Saders priced at 100/1 for home Leeds win!
Miracle needed?
By Chris O'Brien
August 22 2009
Betfair are offering incredible 100/1 odds on the Celtic Crusaders to claim a famous win over the Leeds Rhinos on Saturday. Having lost the backbone of their squad to deportations this week, John Dixon is going to turn to a host of Welsh younger players as the club play their first fixture at Rodney Parade in Newport.
On the betting exchanges on Betfair, punters can currently
back the Celtic Crusaders at an astonishing 100/1 for Saturday's Super League
encounter against the Leeds Rhinos.
Those are incredibly high odds for a one-off fixture and are
testimony to how the underdog label is taking on whole new proportions at Newport's Rodney Parade
this Saturday evening.
John Dixon will, of course, be missing some of his biggest
names this week following the visa saga. The UK Borders Agency ruled that captain
Jace van Dijk, top try-scorer Tony Duggan, Damien Quinn, Josh Hannay, Darren
Mapp and Mark Dalle-Court all had to leave the country by September 7
and were banned from returning for ten years.
Cru are also missing Luke Dyer, Lincoln Withers, Adam Peek,
Peter Lupton and Aled James through injury.
Cru are thus expected to hand debuts to a number of Welsh
youngsters - including Elliot Kear, Gil Dudson and Ashley Bateman. The fact
that the Saders' reserves have won only three games all season suggests these
lads could struggle; though the fact the second XIII did win at Leeds could be a good omen!
Brian McClennan's Rhinos will know that a hefty win will
send them back to the Super League summit; and they travel to South
Wales with a near full-strength squad. The widest winning margin
in Super League was when Leeds thumped the Huddersfield Giants 86-6 in 1999; and
it has been suggested that this accolade could be broken as the Headingly club
travel to Wales' third city.
In sport's history, there have been some huge upsets. Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson, Wimbledon won the 1988 F.A Cup final and the United States beat the highly-organised USSR on the 1980 Olympic "Miracle on Ice". Betfair traders, however, think that a Saders win would be bigger than any of those! At CruXIII Towers we're chucking £2 on the 100/1 shot!