New Zealand v Lions - Second Test
Warren Gatland's men took one hell of a beating in the first test on Saturday, and a week may not be long enough for him to regroup his charges to produce a different outcome when the pair meet again.
The All Blacks ran out 30-15 winners at Eden Park, and in all honesty, a bigger winning margin could quite reasonably have been expected on the balance of play, and that defeat is ominous if the history books point to what the future might hold - only twice before have the Lions recovered from a first test set-back to win the series - and one of those was back in 1899....
Steve Hansen's All Blacks simply look to powerful, too hungry, and altogether too good for the Lions, and a repeat performance looks on the cards in this one, and it's a view shared by the majority of bookmakers with the handicap line set at a solid -14 for New Zealand.
The match betting makes New Zealand 2/9 favourites with Paddy Power, with the Lions a top priced 5/1 with Corals or Ladbrokes, but it's hard to make too much of a case for the Lions even at that price given that the All Blacks are now unbeaten in 47 matches at home.
For an angle, we are going to head into the stats markets, and suggest that the scoring could follow a similar pattern as last week. Sky Bet have chalked up 3/1 about the half-time winning margin being between 6 and 10 points, and that has to appeal given it would have been a winning bet last week, and would have won in 10 of the All Blacks last 13 matches.
All Blacks to lead at Half Time by 6-10 pts.