Of last year’s teams only one has retained their captain, IRB Player of the Year, Thierry Dusautoir of France. Of the managers only Andy Robinson, Declan Kidney and Warren Gatland have survived from last year.

While many will fancy the ultimate winner to be either the Frech, Irish or Welsh, one should not discount England. A combination of bad behaviour on and off the pitch has seen the old crew decimated in favour of a bunch of lads so thrilled to finally get the nod that the hope is they fear losing their shirt more than they fancy flinging some dwarfs about. This has given Stuart Lancaster the ideal opportunity to instill some much needed discipline into a team that was woefully lacking it under the stewardship of Martin Johnson. This hungry, young team may not crumble when faced with the might of the established French and Irish teams like their predecessors did. They start the tournament off with very winnable games against Scotland and Italy, which may give them the confidence needed to sustain a title assault.

The fixtures are below as are the odds for the tournament!

Sat 4th Feb 12 14:30 France v Italy Stade de France
Sat 4th Feb 12 17:00 Scotland v England Murrayfield
Sun 5th Feb 12 15:00 Ireland v Wales Aviva Stadium

Sat 11th Feb 12 16:00 Italy v England Stadio Olimpico
Sat 11th Feb 12 20:00 France v Ireland Stade de France
Sun 12th Feb 12 15:00 Wales v Scotland Millennium Stadium

Sat 25th Feb 12 13:30 Ireland v Italy Aviva Stadium
Sat 25th Feb 12 16:00 England v Wales Twickenham
Sun 26th Feb 12 15:00 Scotland v France Murrayfield

Sat 10th Mar 12 14:30 Wales v Italy Millennium Stadium
Sat 10th Mar 12 17:00 Ireland v Scotland Aviva Stadium
Sun 11th Mar 12 15:00 France v England Stade de France More

Sat 17th Mar 12 12:30 Italy v Scotland Stadio Olimpico
Sat 17th Mar 12 14:45 Wales v France Millennium Stadium
Sat 17th Mar 12 17:00 England v Ireland Twickenham

With Leinster having a home draw against Cardiff Blues, who they pasted 52-9 in the RaboDirect Pro 12, followed by a potential draw away to the winners of Saracens v Clermont Auvergne they are placed as the bookmaker’s favourites to win this year’s Heineken Cup and once more be crowned Champions of Europe.

Thanks to a fabulous performance in the group stages, winning six from six, Munster have landed the home draw in both the quarter finals and semi finals. To get to the semi final and face the winner of Edinburgh and Toulouse they must first overcome a much improved Ulster side. In December Ulster put in a fine performance to overcome Munster at Ravenhill, but Munster are formidable at home and are favourites to progress.

Toulouse face a tricky performance away to Edinburgh who managed to win five out of six games in the group stages. This was a group that contained Cardiff Blues, London Irish and Racing Metro and demonstrates that Toulouse won’t have everything their own way in Edinburgh.

The final quarter final match sees Saracens take on Clermont Auvergne at home. Saracens came through a difficult group containing Biarritz, Ospreys and Treviso, winning five games to secure a home draw. Clermont came out on top of a group with Ulster, Leicester and Aironi, having smashed the hapless Italians 82-0 away, scoring 12 tries in the process. Having scored the most tries and conceeded the joint least, Clermont are certainly the team to watch out for.

One thing is certain: the final in Twickenham on May 19th will be a cracker!

Quarter Finals

Sat 7th April 2012

15:00 Edinburgh v Toulouse
17:45 Leinster v Cardiff Blues

Sun 8th April 2012

13:45 Munster v Ulster
16:30 Saracens v Clermont Auvergne

Semi Finals

Sat 28th April 2012

Saracens/Clermont Auvergne v Leinster/Cardiff Blues

Sun 29th April 2012

Munster/Ulster v Edinburgh/Toulouse

Outright Winners

This weekend sees the next installment of rugby internationals between northern and southern hemisphere sides. The day’s action kicks off with New Zealand taking on Wales, followed by Australia against England and South Africa versus Italy. The final game on Saturday sees Argentina take on Scotland in what will prove to be a bruising encounter.

Paddypower have a book open for each of these games, where the southern teams are heavy favourites, that also includes some tasty handicap betting.

Time	Teams	Home	Draw	Away
08:35	New Zealand v Wales	1/20	45/1	9/1
11:00	Australia v England	1/6	25/1	7/2
14:00	South Africa v Italy	1/100	125/1	30/1
19:45	Argentina v Scotland	2/5	22/1	15/8

Click here for FREE RUGBY BETS

Tonight sees the Irish team, minus a few of their bigger names, take on the Barbarians at Thomond Park. In what promises to be anything but a friendly match, Coral Bookmakers have the Barbarians as heavy favourites. This could be due to Declan Kidney’s using the summer friendlies to test the entire squad in preparation for next year’s 6 Nations and World Cup, or simply because Irish Rugby hasn’t been as strong in 2010 as it was in 2009.

Match Odds

Ireland 5/4

Draw 18/1

Barbarians 8/13

Take advantage of Coral Bookmakers free £10 bet offer and place a bet today. Personally I think that the Irish might just have enough to take this one!

More Free Rugby Bets

Why not try your hand at the exciting world of spread betting? Currently there are great odds on who will finish in the bottom three of Super League XV with Bethilo. With spread betting the potential to win is great, as too is the potential to lose, so be careful.

A £5 bet on Catalans to come dead last will net you £55, not much when you consider that you stand to lose £195 if they manage to turn their season around. Conversely betting £5 on Hull KR to be in the bottom three at the end of the season could earn you up to £245.

While the Super League XV might still only be halfway finished, Wigan have thus far led the way with only two losses from their opening 14 games. Warrington and St. Helens are following hot on their heels, causing bookmakers to install all three among the favourites for this year’s Super League Grand Final winner. Leeds have also been installed as joint favourites, although this optimism is not reflected in their league form.

For some reason Salford City Reds seem to have been neglected, but we’ll keep you updated should that change.

Grand Final Champion Odds

Free rugby bets

Toulouse dumped out last year’s champions, Leinster, while Biarritz overcame a lack-lustre Munster side in San Sebastian. The bookies have Toulouse as clear favourites, and judging by the Top-14 standings it’s easy to see why. It would be remiss to overlook a strong Biarritz side, who at 12/5 look like a decent bet!

Outright Winner

Half Time Betting

Ladbrokes are offering a free £10 bet to anyone who opens an account and deposits £20. With a great in-play section that allows you to bet on rugby matches as they happen, opening an account with Ladbrokes is definitely worth it!

Paddypower are offering a free £20 bet when you open an account and deposit £10. With a great rugby union and rugby league section, you can’t go wrong with Paddypower!

Get a £10 free rugby bet with Coral when you open an account with Coral bookmakers. All you have to do to qualify is place £10 on your account. Coral are also currently offering 10% cashback on all sports and gaming bets.

So what are you waiting for? Open an account today!

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