What a clash for Friday Night Football we have, with the Rabbitohs taking on the Roosters. Not only is it the biggest rivalry in club football, but this matchup may also very well decide both team’s finals aspirations. It’s not quite ‘win and you’re in’ but it most definitely is ‘lose and go home’, so the stakes couldn’t be higher. I can’t wait.
Below, we will dissect the matchup and provide our best bet. Good luck to everyone following, and be sure to keep up to date with all of our NRL content, as we preview every single game all season long, for free!
NRL Round 27 Preview & Betting Tips
South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Sydney Roosters
Accor Stadium, Friday 1st September, 8:00pm (AEST)
Last Week
The Rabbitohs are off the bye, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Bunnies, having lost 4 of their past 10 matches, to be just clinging to a spot inside the top 8. In their last matchup in round 25, the Rabbitohs lost to the Knights on the road, 29-10. The fact they lost to a rampaging Knights outfit wasn’t the huge concern, it was the way they played. They have been lacking discipline for weeks, and nothing highlighted that more than Latrell Mitchell’s brain snap in the final minute, when he elbowed Tyson Frizell to the head.
As for the Roosters, they continued their red-hot form, winning their 4th straight as they defeated the Tigers 32-8. After being down 8-6 after half an hour, the chooks ran in 4 unanswered tries to win comfortably, giving themselves a shot at an unlikely finals’ berth. Their biggest test lies ahead though, as they take on a Bunnies team that has beat them 4 times in a row at Accor Stadium.
Match Preview
The Roosters opened the shortest of favourites when the numbers eventually dropped for round 27, starting as 0.5-point favourites, in what was essentially a pick em’. Since the confirmation of Roosters’ prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves being suspended, the market sentiment has been squarely towards the Rabbitohs, who now sit as 2.5-point favourites. Remarkably, this is close to exactly the same way the market reacted in round 3, when the Roosters opened 1.5-point favourites, with the Rabbitohs closing 2.5-point favourites. I make this pretty close to a pick em’, and given the Roosters superior recent form, I give them a slight edge with the start.
As for the total, it currently sits at 44.5. I like the under here, with both teams’ desperate for the win, there should be some quality defence. Both teams have also played more unders than overs this season, with the Roosters (60.9%) and Rabbitohs (56.5%) percentage of unders through the season. I actually make a fair total for this matchup 40.5, so see decent value in the under here. The pairs’ round 3 game total closed 40.5, with the Roosters 20-18 victory chalking up another under for both teams.
So, a couple of plays here, with the under being my favourite of the two.
Sydney Roosters +3.5 $1.95 (1 Unit) TAB
Under 44.5 total points
$1.87 (2 Units)
