Wasps vs Exeter Chiefs: Ricoh Arena, 3pm – Live on BT Sport
Referee: Tom Foley (82nd Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales & Greg Macdonald. TMO: Trevor Fisher.
Citing Officer: Shaun Gallagher
For Exeter, Sunday’s game doesn’t mean much. The club’s director of rugby Rob Baxter summed it up when he claimed the Chiefs, semi-final spot already secured, have ‘earned the opportunity’ to field a weakened team against Wasps.
Their Coventry-based hosts, meanwhile, are battling it out with Bath, Sale Sharks and Bristol Bears for one of the 3 remaining places in the final 4, with only 2 points separating Wasps in 2nd and Bristol in 5th.
So, what impact has Exeter’s decision to effectively rest their first team had on the spreads for Sunday’s fixture? Well, SpreadEX is offering a Point Supremacy spread of Wasp/Exeter Points Supremacy spread of 18-21, a huge swing from the Exeter/Wasps Points Supremacy spread of 16-19 when they met in November.
Talking of their last meeting, if you’d bought that Points Supremacy spread at that price, Exeter’s 38-3 trouncing of Wasps would’ve won you 16 times your initial stake ((38 – 3) – 19 = 16).
In fact, Exeter have won 3 of their last 5 Premiership encounters with Wasps, with last November’s fixture seeing the biggest margin of victory.
From a spread betting perspective, however, their 31-42 win back in September 2018 was the most notable. If you had bought a Total Points spread of 46-49, a total of 73 meant you won 24 times your initial stake ((31 + 42) – 49 = 24).
It was a game that also saw 10 tries total. Buy a Total Tries spread of 5.6-6, and you came away with 4 times your initial stake (10 – 6 = 4).
You could’ve made even more money if you had looked at the Match Multi Points market, which is calculated as 1st Half Points x 2nd Half Points. With 45 points in the 1st half and 28 points in the 2nd, the market made up to 1,260. Buy at a starting spread of 531-577, and that’s 683 times your initial stake ((45 x 28) – 577 = 683).
That 2018 thriller was also the last time a player scored 2 tries in a Wasps v Exeter fixture. In fact, Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade got a pair apiece during that game. Lucky, then, that SpreadEX offers Super Mega Try Minutes spreads. That’s a Player Total Try Minutes spread, but where the minutes of a player’s 2nd try are doubled, and 3rd try are trebled.
So, for example, when Simmonds scored in the 18th and 45th minutes, his SMM makeup hit 108 (18 + (45 x 2) = 108). If you bought a starting Simmonds SMM spread of 54-56, you won 52 times your initial stake (108 – 56 = 52).
As for Slade, his pair was more of a surprise. Scoring in the 25th and 49th minutes, his SMM makeup was 123 (25 + (49 x 2) = 123). Buy at a starting spread of 9-12, and that’s 101 times your initial stake (123 – 12 = 101).
Not every meeting between these teams is as exciting. In February 2018, Wasps narrowly won 13-7, which meant if you had bought a Total Points spread of 52-55, you would have lost 35 times your initial stake (55 – (13 + 7) = 35).
WASPS VS EXETER CHIEFS QUICK FACTS
- Wasps only defeat in the last eleven rounds of Gallagher Premiership Rugby was 11-20 at home to Sale on 25 August
- Wasps have lost just once in their last six matches at Ricoh Arena.
- Exeter Chiefs have lost their last two Gallagher Premiership Rugby fixtures but have not lost three in succession in the competition since February 2018
- The Chiefs were defeated in their most recent away game 17-40 at Saracens and have not lost back-to-back away games in Premiership Rugby since October 2019
- The Chiefs beat Wasps 38-3 at Sandy Park in round 5 but have not achieved a Premiership Rugby regular season’s double over them since 2015/16.
- Exeter have won twice before at Ricoh Arena, in December 2015 and September 2018.
WASPS VS EXETER CHIEFS TEAM NEWS:
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Tom Wyatt, 13 Corey Baldwin, 12 Tom Hendrickson, 11 Alex Cuthbert, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Sam Maunder; 1 James Kenny, 2 Jack Innard, 3 Marcus Street, 4 Will Witty, 5 Dave Dennis, 6 Richard Capstick, 7 Don Armand (capt), 8 Charlie Wright
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Alfie Petch, 19 Tom Price, 20 Lewis Pearson, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Jack Walsh, 23 James Short
Wasps: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Zach Kibirige, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Dan Robson (c); 1 Simon McIntyre, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 Will Rowlands, 5 James Gaskell, 6 Brad Shields, 7 Thomas Young, 8 Tom Willis
Replacements: 16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Tom West, 18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 19 Tim Cardall, 20 Alfie Barbeary, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Michael Le Bourgeois, 23 Rob Miller