Betfair traders give us their tips on the best bets and trades on this year's Heineken Cup
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The Heineken Cup, the world's premier rugby competition, kicks off this weekend and it is easy to see why the layers have made France so short to scoop the trophy.
With the virtual absence of a salary cap over La Manche in comparison to the Premiership in England, the French teams look extremely strong and the layers on Betfair make the French around 9-10 to win the final in Cardiff in May.
Clermont have risen through the ranks very quickly to establish themselves as a European superpower and they finally got their hands on their first Bouclier du Brennus for winning the Top 14 Grand Final last season.
The investment that has poured into Toulon and Racing Metro has paid off handsomely, too, and the French league has a very crowded look to it at the top as a result of this.
The traditional superpowers of Toulouse and Perpignan are struggling to assert themselves, but both teams have fluked the Heineken Cup draw and have landed realtively easy Pools.
Toulouse are as short as 1.25 to account for Wasps, Glasgow and Newport in Pool 6, while Perpignan and Leicester, who trade at 18.0 and 8.5 respectively in the outright market, will have a straight fight to boss Pool 5.
With losses to Northampton and Wasps in the Premiership, Leicester have shown so far that they cannot go to some of the best teams in England and win, so what hope is there in some of Europe's finest rugby amphitheatres?
Northampton and Cardiff also appear to have a bun fight on their hands to rule Pool 1, which also includes Castres and Edinburgh. To my mind these are the two best teams in Europe this season, and although it is early days in this competition, I wouldn't put anyone off taking the 17.0 about the Saints becoming European champions for a second time, or even Cardiff bettering their final appearance in 1996.
Pool 4 has a tricky shape to it, with free-flowing Bath looking to have a bitter battle on their hands against Ulster and Biarritz, who both like to starve opposition teams of possession. Bath looked incredibly naive in the driving rain last weekend in the West Country derby against triumphant Gloucester. It was surprising to see a team that Sir Ian McGeechan has a hand in coaching compete with such a lack of nous, and that is the singularly most important factor in being competitive on the European stage.
Last year's finalists Biarritz edge Pool favouritism at 2.0, while Bath trade at 2.3 and Ulster at 6.0. None of those three seem to have rock solid credentials, and with Ulster unbeaten in the Magners League so far this season, and very difficult to overcome at Ravenhill, they look over-priced to take the Pool.
It is the same story with London Irish in Pool 3. One high street layer is going 10-1 that the Exiles can lord it over Munster , Ospreys and Toulon, which looks far too big. On Betfair Toby Booth's squad trade at a much more sober 7.0.
London Irish are back to their best after last season's injury-ravaged campaign, and the nucleus of this side proved their pedigree back in 2007-2008 when they pushed Toulouse all the way in the semi-final only to go down 21-15 at Twickenham.
The Heineken Cup is one of the best mediums for in-running punting, both in matches and in the outright market. For me, the best back-to-lay trade on the winner market is Racing Metro. The Parisians are trading at 50.0 in the outright market, which is mainly due to their Pool of Death that includes Clermont, Leinster and Saracens, all of which have displayed significant weaknesses this season.
Simon Mannix, Racing's Kiwi coach, has given his side real direction this season, and the results are coming in to back up his rugby philosophy. The team lead the French championship after nine rounds, and they secured a bonus point away at Toulouse last weekend. They have shown already that they can beat some of the best on the road, having accounted for Brive and Toulon away from home.
Crucially if things are going their way, they really go for the jugular as well, which bodes well as bonus point accumulation is the lifeblood to topping European Pools. They hammered La Rochelle 43-18 before thrashing Bourgoin 51-20, and look really in the swing of things. The price is simply too big.
