1974 - they whitewashed the Springboks.

3. Head coach Ian McGeechan has led the Lions on three previous tours with a lot of success. He was in charge in 1989 when they came from behind to beat Australia and took New Zealand to a decider in 1993, ten years after the Lions were thrashed 4-0 by them. His last tour was the South Africa won in 1997 when he masterminded victory over the reigning world champions.

Posted: June 16th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Spain are 1/12 to win on their Confederations Cup debut

New Zealand aren’t likely to end Spain’s long unbeaten run

Even though we’ve questioned the importance of the Confederations Cup, we’re grateful for any football that we can watch live on TV over these barren months. Here are some statistics on both matches taking place on Sunday:

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South Africa v Iraq
The opening match in this showcase of the world’s greatest footballing nations pits Iraq, who are below Wales in the world rankings and lost 4-0 to Oman earlier this year, against South Africa, who only qualified for the tournament as hosts, have never been past the group stage at the World Cup and failed to qualify for next year’s African Cup of Nations. South Africa have won six of the last seven games that they’ve hosted and home advantage should prove enough to overcome an Iraq side who will be marking the one-year anniversary of their last win on Sunday - 2-1 away to China.

Posted: June 12th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Spain are favourites to win the Confederations Cup

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Arguably the least prestigious tournament in international football gets going in South Africa this weekend and we still don’t really understand what’s at stake. All the continental champions and the World Cup holders are there but they aren’t fighting to be crowned the best team in the world. In fact, the only country who really stand to benefit are South Africa, who didn’t have to earn their place in the Con Cup and will gain experience of hosting an international tournament ahead of one that actually matters next summer.

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» The Con Cup participants are supposed to be eight of the best teams in the world but the bookmakers clearly don’t see it that way. There is a huge gap between the challengers and the also-rans in the winner’s market betting, with Spain, Brazil and Italy all 7/2 or less while the other five teams - South Africa, Egypt, USA, Iraq and New Zealand - are 20/1 or more.

» The chances of South Africa, Egypt, Iraq and New Zealand are dealt a further blow by the fact that no team from Africa, Asia or Oceania have ever won the tournament. USA won’t be too confident either because the only CONCACAF winners have been Mexico, when they hosted it a decade ago.

Posted: June 12th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

New Zealand look to hand England their third home defeat in fifteen days

chickendinner’s look at the last of the autumn internationals

Almost twelve months have passed since England’s rugby team were recognised as the best British sporting team of the year at the Sports Personality of the Year awards and since then it’s all gone downhill. First they flopped once more at the Six Nations, then they were comfortably beaten in New Zealand before the recent home defeats against Australia and South Africa, the latter of which was England’s heaviest ever loss at Twickenham. Have they got a chance against the All Blacks on Saturday? Probably not. chickendinner are undeterred by that though and have scoured around to find some stats that suggest England have some hope:

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» On the last three occasions that England have lost successive games they have bounced back to win the third.

» England’s last loss by a 36 point margin or greater came against South Africa in the World Cup, from which they recovered to win four on the spin and reach the final.

Posted: November 27th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

New Zealand chase twentieth straight win over Wales

The chickendinner preview of all this weekend’s televised rugby

While Sky’s “Super Sunday” this weekend is the rather humble combination of Tottenham/Blackburn and Sunderland/West Ham, there are some big rugby internationals taking place tomorrow where you won’t find many players crying off with injuries. Here’s our guide to all the televised games:

England v South Africa
This is the first time the two nations have clashed since last year’s World Cup final and England have lost their last five encounters with the Springboks. The good news is that England have won six of their last seven collisions at Twickenham, however South Africa have won all twelve of their matches in Europe since their last defeat there.

Ireland v Argentina
Since becoming the first new nation in twelve years to reach the World Cup semi-finals last year, Argentina have been on a downward spiral, losing four of their last five. The most embarrassing of those defeats was a home defeat in June to Italy although they have also been beaten by Scotland, South Africa and France. Ireland haven’t been in great form themselves, losing five of their last six but boast a 100% home record against Los Pumas.

Posted: November 21st, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment