The Australian and English domestic leagues have finished and now it is the time for international rugby league to take centre stage for the next month or so as the Four Nations takes place across some famous venues in England.
This tournament acts as a warm up for next year’s World Cup but it becoming a hugely competitive event in its own right. Everyone in England will be hoping they can finally end a long wait for an international title.
Recent Winners
2014 – New Zealand
2011 – Australia
2010 – New Zealand
2009 – Australia
The Format
As the title suggests there are four nations involved in the tournament. Hosts England are joined by powerhouses Australia and New Zealand with Scotland being the invited fourth side this year. The teams meet each other once in a round robin table with the top two sides after everyone has played each other meeting in the final at Anfield.
Australia
Australia head into the tournament as the favourites to win the title back. They arrive in England with a star studded squad including household names such as Johnathan Thurston, Greg Inglis, Darius Boyd, Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk. That is a spine which has been in place for a while now and the exciting talent around them makes this Green and Gold unit a very efficient one.
New Zealand
The defending champions will be eager to make a successful defence of the title. They might have an extra point to prove having lost a Test series in England last year but they were without the likes of Shaun Johnson and Thomas Leuluai 12 months ago so they are automatically stronger for this tournament. They were well beaten by Australia in a warm up match recently though.
England
Hopes are high for England in this tournament. They have recruited the experienced and wily Wayne Bennett as head coach and a good mix of Super League and NRL talent has been selected for the event. Sam Burgess leads the squad and he is the real superstar in it but the likes of Dan Sarginson, Gareth Widdop, Josh Hodgson and the rest of the Burgess brothers are ready to make major breakthroughs.
Scotland
Although they showed at the World Cup last year that they can compete, Scotland are pretty much making up the numbers with the best that they can hope for realistically being to make one of the more established sides nervous. For them this is about preparing a squad for the World Cup and blooding some new talent.
Betting
As much as I’d like England to be competitive in this competition I’m not convinced they will be good enough to make the final. Clearly their opening match against New Zealand will tell us everything but having looked laboured against France last week it will need something big for them to overcome the Kiwis.
I don’t see past Australia being in the final it is just a case of who they play. There isn’t any value in Australia winning the tournament pre-event. Assuming I’m right and they do cruise into the final their pre-tournament price isn’t much bigger than they’ll be on the day so I’m going to look elsewhere.
There is a case to be made for New Zealand. If they can beat England in Huddersfield they are pretty much in the final and with Scotland being their last match they may well have the luxury of resting star players or those with niggles and be fresher in the final. Off the back of a long, hard season for everyone that benefit might make a difference. At 3/1 they’re the value to win the competition.
Tips
Back New Zealand to win Four Nations for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Skybet
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