England v New Zealand: Lancaster’s men can run the All Blacks close

The first and second pre-tournament favourites for next year’s World Cup go head-to-head at Twickenham with England once again looking to close the gap on New Zealand.

The All Blacks whitewashed England last summer but, apart from the third and final Test in Hamilton, the tourists, who are 9/4 for victory on home soil, put up a sterling fight against the world champions.

New Zealand are rightly the 2/7 favourties for victory but with a whole host of markets available at Ladbrokes, Oliver Yew takes a look at three alternative bets for the action in west London.

New Zealand to win by 1-12 points @ 13/8

While the All Blacks are the dominant force in their clashes with England – New Zealand have won 13 out of the last 14 Test matches against the Red Rose – in recent years the gap between the two teams has been breached.

New Zealand ran riot in Hamilton back in June but we are discounting that result at the end of a very long season for England’s players.

Before that England have got close to the All Blacks, including 2012’s famous 38-21 victory and with their winning margin no more than 12 points in 4 of the last six meetings between the two sides the 13/8 available on a win for the visitors by 1-12 points looks appealing.

Home team to score a drop goal @ 3/1

At certain points during England’s clash with the All Blacks the hosts will be on the back foot which makes taking points when they are on offer vital if you are to come close to toppling the best side in the world.

Stuart Lancaster’s men will want to keep the scoreboard ticking over to put the visitors under pressure and with game management a key strength of Owen Farrell, don’t be surprised to see him knock over a drop goal if the opportunity arises just as he did in the 2012 victory over the same opposition.

Semesa Rokoduguni to score at anytime @ 4/1

At Ladbrokes News we love a fairytale and we are backing the Bath winger, who is in the in-form winger in the Aviva Premiership, to make the dream start to his England career by crossing the white wash against the All Blacks.

While his rise to the international stage has been meteoric it’s not happened without some excellent performances for his club and we are backing Rokoduguni, who has scored 11 tries in 29 appearances for Bath, to transfer his domestic form to the highest level.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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