Six Nations Preview: Top Try-Scorer
Yep, it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for. And after last year’s success in tipping Damien Penaud, hopefully, we can deliver for you again,
The Rugby Tipster keeps you up-to-date with the latest on each round of matches in the Gallagher Premiership. Our in-depth knowledge of form and team selection can guide your rugby betting selections and get you the best rugby odds.
BRISTOL BEARS
Friday May 20th
19:45
PREDICTION – CHIEFS BY 12
EXETER CHIEFS
Based purely on motivation, this has to be a Chiefs win. Come away without the spoils and the men can Devon can kiss goodbye to their play-off ambitions.
Chiefs have won on their last four visits to Ashton Gate, all by tight margins, but this time the gap should be double figures.
Bristol Bears: 15. Charles Piutau (62 apps), 14. Luke Morahan (96 apps), 13. Piers O’Conor (107 apps), 12. Alapati Leiua (102 apps), 11. Toby Fricker (27 apps), 10. Callum Sheedy (130 apps), 9. Harry Randall (83 apps); 1. Jake Woolmore (106 apps), 2. Harry Thacker (75 apps), 3. John Afoa (86 apps), 4. Dave Attwood (74 apps), 5. Joe Joyce (150 apps), 6. Chris Vui (91 apps), 7. Sam Jeffries (52 apps), 8. Steven Luatua (c) (97 apps).
Replacements: 16. Bryan Byrne (30 apps), 17. Jono Benz-Salomon (5 apps), 18. Jake Armstrong (31 apps), 19. Fitz Harding (31 apps), 20. Dan Thomas (108 apps), 21. Andy Uren (133 apps), 22. Ioan Lloyd (60 apps), 23. Jack Bates (20 apps).
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Josh Hodge, 10 Joe Simmonds, 9 Sam Maunder; 1 Alec Hepburn, 2 Jack Yeandle (capt), 3 Harry Williams, 4 Jonny Gray, 5 Sam Skinner, 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 8 Jacques Vermeulen
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 James Kenny, 18 Patrick Schickerling, 19 Dafydd Jenkins, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Tom Hendrickson
WASPS
Friday May 20th
19:45
PREDICTION – SALE BY 4
SALE SHARKS
Wasps are still licking their wounds from their narrow loss to Lyon in the Challenge Cup semi-finals, and the abrasions suffered as a result of playing on the plastic pitch.
Jimmy Gopperth will want to end on a high in his last home game, but Sale are a bit of a bogey side having won on their last three visits to Coventry.
For all the talk about Gopperth, his opposite number at inside centre, Manu Tuilagi, could be the more influential of the two in a Sale side that operates in fits and starts.
Against Wasps, we feel they will turn it on.
Wasps: 15. Ali Crossdale, 14. Francois Hougaard, 13. M. Fekitoa, 12. Jimmy Gopperth, 11. Josh Bassett, 10. Charlie Atkinson, 9. Dan Robson, 1. Tom West, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3. Biyi Alo, 4. Joe Launchbury (C), 5. Elliott Stooke, 6. Brad Shields, 7. Jack Willis, 8. Alfie Barbeary
Replacements: 16. Dan Frost, 17. Robin Hislop, 18. Elliot Millar-Mills, 19. James Gaskell, 20. Tom Willis, 21. Will Porter, 22. Rob Miller, 23. Paolo Odogwu
Sale Sharks: 15. Sam James, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Robert du Preez, 12. Manu Tuilagi 11. Arron Reed, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Faf de Klerk; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Jean-Luc du Preez, 5. Lood de Jager, 6. Jono Ross (C), 7. Tom Curry, 8. Daniel du Preez.
Replacements: 16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Simon McIntyre, 18. Coenie Oosthuizen, 19. Cobus Wiese, 20. Ben Curry, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 23. Simon Hammersley
BATH RUGBY
Saturday May 21st
15:00
PREDICTION – IRISH BY 6
LONDON IRISH
What effect Irish’s midweek extra-time loss to Worcester will have on Irish remains to be seen, physically and emotionally, but it’s still hard to fathom out why Bath are odds-on favourites.
The league’s bottom side will want to give players like Semesa Rokoduguni a winning send-off but they were abject in losing to Gloucester 64-0 in their last outing and it’s hard to see them plugging the yawning holes in defence that were painfully apparent at Kingsholm, especially against an Irish side that scores tries for fun.
Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Joe Cokanasiga, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Ben Spencer; 1 Valeriy Morozov, 2 Tom Doughty, 3 Will Stuart, 4 Mike Williams, 5 Charlie Ewels ©, 6 Miles Reid, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Taulupe Faletau
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Ma’afu Fia, 19 Ewan Richards, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Will Muir.
London Irish: 15 Tom Parton, 14 Kyle Rowe, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Nick Phipps (c), 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Agustin Creevy, 3 Ollie Hoskins, 4 George Nott, 5 Adam Coleman, 6 Ben Donnell, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Sean O’Brien.
Replacements: 16 Matt Cornish, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Juan Martin Gonzalez 22 Ben White, 23 Henry Arundell.
HARLEQUINS
Saturday May 21st
15:00
PREDICTION – QUINS BY 9
GLOUCESTER RUGBY
Harlequins: 15. Huw Jones, 14. Louis Lynagh, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Andre Esterhuizen, 11. Cadan Murley, 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Danny Care, 1. Simon Kerrod, 2. Jack Walker, 3. Will Collier, 4. Matt Symons, 5. Hugh Tizard, 6. Stephan Lewies (c), 7. Tom Lawday, 8. Alex Dombrandt
Replacements: 16. Jack Musk, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Wilco Louw, 19. Matas Jurevicius, 20. Will Evans, 21. Lewis Gjaltema, 22. Tommy Allan, 23. Nick David
Gloucester Rugby: 15. Santiago Carreras, 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 13. Chris Harris, 12. Giorgi Kveseladze, 11. Ollie Thorley, 10. Adam Hastings, 9. Charlie Chapman, 1. Val Rapava-Ruskin, 2. Santiago Socino, 3. Kirill Gotovtsev, 4. Freddie Clarke, 5. Matias Alemanno, 6. Ruan Ackermann, 7. Lewis Ludlow (c), 8. Ben Morgan
Replacements: 16. Jack Singleton, 17. Harry Elrington, 18. Fraser Balmain, 19. Andrew Davidson, 20. Jordy Reid, 21. Ben Meehan, 22. Billy Twelvetrees, 23. Tom Seabrook
NEWCASTLE FALCONS
Saturday May 21st
15:00
PREDICTION – TIGERS BY 14
LEICESTER TIGERS
Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Michael Young; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Philip van der Walt, 6 Gary Graham, 7 Josh Basham, 8 Callum Chick (captain).
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Freddie Lockwood, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Iwan Stephens.
Leicester: 15 Freddie Steward [52], 14 Chris Ashton [9], 13 Matías Moroni [32], 12 Guy Porter [41], 11 Nemani Nadolo [34], 10 George Ford [125], 9 Richard Wigglesworth [35]; 1 Ellis Genge (c) [107], 2 Nic Dolly [22], 3 Dan Cole [286], 4 Ollie Chessum [27], 5 Harry Wells [152], 6 George Martin [35], 7 Hanro Liebenberg (vc) [55], 8 Jasper Wiese [41]
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare [48], 17 Nephi Leatigaga [64], 18 Joe Heyes [98], 19 Cameron Henderson [19], 20 Tommy Reffell [74], 21 Jack van Poortvliet [45], 22 Freddie Burns [99], 23 Matt Scott [45]
SARACENS
Saturday May 21st
17:30
PREDICTION – SARRIES BY 14
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Según, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Aled Davies; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Vincent Koch, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 6 Theo McFarland, 7 Ben Earl, 8 Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Ralph Adams-Hale, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Alex Lewington
Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Mike Haywood, 3 Ehren Painter, 4 Alex Coles, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Aaron Hinkley, 8 Lewis Ludlam (c)
Replacements: 16 Sam Matavesi, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Brandon Nansen, 21 Tom James, 22 Rory Hutchinson, 23 Ollie Sleightholme
Yep, it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for. And after last year’s success in tipping Damien Penaud, hopefully, we can deliver for you again,
Antoine Dupont is 5/1 to match Brian O’Driscoll’s record of three player of the Championship awards having previously picked up the award in 2020 and