Saturday, 7 December 2013

Heineken Cup 2013/14: Matchday 3 (Sunday 8th December 2013)

Munster (1/5) v Perpignan (13/2)

Munster haven’t exactly lit up Europe this season in the way that Ulster and Leinster have but they should feel confident about a win against a much changed Perpignan side from the one that was beaten 30-22 by Clermont  last week at Thomond Park and they should have enough strength to prevent an upset. A handicap of 12 points is passable should Rob Penney’s men put their best foot forward, although they’ve lacked cutting edge at times and a home win by 1-12 looks to be the best bet.


Advice: 1 pt Munster to win by 1-12 points (13/8 Stan James)

Edinbrugh (10/11) v Gloucester (6/5)

Winners over Munster on the first matchday, Edinburgh come into this in high spirits after cutting loose over Connacht last time out in the Pro 12 but face a far harder task against Gloucester, who send a full strength side to Scotland in search of just a second win in 7. However, they have lost to Leicester and Harlequins the last twice and given much improved performances over the last two weeks compared to some of their limper early season performances and if they can gain parity in the forward exchanged they have the talent, pace and skill in their backline to take a win.

Advice: 1 pt Gloucester to win by 1-12 points (2/1 Ladbrokes)


Leicester (2/7) v Montpellier (4)


The early season explosiveness that made Montpellier such attractive outsiders for this tournament has gone and they qualification hopes may be extinguished when they visit Welford Road in a must win game with Ulster beginning to open a gap in Pool 5. Montpellier do bring their strongest side possible – and it has serious talent at that – but have lost three of their last four and are hard to recommend on the road even with Leicester still very much under the injury pump. There’s a potential for Montpellier to get the edge over Leicester’s backline, which has been decimated by injury, and this game might be best left from a betting viewpoint.

Toulouse (1/66) v Connacht (50)


Toulouse should rack up a bonus point win against Connacht after snatching a win against Saracens at Wembley, but they have been rather laboured of late since that success and despite Connacht’s trashing at the hands of Edinbrugh in the Pro12 last week, they don’t make immediate appeal for heavy backing. When the 2 sides met 2 years ago Toulon won by 21 points despite making heavy weather of proceedings and a similar result looks to be on the cards with similar lineups, and a 21-30 and 21-25 point winning margin bets make the most appeal for those playing on this game.

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