One round to go, and the top six are set. But the last two spots are still up for grabs, and we have seven playing eight in a fixture to decide it.
North Harbour may just get their first and only win of the season when they play Southland, who have had 50+ scored on them for four weeks in a row.
We were 1 for 2 with our best last week but also got up the $11 value same game multi. The aim for this week, to nail the four-leg round multi.
Let’s get stuck in for the final round.
Otago defended the shield and locked it up for the summer with ease, beating North Harbour 41-26 last week.
Now they find themselves one point off the pack leaders and the chance to finish in the one seed with a win this weekend.
Auckland, on the other hand, were once again disappointing when they took on the Magpies. They’ve only won two games this year and have struggled to find any sort of consistency.
Since their wins over the Mako and Turbos, they’ve conceded 49 and 45 points and scored 28 in both those losses.
With the shield locked up and all the focus on finals footy and the chance of finishing top of the ladder if Canterbury do slip up again, I think Otago breeze passed Auckland.
There’s too much for Otago to play for them not to put out a complete performance.
The battle of the spoon, I had to have a play on this, and I’m actually quietly confident the Stags win away from home and serve up North Harbour a donut to finish the season.
0 wins, 10 losses.
Technically, North Harbour are the Wooden Spoons already, but if the Stags, who are in second-to-last beat them, then that just hammers it home.
Hear me out, the Stags have not been good since winning the shield back in Round 5. Since then, they’ve lost 54-14, 64-10, 75-19 and 55-38.
That 55-38 loss to the Mako, they showed some serious ticker to get back in a game that was already lost. That’s the type of fight you need, and the fight I want to see heading into a spoon game.
Back the Stags to win and end their season on a high.
This is set to be a cracking game to end the NPC Round Robin, first first-placed Canterbury taking on the third-placed Taranaki.
The Bulls have the best first-five-eighth in the comp. Josh Jacomb has been tearing it up this year and I’m picking him to keep the Bulls in this one.
This season has seen some huge scorelines, but historically, these two sides have gone under 54.5 points in four of their last five games.
We’re at the end of the regular season, this could be a finals preview, and it’s about time defences start sharpening up – back the unders.
When George Bell plays for Canterbury, he more often than not finds the try line. Last week was the only exception to that this season, but he only played 43 minutes.
- Taranaki +10.5
- Under 54.5 Total Points
- George Bell Anytime Try Scorer
When you get in the betcha app, be sure to take advantage of the Same Game Multi Cover tool, so if the multi misses by one leg, you’ll get your stake back as bonus cash up to $50.
- Southland to Win
- Otago 13+
- Hawke’s Bay -13.5
- Taranaki +10.5
When you get in the betcha app, be sure to take advantage of the Multi Rescue tool, so if the multi misses by one leg, you’ll get your stake back as bonus cash up to $50.