Weekend Review: Bookies profit from England’s World Cup misery

England’s 32-12 Rugby World Cup final defeat to South Africa on Saturday saw the weekend begin in miserable fashion – unless you were a bookmaker of course.

England went into the clash as favourites, having defeated New Zealand in style in the semi-final, while the Springboks made it to the final with a turgid win over Wales.

But South Africa performed superbly when it mattered most and ended up deserved winners, scoring two tries to England’s zero.

“When a Ram goes backwards it is not retreating, it moves back to gather more strength” Nigerian proverb

Thank you for all the support, it has been amazing receiving all of the love and support over the past 7 weeks! Gutted to fall short today but we look to the future ✊?✊??? pic.twitter.com/gc94lfETNo

— Maro Itoje (@maroitoje) November 2, 2019

Ladbrokes’ Alex Apati said: “The RWC Final (taking off my patriotic hat) was a great result for us, given how well England were backed throughout.

“The 20-point difference between the two sides was equally helpful, as plenty had fancied a closer game, with the line being around six.”

It was similar at Kindred Group, where Ali Gill said: “In the rugby we came out well ahead, although one we probably would have been ok to take a loss on had favourites England done the business.

“Financially it was by far the best result as England were also well backed in the outright market, but as England fans it was a very disappointing day.”

Betdaq’s Mark Harkin revealed that one exchange punter staked £2,457 on South Africa to win the competition at 4.9 to take home nearly £10k.

William Hill’s Rupert Adams described the result as a “screamer for bookmakers” as the operator made a large six-figure win on the fixture.

The profits ebbed away over the course of the day however due to last minute winners for Premier League title contenders Man City and Liverpool over Southampton and Aston Villa respectively.

Ladbrokes’ Apati said: “As for City and Liverpool, they were priced short pre-match and I think the biggest price City were in-play was 11/8 – the biggest price Liverpool were was 33/1 before Mane scored.”

It was a bleak weekend for acca-backers though as Manchester United lost to Bournemouth in the early kick-off before Tottenham and Arsenal could only draw 1-1 with Everton and Wolves.

Unbelievable scenes. We never give up ? pic.twitter.com/nSJdbKsunW

— Trent Arnold (@trentaa98) November 2, 2019

Apati added: “United losing is always a good result for us – coupled with it being the early kick-off this weekend, and the draw in the Tottenham and Arsenal games and favourite-backers had a tough time of things.”

This was echoed by Kindred’s Gill, who said: “A good weekend in the Premier League which could have been a great one.

“Both Liverpool and City left it late to win their respective matches, both of which resulted in a huge swing for us.

“The losses for both as singles weren’t huge, with the close nature and ‘relatively’ limited number of goals meaning we largely escaped, but with 80 minutes to go the weekend numbers were looking significantly better.

“Although it helped a few accas along the way, Man Utd losing and Arsenal and Spurs drawing meant not much damage was done there either.”