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A couple of cracking games of rugby this morning with England doing a good job, though still giving away too many penalties for my liking and the All Blacks totally outclassing France.  At the moment it is looking highly likely that the draw will see the Northern Hemisphere sides in one half and the Southern Hemisphere sides occupying the other half once the tournament reaches the knockout stages in a fortnight.

As for my predictions, last week was distinctly average with only four correct resulting in a £4 loss and taking overall losses back up to £9.

This week my Rugby World Cup predictions focus on what should be tight competitive games.  Firstly, I am predicting Samoa to triumph over their South Pacific counterparts Fiji and secondly for Scotland to upset the odds by defeating Argentina in England's group.

The Barclays Premier League has been exciting in it's first month of the season with lots of goals being scored, particularly from the Manchester based players and no reason why that should not continue this weekend.  My predictions this week include both Red and Blue halves of Manchester as well as the the two North London teams.  At the Etihad Manchester City should have little problem beating Everton, but at Stoke the red half of Manchester will find a sterner test but again I expect them to triumph and keep up their 100% record for the start to the season.

Tottenham travel to Wigan on the back of two wins including a demolition of Liverpool last weekend and I believe they'll continue this run, whilst at the Emirates with confidence low my prediction is for a draw between Arsenal and Bolton.

England's cricket team have been fairly unstoppable in all forms of the game this summer and I'm predicting they'll win again tomorrow against the West Indies in the T20 International.

Meanwhile, over in Singapore Sebastian Vettel can secure his second consecutive World Championship this weekend, and whilst I'm not sure he will, I do think it won't be through lack of effort and I'll think he'll win one, if not the most gruelling race of the season with the other in-form driver Jenson Button on the podium.

Finally, I was surprised by Wigan's Superleague play-off defeat at home to St. Helens last weekend but I think they'll put that right this weekend with a win over the Catalan Dragons.

In summary, the predictions are as follows:

Rugby World Cup

Samoa to beat Fiji at 4/11
Scotland to beat Argentina at 16/11

Barclays Premier League Football

Manchester City to beat Everton at 7/15
Mancheter United to win at Stoke at 11/17
Tottenham to triumph at Wigan at 11/13
Arsenal to draw with Bolton at 4/1

T20 International Cricket

England to beat West Indies at 1/4

Singapore Grand Prix

Vettel to win at 10/11
Button to podium at 6/5

Engage Superleague Play-Offs

Wigan to beat Catalans at 2/9

RWC Comes to Life and More

The rugby world cup really came to life this morning with Ireland's epic win over the Australians and below I make some more RWC predictions as well as some from the sports of football, cricket, motorcycling and rugby league.

Last week was one of the most successful of the year with seven from ten correct predictions resulting in a £5.50 profit and reducing overall losses down to £5.  For me the stand out performance of the week had to be Novak Djokovic's triumph in the US Open tennis and there should be no doubt he is the sportsman of 2011 now with his record for the season.

Starting with rugby union most of the next few games in the world cup are between the sports big guns against the second tier nations but there are a couple of games that should be tight.  Wales should be too strong for Samoa tomorrow but it would not be the first time that the men in red lost to the Pacific Island nation in a world cup.  However, I am predicting a win for the Welsh in what will be a bruising encounter.  My second prediction for the week is for Tonga to get a win under their belt after two defeats by beating Japan.

The Manchester clubs in the Barclays Premier League have swept all before them in the first month of the season and if honest I don't see that changing again this weekend even though both are coming off the back of Champions League draws in the week.  My forecasts for this weekend's games are Aston Villa to defeat Newcastle and Bolton to do the same to Norwich.  Yet again a number of the league's big names are playing tomorrow with Spurs hosting Liverpoool in what I think will be a draw and league leaders Manchester United hosting Chelsea.  Normally this latter match is one of the games of the season and still could be this year but I think the Manchester derbies may actually have something more than local pride riding on them this season.  Like Fernando Torres I think the Chelsea team are looking old and therefore I'm predicting Alex Ferguson's latest team incarnation to triumph at Old Trafford, albeit more narrowly than when they defeated Arsenal a few weeks back.

Today sees the final of domestic cricket's CB40 competition between Somerset and Surrey, in this match I'm predicting a win for the men from the West Country.

Meanwhile the Moto GP season is moving slowly towards a conclusion and whilst I wouldn't bet against Casey Stoner taking his second championship for this weekend in Aragon I'm predicting his teammate Dani Pedrosa to take the win and compatriot Jorge Lorenzo to make the podium.

The final prediction this weekend is in the other form of rugby where the Superleague play-offs are well underway.  This weekend's big match sees Wigan host St. Helens and my forecast is for a home win in this match.

To summarise the predictions for this weekend are:

Rugby World Cup

Wales to beat Samoa at 2/5
Tonga to defeat Japan at 18/35

Barclays Premier League Football

Aston Villa to defeat Newcastle at Evens
Bolton to win against Norwich at Evens
Spurs and Liverpool to draw at 12/5
Manchester United to defeat Chelsea at 10/11

CB40 Cricket

Somerset to triumph over Surrey at 63/100

Moto GP from Aragon

Pedrosa to win at 2/1
Lorenzo to podium at 1/3

Engage Superleague Play-Offs

Wigan to beat St. Helens at 2/5

Rugby World Cup has Started!

Very quick today as off for first rugby match of season.  Last time out was a loss of £2 with a 50% forecast success!

This week includes football, rugby union tennis and Formula 1.

Premier League Football

Everton to draw with Aston Villa at 12/5
Sunderland to draw with Chelsea at 56/19
Spurs to win at Wolves at 31/18
Manchester United to win at Bolton at 4/9

US Open Tennis

Djokovic to win Men's Title at 7/5
Serena Williams to Women's at 49/100

Italian Grand Prix

Hamilton to win at 3/1
Vettel to podium at 2/5

Rugby World Cup

South Africa to beat Wales at 2/11
Canada to beat Tonga at 2/1

Saved by the Premier League!

A small profit of £1 last week due to the draws I predicted in the Premier League, which was a common feature of the league last week!  This resulted in overall losses on the blog reducing to £8.50.

Like last week there is a mixture of sports from around the world and a total of 12 predictions.  I'll start with cricket where I'm going for the new world number one team to complete a series whitewash against India.

The friendly rugby matches in advance of the world cup continue this weekend and my forecasts are for Wales to beat Argentina at the Millennium stadium, France to triumph against Ireland and Scotland to beat the Italians.

Cycling's last grand tour of the year the Vuelta  a Espana kicks off today with the team trial and I'm going for the soon to be defunct team of HTC-Highroad led my Cavendish to win this stage.  Novak Djokovic has been this year's leading tennis player if not across all sports having lost only once and I'm predicting this run to continue in Cincinnati.

In the Engage Superleague as they play-offs draw ever closer it looks like being a successful weekend for the away teams and as such I'm forecasting Warrington to win at the Catalans and Hull FC to triumph at the Crusaders.

The final set of predictions are in the Premier League where after many draws last weekend I see the same being true again this weekend as I predict Arsenal and Liverpool to end in stalemate at the Emirates, last weekend's two big winners Bolton and Manchester City to draw in the North West and Manchester United to be held by Tottenham in the latter team's first league game of the season.  Where I differ is in my forecast of Stoke to win at Norwich as the team from the Potteries have been quietly building a team that should be challenging for Europe again this season.

There may not be a blog for the next couple of weeks due to weddings and some holiday but watch this space anyway!

In summary this week's predictions are:

Test Cricket

England to beat India at the Oval at 15/8

Rugby Union

Wales to defeat Argentina at 2/7
France to win in Ireland at 5/3
Scotland to beat Italy at 1/3

Tour of Spain Stage 1

HTC Highroad to win team time trial at 5/4

Cincinnati Tennis

Djokovic to win tournament at 13/20

Engage Superleague

Warrington to win at the Catalans at 2/5
Hull FC to beat the Crusaders at 2/7

Barclays Premier League Football

Arsenal to draw with Liverpool at 9/4
Stoke to win at Norwich at 19/10
Bolton to draw with Manchester City at 13/5
Manchester United to draw with Tottenham at 3/1

Football's Back

As England's cricket team look to confirm themselves as the Number One team in Tests the domestic football season starts in earnest again today as the Premier League kicks off.  To me it almost feels that the season starts to early, lets not forget they have been playing in Scotland and European matches for a month or more now!

What of course this does do is provide plenty of options for me when it comes to making predictions so won't complain at that.  There were no predictions last week but from the previous week I had a 60% success rate leading to a profit of £1 for the week and taking losses down to £9.50.  This week with so much sport on around the world I will be making 12 predictions.

My first prediction this week is for the cricket where I expect the England bowlers to wrap up a win by the close of play today and become the World Number 1.

The final Golf major of the year will complete in Atlanta tomorrow and is highly likely to produce another first time major winner.  To win the USPGA Championship I'm predicting Aussie Adam Scott to continue hs form from last week and England's Lee Westwood to finish in the Top 3.

The final Tennis major of the year will start in New York in a couple of weeks but in the meantime the best male players have been in Montreal with only one of them looking to have retained their form from the early part of the season - Novak Djokovic who I'm predicting to win the Rogers Cup.

In less than a month the Rugby World Cup will kick-off in New Zealand and today sees more warm-up games for the Northern Hemisphere sides and I'm predicting England to beat Wales in Cardiff and France to defeat Ireland.

The other form of Rugby (League) has continued through the summer and today's Superleague prediction is for Bradford to beat Hull KR.

In Brno in the Czech Republic the Moto GP season continues and whilst it would be great to see a competitive Ducati bike and Valentino with a chance of challenging for a win, realistically this isn't going to happen so I'm predicting his former team-mate Lorenzo to win and Dani Pedrosa to make the podium.

Finally, on to the football and the Premier League kick-off this weekend.  Over the course of the season I can't see past Manchester United retaining their title but the race for Champions League places should be fascinating.  For this week though I'm predicting draws between Liverpool & Sunderland and Fulham & Aston Villa as well as a win for Manchester United at West Brom.

In summary the predictions are:

Test Cricket

England to defeat India in Edgbaston Test at 1/20

USPGA Golf

Scott to win at 9/1
Westwood to make Top 3 at 5/2

Montreal Master's Tennis

Djokovic to win at 2/5

Rugby Union Internationals

England to defeat Wales at 4/7
France to beat Ireland at 2/9

Engage Superleague

Bradford to defeat Hull KR at 5/8

Moto GP in Brno

Lorenzo to win at 3/1
Pedrosa to podium at 1/5

Premier League Football

Liverpool to draw with Sunderland at 10/3
Fulham to draw with Aston Villa at 5/2
Manchester United to win at West Brom at 4/7

Form is Temporary!!

After a rather long losing streak it was good to get back to winning ways last week with seven from ten correct predictions and two of the three Aussies I predicted to do well delivering!  This has reduced losses down to £10.50 and with only five predictions this week I'm hopeful to reduce this further next week!

The three sports subject to my predictions are Formula 1 from Hungary, Rugby League's Superleague and Test cricket.

In the Formula 1 I'm predicting Lewis Hamilton to carry his form from last week into another win in Hungary and for Sebastian Vettel to get back on the podium after his non-visit for the first time this season in Germany.

After England's enthralling win in the first test versus India last week, I'm predicting a repeat at Trentbridge mainly based on the fact that the Indians will have to bat last on the wicket.

The final set of predictions is in the Engage Superleague where Wigan carried on their winning streak last night and are looking favourites for the title again this season.  This week I'm predicting an away win for St. Helens at Castleford and home win for Wakefield who host the soon to be non-Super League side, the Crusaders.

In summary the predictions for the week are:

Hungarian Grand Prix

Hamilton to win at 2/1
Vettel to podium at 3/16

Test Cricket

England to beat India at Trentbridge at 2/9

Engage Superleague

St. Helens to win at Castleford at 2/9
Wakefield to defeat the Crusaders at 2/5

Aussies to the Forefront?

After another poor showing from my predictions last weekend I'm relying on some help from some Aussies and their wheels this weekend!  Last week's predictions were some of the worst ever since this blog started with only two correct, both from the sport of Rugby League, but having said that my highlight was the great performance from Darren Clarke in winning the Open at Sandwich and keeping up Northern Ireland's run of winning majors in the last year and a bit.

As highlighted above in order to get back on track I'm selecting three Aussies, two using two wheels and one on four wheels this weekend.  I'll start with the Tour de France which reaches it's climax in little over 24 hours time with the final time trial in Grenoble today and then the final stage finishing on Paris' Elyssian Fields tomorrow.

This year's tour has had everything so far and with the final two stages to go the podium is yet to be sorted, as are the Green and White Jerseys.  Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck have been in and around the top of the race since it started three weeks ago and it looks like one of them will triumph in Paris tomorrow but what would be a delight to see is if they can be joined on the podium by the French sensation Thomas Voeckler who has been a distinguished leader of the tour for much of the last two weeks.  My prediction though is for Evans to become the first Australian to win the Tour de France because of his superior time-trialling ability. 

Before I move on there is also a prediction for the final stage tomorrow which unless there is only a couple of seconds between the overall contenders will come down to the sprinters, and of course there is only one realistic prediction, the current leader of the points jersey, the winner in Paris for the last two years and the first rider in 99 Tours de France to have won at least four stages in four consecutive races - Manxman Mark Cavendish.  He may not be to everyone's taste - probably because he's a Brit who knows not just how to win, but how to do it continually and in the biggest events.  In cycling they don't come any bigger than Le Tour and Cavendish's name is already up there with the greats of this fantastic race, even though he will never win the overall event.  I will be shouting Go Cav at the screen tomorrow afternoon and hopefully so will every other Brit who loves their sport and British winners!

Back to the Aussies again now, as the GP circus moves to Germany where for a quarter of the drivers this year this will be their home GP, not least current World Champion, Sebastian Vettel who I am growing to like week by week for both his in and out of car persona.  However, whilst he would dearly like to win his home race for the first time, has finished in the top two of every race this year, in my twisted mind and logic I'm not adding him to my predictions but going for his Aussie teammate Mark Webber to win and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to make the podium.

Whilst on the Motorsport theme and Aussies the Moto GP season is at the mid-way point of the season and the last four races have produced four different winners with undoubtedly the greatest rider on the grid not in the mix on his uncompetitive Ducati.  Aussie Casey Stoner leads the Championship going to Laguna Seca in the US and it's amazing corkscrew turn come hill!  I'm prediction Stoner to win but on his "home" circuit, Ben Spies to make the podium.

Unbelievably, the football season kicks off in Scotland today - I checked the diary and it still is July for another week or more, and so whilst I may disagree with such an early start I will make a prediction and that is for current Premier League Champions, Rangers, under new manager Ally McCoist to win at home against Hearts.

At this time of year we expect the sound of leather on willow to be the main sound of sport in the UK and this week the first Test Match between England and India started at Lords.  After Kevin Pietersen's fine performance with the bat and with England having the chance to become the number one rated country in the world if they can win this series by two tests I'm going for an England win.

Final predictions this weekend are back to where I've had some successes recently and that is the sport of Rugby League which features the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup this weekend.  I'm backing Wigan to win at Warrington in what is undoubtedly the big game of the weekend and St. Helens to triumph over Hull KR.

In summary, come on the Aussies:

Tour de France

Evans to win Le Tour at 11/17
Cavendish to win final stage at 6/11

German GP

Webber to win at 6/1
Alonso to podium at 12/25

Moto GP at Laguna Seca

Stoner to win at 5/2
Speies to podium at 15/8

Scottish Football

Rangers to defeat Hearts at 4/9

Test Cricket

England to beat India at Lords at 39/10

Challenge Cup Rugby League

Wigan to win at Warrington at 25/19
St. Helens to defeat Hull KR at 1/5