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Aussie
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Centrebet Capers
RUGBY LEAGUE Great Britain produced an inspiring defensive effort to break a three year drought when they defeated a disappointing Kangaroos unit 24-12, at JB stadium, Wigan. The win booked a passage for the Lions into the final and eliminated the Kiwis from the competition. Punters were certain that the spell the Kangaroos had held over the Lions in recent years would continue. Our first wager was $30,000 on the visitors at the opening price of $1.57 while there was also good money conceding 4½ points start. Rumours of a virus sweeping the Lions camp only fuelled the local punters desire to back the green and gold, and although there was support for Great Britain from overseas, there was to be no doubt as to who we were supporting came kick off. An early try to Australian try scoring machine Luke Rooney produced an impending feeling of doom in the Centrebet camp, however two tries in three minutes from Great Britain gave them the ascendancy. A further try just before half-time from prop Stuart Fieldon opened an 18-6 half-time gap that was going to be tough to beat, however an early second half try to Australian prop Mark O'Meley made the difference 6 and gave the Kangaroos a real chance. The last half hour saw the supposedly virus ridden Lions defend their line with the courage of their namesake as the Australians threw everything at them. An intercept try from Keith Senior three minutes from full time put the game beyond doubt but not before 20,000 Great Britain fans had gone horse from their vocal support. The final round robin game this week between the Lions and New Zealand has the locals installed $1.38 favourites and conceding 8½ points start. As this is a dead rubber punters have not warmed too well to the game and with Ruben Wiki out of the New Zealand line up with a broken jaw, it is expected they will be hard to lay. GOLF Hank Kuehne and Jeff Sluman birdied four of the last five holes to beat tournament favourites, Justin Leonard and Steve Flesch, by two shots on the final day of the Franklin Templeton Shootout. Kuehne and Sluman now join Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron (2000,2001) as the only multiple winners of the Greg Norman sponsored event, after closing with an eleven under par 61 in the final round scramble. The pairing of John Daly and Rory Sabbatini were best backed, carrying one wager of $16,000 at $5.50, while others well supported were the pairing of Charles Howell and Lee Janzen at $10, and Leonard and Flesch at $5. The winning pair were defending champions and appeared good value at $8, however their whirlwind finish of last year, which they repeated again in the final round, was obviously forgotten by the punting public and they remained friendless in the betting. With the conclusion of the PGA and European tours, Centrebet offered their first event of the Asian/Australasian tours for the summer, with the Taiheiyo Masters in Japan. European and successful Ryder Cup members, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood (joint equal favourites at $7) and Graeme McDowell ($13), made the sojourn South. It was deemed that local heroes, Shingo Katayama and Toru Tanaguchi would prove tough nuts for the British invasion to crack, however Darren Clarke signaled his intention early, with an opening round six under par 66. Not the score Centrebet was hoping for, as all three had been backed to win in excess of $100,000. The situation had not improved by the completion of the second round after Clarke shot a seven under par 65, to shoot to a two shot lead over Katayama, and his price plummet into $1.65. The rest is history, and with two further sub par rounds, Clarke went on to record a resounding six shot victory over Westwood and improving local Nozomi Kawahara. A different continent but unfortunately the same result for Centrebet on a golf event. It’s a busy week for golf enthusiasts, with the World Cup of Golf in Spain, the Dunlop Phoenix Open in Japan, featuring Tiger Woods, The NSW Open locally, the ADT Championship for LPGA members and the UBS Cup, the seniors version of the Ryder Cup, in South Carolina. The World Cup of Golf has Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini returning to Seville to defend the title they won last year, and they have been installed at an attractive quote of $9 with the form pairing from Spain of Garcia and Jimenez favourites at $4. The big money has come for the English pairing of Donald and Casey, backed to win over $100,000 at $6, while Argentina, Cabrera and Romero, have been supported for similar amounts at $13. This will prove to be a great event, with the winning combination needing to be at the peak of their game. On the Japanese tour, Thomas Bjorn returns to Miyazaki to defend the Phoenix Open title he won last year. His opening quote of $19 may appear a little exorbitant, however with the return of a hungry Tiger Woods to Asia, there may appear value in other runners. Punters are not of that opinion however with the $3.25 on offer Woods being taken, carrying one wager alone of $30,000, along with a host of others from the rank and file. Stewart Cink is next in the betting at $15, then follows Katayama at $17, Bjorn at $19 and Australian Robert Allenby at $21. When you consider the success that Clarke and Westwood had last week, it could be expected that a foreign invader will get the cash in this event, however a more stoic showing from the locals is anticipated by Centrebet. RUGBY UNION There were three tests last week involving Tri Nations teams, however with the exception of the All Blacks who were expected to have a comfortable win over Italy, both Australia and South Africa fared poorly. Firstly, South Africa were disappointing against a fired up Ireland and looked like they didn't deserve to be the $1.57 favourites that bookmakers installed them. However the money said otherwise, and on the back of strong support, including one $15,000 from Great Britain, their opening price firmed into $1.55, while the Irish drifted to an attractive quote of $2.45. At those prices there was support for both teams and also at the 4½ handicap, however it was still a solid result for Centrebet. In the other key game, France opened $1.80 with the Wallabies $2 outsiders. Early money was for the Wallabies locally, even though they were a better quote of $2.10 overseas. However nearing kick off we were deluged with money for France at $1.80, including one $20,000 wager from a Great Britain client. The final score line of 27-14 to France was not the result we were hoping for and it negated the result on the Ireland-South Africa game. There are four more Internationals this week and with the exception of England-South Africa, the others should go the way of the favourites. France are $1.05 and must concede 20½ points to Argentina at home, Australia are $1.06 and must concede 19½ points to Scotland in Murryfield, while the All Blacks are $1.16 and conceding 14½ points to Wales who are $5.25. The big game should be the clash between World Cup titleholders England, and Tri Nations titleholders South Africa. England have been installed $1.70 favourites and are conceding 2½ points while the Springboks are $2.15. There has been a few nibbles for England at this stage but we expect this game to become a serious punting proposition on game day. My only comment is that England have been somewhat disappointing since last November without Jonny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson, who, are not playing in this game. Perhaps the Springboks will display a little Southern Hemisphere supremacy. BASKETBALL In NBL action last week we underestimated the Perth Wildcats and the punters cashed in. They travelled without Matt Burston to meet the two Sydney teams and returned west with two significant victories. Opening bets on Perth in their first game included $2500 at $5.15. Even after that win against Sydney we sent them out a 4 point underdog for the Sunday game with West Sydney and bets totalling $15,000 were quickly placed on them with that 4 point start. They again proved too good and currently sit atop the NBL ladder. Also impressive last week were Townsville, who may have created some sort of history, by recording a 125-102 victory against Hunter. The rarity was that it was the identical score that was recorded against Melbourne the previous week. NBA keeps rolling along with unprecedented interest in the league. Most impressive last week were the Spurs and the vastly improved Phoenix Suns, who dropped their first game when visiting Cleveland, but they appear to be a legitimate Championship contender. In the WNBL, watch for improvement from the Townsville Fire now that they have recruited Detroit Shock player, Chandi Jones. Her arrival will help overcome their disappointment of the non-arrival of pre season signing Jackie Stiles. Jones has the credentials to be one of the all-time great WNBL imports, and may even propel the Fire to the playoffs. CRICKET New Zealand seem certain to play Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle in the first test against Australia beginning in Brisbane today (Thursday), but while that can only help the chances of the Kiwi's, punters see it in a different light. When betting opened on this early last week, Australia were $1.62, but following heavy support they will go into the match as very warm $1.45 shots. Some of the bigger bets taken include $30,000 at $1.57, $25,000 at $1.55 and $25,000 at $1.50. There was originally a little support for the draw at $3 after the heavy rains that enveloped Brisbane last week, but with the weather clearing, the draw has been discounted, and is now out to $3.40, with a few Kiwi fans taking the $11 for an upset win. Matthew Hayden is the one punters want in the Aussie high bat, as well as to top the series aggregates. Hayden hasn't had the best of years, but back on home soil many think he will turn it on against the brittle Kiwi bowling attack. The $4.25 for Hayden to top the first innings has attracted 75% of the bets, with another $6000 worth of bets coming for him to win the series at $4.25. Shane Warne ($3.50) and Jason Gillespie ($4.50) have been the two best backed bowlers to win the series, with Ian Butler ($26) the only New Zealander to meet with any support, backed to win $10,000 at that quote. All the usual exotic bet types will be available throughout the test, so the match will still hold some excitement for punters even if it does become one sided like many are suggesting. One thing to remember though, the corresponding series a few years ago saw the three matches all end in draws! ENTERTAINMENT Even NSW Premier Bob Carr has got behind Casey Donavon in her quest to win Australian Idol, and this week we have seen a huge move come for the 16 year old to win the crown on Sunday night at the Sydney Opera House. It was hard to gauge anything from last Sunday's performances as both Casey and Anthony were very good, and while we have been saying that Casey faces an uphill battle due to the fact that she is a female, there are a couple of things in her favour. The first is that she comes from the largest State, and the second is that the demographic of the voters appears to be changing now that the media have started to really focus on the show. Last week we took two separate bets of $10,000 for Anthony, one at $1.22, the second at $1.20, but this week he has blown out to $1.40 after the barrage of support for Casey. The $4 for Casey didn't last long on Monday, and with close to 80% of the best this week coming for the youngster, her price has been slashed to $2.70. From what we are seeing, Casey Donavon is on track to join Reggie Bird as the only other female winner of an Australian 'reality' show. Money suggest Bec Cartwight might also join the same elite club after another breath taking performance on Dancing with the Stars. The 'Home and Away' starlet has been favourite for several weeks, and was into $1.80 prior to Tuesday night's show. We are also covering Miss World, which will be decided in China on Dec 4. The format has changed this year, with the famous judging panel out of a job as the organizers have opted for a World Idol style of voting. That makes it a legitimate raffle, but there are heats, and Miss USA won the first of those last week to make it through to the final 20. She is now into clear favourite at $8, with Miss Australia, Sarah Davies from Brisbane, well in commission at $12. For those that think we couldn't hold both the Miss World and Miss Universe crowns after Jennifer Hawkins won that award six months ago, think again! Way back in 1972, Australia won both beauty pageants in the same year, with Belinda Green winning Miss World, and Kerry Anne Wells winning Miss Universe. SOCCER Last week we thought that at least one of the "big 3" in the English Premier League might fall over as they all faced tricky away ties.. Well all 3 came through with flying colours. Manchester United beat Newcastle 3-1 at St James Park, much to the delight of one punter who had 200,000 NOK riding on them. Chelsea were never troubled by Fulham running out easy 4-1 victors, while Arsenal beat fierce North London rivals Tottenham 5-4 in the game of the season. The biggest punt on the Premier League though was $80,000 on Liverpool at $1.50 against Crystal Palace. We were rubbing our hands in anticipation as the game entered injury time, for it all to be ruined by a stoppage time penalty for Liverpool. Milan Baros calmly stepping up to complete his hattrick and give all 3 points to Liverpool. To complete a miserable weekend in the Premier League, West Brom failed to stop a well backed Middlesbrough from winning. What made this more painful for us was WBA striker Kanu producing the "miss of the decade" from 1 yard out in the last minute. This weekend the big 3 are expected to continue their winning ways. Arsenal welcome back former player Kanu (who owes us a favour) when they take on West Brom, Chelsea host Bolton and Man United entertain Charlton. But there is no doubt what the biggest game of the weekend is. In La Liga, Barcelona play Real Madrid at the Nou camp. Barcelona currently sit top of the table in Spain, despite their surprise loss at Betis last weekend, while Real Madrid are back in 2nd after winning their last 4 matches, with England striker Michael Owen scoring a goal in each of those games. Until next week, good punting. For further information contact Gerard Daffy at Centrebet on 08 89555800 or centrebet@centrebet.com.
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