Rugby Championship 2016 Betting: Bet on Australia to edge a narrow win against South Africa

Recommended bet: Australia -3.5 points handicap @ 10/11 (1.91) with William Hill

Round 3 of the 2016 Rugby Championship sees Australia welcome South Africa to Brisbane with the pressure mounting on both coaches after poor showings in the championship to date.

Australia come into this match having already suffered a couple of heavy losses to the All Blacks, having been humiliated 42-8 by the world champions in Sydney in the opening round, before an improvement of sorts in going down to a 29-9 defeat in Wellington.

Those two defeats to the All Blacks resulted in just a single try being scored by Australia and even that was little more than a late consolation try in Sydney when the game had long gone.  By contrast they conceded 10 tries themselves in those two drubbings.  There clearly needs to be some major improvements at both ends of the park from the Wallabies.

It leaves the Wallabies still to register a single point in the Rugby Championship 2016 and has seen their losing run stretch to six matches dating back to defeat against New Zealand at Twickenham in the Rugby World Cup final 2015 and including the humiliating 3-0 series whitewash at home to England earlier this year.

It’s not been terribly convincing from South Africa to date either, with a narrow 30-23 come from behind win against Argentina in Nelspruit to put five points on the board, followed by a 26-24 defeat in the reverse fixture in Salta.

The Boks problems, as in the recent 2-1 series win at home to Ireland, appears to be that they only seem to start playing when they are behind in a match.

Home advantage has proven decisive on the last four occasions the Wallabies and the Springboks have met, with a couple of victories apiece.  The Wallabies have won six of the last seven matches with the Boks on Aussie soil and they will be calling on that home dominance here.

The last meeting between these teams was also in Brisbane and ended in a 24-20 win for the Wallabies.  A similarly tight scoreline looks a distinct possibility on this occasion and taking Australia to overcome a 3.5 point handicap looks worth a bet here.