Sale v Gloucester
Maxamatic said: Sale by 9
Guscott said: Sale by 6-9
Dom said: Sale by 7.
Result = Sale by 5

Wasps v Leeds
Maxamatic said: Wasps by 20
Guscott said: Wasps by 10
Dom said: Wasps by 15.
Result = Leeds by 6!!!! Blimey well done Leeds!

Leicester v Northampton
Game of the weekend. Similar to the Tiger’s match up last week against Irish. This week however the Tigers are at home, and they rarely lose at home. Big ask for Northampton. The loss of Hartley, Lawes, Geraghty and Foden will surely prove too much.
Maxamatic says: Leicester by 4
Guscott says: Leicester by 5-7

Dom says Leicester are used to having strength in depth at international time.
Leicester by 10.

Newcastle v Worcester
Newcastle shocked Bath last weekend and will be boosted by that result. Worcester slumped at home. Will be a typical mid-to-low table slugfest.
Maxamatic says: Newcastle by 6
Guscott says: Newcastle by 7-10

Dom says that Newcastle did well last week but I still fancy Worcester to claim a few scalps this season.
Draw.

One of the most disappointing aspects of England’s defeat to Scotland was the over reliance, correction, total reliance, on kicking as a game “plan”. Although Jonny Wilkinson has been roundly criticised (and I shall return to him in a minute), the one instance that for me encapsulated England’s hapless afternoon occurred quite near the end of the match. One minute from the end in fact. In our own 22, needing to score a converted try to win, Charlie Hodgson decided to kick the ball down field instead of trying something, anything else to get into a scoring position.

Whatever happened to TCUP (Thinking Clearly Under Pressure)? Whatever happened to “it takes 30 seconds to score”? These mantras were paradigms of the successful Woodward years.

It is not just England that kicked, it is that they kicked badly, terribly in fact. Dom has mentioned elsewhere how Jonny Wilkinson has lost distance on his kicking from hand. This problem is not confined to him. During the World Cup a lack of distance on kicks was a weakness that was ruthlessly exposed by South Africa in the infamous 36-0 pool drubbing. Kicking coach Jon Callard bemoaned the fact and seemed at a loss to explain it (a worrying admission really!). Quite what is going on I don’t know, I don’t have the technical knowledge, but maybe someone like the sacked Dave Alred does?

There is nothing wrong with kicking if it has a purpose and is well executed. If England had kicked to the corners to try and attack and drive lineouts, if they had hoisted garryowens to pressurise fullback Hugo Southwell, if they had kicked to exploit space behind the Scottish backs…

If they had chased a kick. To kick badly is one thing, to kick badly and not even chase it is criminal. England’s players seemed to be walking in quick sand all match. How England missed the almost suicidal chasing of Lewis Moody. Why did no one else take up his mantle?

Why also did someone in the dressing room not raise these issues at half time? Perhaps they did. Who knows, I was not there. Why did someone not put an arm around jonny and tell him politely that if he kicked another ball away like a drain then he would need to see a dentist after the match? Why did the World record points scorer not work it out for himself? The man with the once mighty boots might now see himself kicked into touch.

Previously, I had a quick look at the markets in search of the value bet and came to the conclusion that there was nothing compelling.

In the light of Cipriani, is it time to reevaluate the Scottish bet?

Tthe forecast for tomorrow at Murrayfield is for the wind to pick up before kickoff and the showers to start on the whistle.

Betfair are offering 9/2 on Scotland which I think I might take a small part of.

As interesting, is the outrageous 18.5/1 you can get on Italy. They’re highly unlikely to win – hence the generally high odds, right? – but 18.5/1 – come on. That should be layable if things stay close for the first 20 minutes.

Wales have also gone out in the market – strange given that Dempsey and Murphy have been ruled out.

My strategy – individual light ante-post bets on Scotland and Italy (so that they can be laid off) with a silly speculative waste-of-money multiple on Scotland, Italy & Wales at about 130/1.