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

Will Lewis Hamilton really win Sports Personality of the Year?

Formula One world champion cut to 4/7 after triumph

Lewis Hamilton is now 4/7 with most bookmakers to win the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year after winning the Drivers Championship, while only William Hill offer the shortest odds at 8/15.

Whether Hamilton’s efforts will prove enough to defeat some of Team GB’s Olympic gold-medalists remains to be seen though - it will prove an advantage that his success has come towards the end of the year as it is fresher in people’s memories but Hamilton was the overwhelming favourite last year only to finish second.

And while Rebecca Adlington and Chris Hoy look likely to pose the biggest threat, Andy Murray can’t be written off because victory in next week’s Masters Cup would see his long odds (50/1 with 888sport, 99/1 with Betfair) plummet. Paddy Power are playing it safe by keeping Murray at 33/1 for the time being

Posted: November 4th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment