How did we do in Round One of the Six Nations?
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How did we do in Round One with our SNES predictions? |
Six Nations Round One
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We used World Class Rugby for the Super Nintendo to give us a glimpse into the future. We were so confident of what we saw, we put a whole €10 euros on the results forecast. So how did we do?
England v Wales
Our trusty Nintendo told us this would finish 43-0 to England. With Wales being grand slam champions this seemed a wild guess by the computer, however, it actually finished 47-13 on the weekend. Not a million miles off. The bookies gave us odds of just 20/1 for England to win by a margin of between 41-45 points; a bit harsh we thought. However, we were so confident in the computer’s prediction we bet a whole €1 on this outcome. We obviously lost that bet, but not by too much.
Our next bet was that the first try would come from an England prop, in the case of the prediction we had to bet on the English tighthead. We had Matt Stevens at odds of 40/1; we could have been well up on our money if this had come in. As a result of the odds we bet big: a whole €1.50 this time. Alas, Stevens never had a sniff of the try line in the games opening clashes. Thanks World Class Rugby.
Result: We lost both our bets on this game, meaning we were a massive €2.50 down. But the computer was nearer than most pundits in predicting the margin of victory.
Ireland v Italy
In light of the controversy surrounding Ireland’s two tries on Saturday (in relation to whether they grounded the ball for either), it could be said that our prediction here was almost uncannily accurate. Our game simulation had the Irish team twice crossing the Italian line and not grounding the ball and we considered betting on this strange result. We flirted with betting on Paul O’Connell as the first try scorer but changed our mind. Instead we went with Peter Stringer, as our simulation had the Irish number nine scoring first. In the end we lost another major sum - €1.50 – as Stringer failed to hold up his side of our bargain. O’Connell briefly got credited as the try-scorer on Saturday, so we were kind of right about second rows scoring first (in a clutching at straws sort of way).
The computer predicted this game would finish 14-0 to Ireland. So we bet €2.00 on Ireland to win by 14 points. The East Terrace was given odds of 13/2 for Ireland to win by 11-15 points. Therefore, the actual result of 26-16, a ten point margin, was very, very annoying.
Result: We lost €3.50, but felt the computer was pretty good on this one. It kind of gave us cryptic signs about the non-grounding of the ball issues, and it was close on the margin of victory. We just need to read the signs better.
Scotland v France
Much like the rugby world, the computer didn’t see this famous Scottish victory coming. Although its estimated margin of just a three point France victory was closer than most pundits said the game would be. The computer would have won us big money on Kellock scoring at 40/1 (we bet on both second rows as a result of our game programme giving a try to one of the Scottish second row) if Dan Parks hadn’t blown a huge overlap with the tall man waiting unmarked on the wing. Thanks Parks. It meant we lost another €4.
Result: We would have won loads if not for Dan Parks. But we didn’t. Damn.
Overall, the computer was crap and we lost a tenner. Our instinctive concerns over the accuracy of World Class Rugby bore true in many ways and we are out of pocket as a result. However, we are sure we can get it right next time. So check back for our Round Two predictions in the next few days.
If you have any experience with the Super Nintendo World Class Rugby programme, please share them with us by emailing webmaster@theeastterrace.com