Bookie's handicaps and results.

I thought it might be good to just get away from the debates and disappointments of the weekend.

I have been looking at the handicap odds that the bookies predicted for the matches of the weekend.

This is what the bookies said and what the actual points differences were.

NZ vs Tonga, handicap NZ by 64, result NZ by 31
SCO vs ROM, handicap SCO by 32, result SCO by 10
FIJI vs NAM, handicap FIJI by 30, result FIJI by 24
FRA vs JAP, handicap FRA by 47, result FRA by 26
ENG vs ARG, handicap ENG by 12, result ENG by 4
AUS vs ITA, handicap AUS by 28, result AUS by 26
IRE vs USA, handicap IRE by 35, result IRE by 12
SA vs WAL, handicap SA by 14, result SA by 1

Even though they did get every match winner correct, their points difference total predicted was 262, and the actual points difference was 134.
Apart from the AUS vs ITA and FIJI vs NAM match the other matches were a lot more competitive than the bookies expected.

The fact is that these matches were all physically more taxing than expected, will the “minnow” teams be able to keep up that physicality for another 3 weeks?