The past 2 weeks have given punters a chance to run their eye over the likely contenders for the 2011 IRB Rugby World Cup which takes place in New Zealand next September.

The hosts remain firm favourites at odds of 9/10 after their demolition of Scotland at Murrayfield. Two things caught my eye, the first of which was Sonny Bill Williams and his distribution skills, all things being equal I believe this man will play in the no 12 jersey next year. Secondly the All Blacks are pretty close to unbeatable when conditions are good as they have so much speed, power and skill. The irony though is that many of the World Cup matches will be played in poor weather conditions and I actually think that this will allow a few other teams a crack at the title.

Second on the betting boards are the Boks who despite fielding something of an under strength side have managed to complete half a grand slam at the time of writing. The defending champions are trading at 4/1 a point shorter than Australia who has drifted slightly to 5/1 after taking a hiding at Twickenham. There is no doubt that the Wallaby backline is world class but it is hard to see them rectifying their problems at scrum time in just 9 months.

England are the big movers and having traded freely at 14/1 levels a few weeks back they have now surpassed France in the betting and are 9/1 shots. Their win over Australia was the catalyst for the shortening, not so much the result but the way that they went about their business which suggested they will do more than just play 10 man rugby in New Zealand.

The French remain a mystery with a diluted side beating Fiji by 22 points in wet conditions. They shortened to 8/1 after a great Six Nations campaign but subsequent defeats to the Boks and Argentina has seen them drift to current quotes of 11/1. They were my early value pick and I already have a fair amount of cash riding on them and will be hoping that this latest run of poor results is all part of a French master plan to peak for the World Cup.

I will be ridiculed for this in the Goodforthegame betting forum but for me 11/1 France still offers the best value for your punting rand.

Brent Graham is a sports betting blogger at www.goodforthegame.co.za and to get on his free weekly e-mail list just send a message to brent@goodforthegame.co.za titled “Best Bets”.