Wales v England
By The Man

17th October 18:15 GMT
Sky Sports 3 (18:00-20:30), Sky Sports HD3 (18:00-20:30)

Wales give the English a warm up run before the start of the Four Nations tournament but playing against each other in training would surely have provided stiffer opposition. The professionalism of Rugby Union has halted the steady flow of converts from the Valleys to Rugby league and whilst British rugby league in general has been affected, the Welsh have obviously felt this more so.

This Welsh side would lose every game in Super League, it is truly awful. We have players who can't make the Celtic side added to players from the lower leagues. The days of Davies, Deveraux, Gibbs and Bateman being added to proven stars being swayed with their bloodline like Cunningham, Harris and Briers are well gone.

This time last season there was a repeat fixture before England set off for World Cup duty and the outcome was 74-0. I expect a similar score line here. If anything the Welsh side looks worse.

The two sides line up as follows:

Wales (from): M Barron (Gateshead), A Bateman (Crusaders), A Blackwood (Crusaders), N Budworth (Crusaders), G Davies (Crusaders), R Divorty (Featherstone), G Dudson (Crusaders), B Flower (Crusaders), R Griffiths (Warrington), J James (Crusaders), E Kear (Crusaders), C Kopzcak (Bradford), L Mills (Crusaders), C Roets (Bridgend), I Watson (Leigh), I Webster (Central Comets), L White (Crusaders), L Williams (Crusaders), R Williams (Warrington).

England: P Sykes (Bradford); P Fox (Hull KR), S O'Loughlin (Wigan), M Shenton (Castleford), T Briscoe (Hull); S Tomkins (Wigan), R Myler (Salford); A Morley (Warrington, capt), S Moore (Huddersfield), G Carvell (Warrington), G Ellis (Wests Tigers), B Westwood (Warrington), S Burgess (Bradford).
Subs: L McCarthy-Scarsbrook (Harlequins), M Higham (Warrington), D Tickle (Hull), C Bridge (Warrington).
 
Yes, I don't recognise half the Welsh players either!
 
I've often heard many punters offering advice saying things like never back odds on, or never back below 1.1 on the exchanges. I love hearing things like that because it only proves how naive the punting opposition is. The facts are that every bet should be valued on merit. Ideally you should produce your own tissue and wager when you are convinced the price offers value. On this occasion 1.01 offers value. There is absolutely no way on earth that this Welsh side could turn over the English. Some fools were offering 1.03 on the exchanges earlier in the week. I snapped that up. Believe me when I say if you are offered any price on the English, take it. I don't normally recommend wagers on the exchanges because I realise the money could run dry at the price but my advice is to snap up any money that appears on the English back side.

As for the handicaps Hills and Sportingbet offer 54pts. It's very difficult to get these big handicaps right but my gut feeling was that the start should be in the 60s. I really can't see the Welsh scoring which should make life easier to cover. So that's the bet, albeit a small one, England to cover
 
Pick: England -54 handicap 2pts @ 1.91 v Wales with William Hill or Sportingbet