Betting preview: Gloucester to edge West Country derby

Colin Newboult

Gloucester's Louis Rees-Zammit celebrates scoring his sides third try with Billy Twelvetrees and Chris Harris during the Gallagher Premiership match between Gloucester and Worcester Warriors at Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester.

Ahead of the action in the Premiership and PRO14, we take a look at the best bets from two of the big games taking place this weekend.

Gloucester v Bath

Another titanic West Country derby is set to take place when Gloucester face Bath at Kingsholm on Saturday. With just one point separating the sides going into the contest and the play-off race tightly contested between six teams, the game takes on extra importance.

Inconsistency has been the watchword for both clubs so far this season and a positive result here could kick-start a charge towards a place in the semi-finals.

The visitors are already on a mini-run having defeated London Irish and Sale Sharks over recent weeks and another positive result would set them up nicely going into the European break, but there is a reason why the Cherry and Whites are favourites.

Although Johan Ackermann’s men have won fewer games than their rivals, they reside in third place having garnered a series of bonus-points.

It shows that they are not far away, despite a few narrow losses, but Ackermann is still demanding an improvement. They haven’t quite found their fluency and Stuart Hooper’s outfit will be ready to pounce should the hosts be error-strewn.

As a result, 13/5 at Unibet for Bath to emerge triumphant is a tempting bet, particularly given that a few key players have returned to their ranks.

However, Gloucester are rightly favourites at 2/5 (William Hill) following their fine season in 2018/19 and the fact they have Danny Cipriani directing operations from fly-half.

It would be a surprise should they run away with it, though, and the home team are 6/4 to win by 1-12 points.

Dragons v Ospreys

It is another round of Welsh derbies and two strugglers go head-go-head on Saturday as the Dragons take on the Ospreys at Rodney Parade.

The hosts appear to be an improving outfit under Dean Ryan and followed up an impressive win over the Scarlets with a narrow away defeat to Cardiff Blues.

Since their shambolic display at home to Zebre, which saw the Newport outfit go down 39-12, Ryan’s men have produced four good performances in a row and will look to take advantage of the visitors’ woes this weekend.

The Swansea outfit endured an abysmal 2019, which saw them have problems both on and off the field, and they have won just one game all season.

They are therefore predicted to struggle this weekend and are viewed as 15/8 outsiders by Bet365 to claim their first victory since a 24-20 triumph over Benetton.

Once the great hope of Welsh rugby, in both the league and Heineken Cup, it is difficult to see how the Ospreys will get out of their current predicament in the short-term. A win will help but they are facing a confident Dragons team, who are 4/9 with various bookmakers to overcome the visitors.

Key players such as Gareth Anscombe and Alun Wyn Jones are also injured and it could well be a long afternoon for the away side. A relatively close game is predicted but the Newport outfit are 3/1 with Bet Victor to win by 15 points or more.

Bath