The Blues have opened as $1.01 favourites for Saturday's clash against the Waratahs at Eden Park with both the New Zealand TAB and Australian betting agency Sportsbet.
Sportsbet has the Waratahs as a $26 outsider, which according to the Sydney Morning Herald will be the longest price at which theWaratahs have started a Super Rugby match.
The New Zealand TAB has the Waratahs listed as $21 outsiders. Both betting agencies have the Waratahs as a 34.5 point start.
The Waratahs have been below-par at best this season and downright awful would probably be a more accurate assessment. They lost all eight of their Super Rugby Australia matches, finishing with just three bonus points and a points differential of -154.
They opened the Super Rugby Transtaman competition with a 64-48 defeat to the Hurricanes last week and are up against a Blues side that thrashed the Rebels 50-3.
The same Rebels side that beat the Waratahs twice this year.
It's not just recent form and history that works against the Waratahs. The franchise have won just once at Eden Park in 12 matches, a 27-22 victory in 2009. They haven't won on New Zealand soil in 12 games, going back to 2015.
The Waratahs, Rebels and Western Force are all $501 to win the entire competition, with the Australian teams realistically needing to win their final four games to have a chance to make the final.
