Fiddes' Cent

Tom Varndell: Backed to deliver the goods for Wasps

After a European break, the Aviva Premiership returned with a bang last week, and the Fiddes-Cent predictions did not disappoint either.

Ok, we may have taken a hit with Bath flopping at home to Saracens but two out of three is not bad, with Leicester to win by more than nine points and Harlequins triumphing at Northampton.

This week, I'm going to stick with my winners and throw a couple of curve balls in there for good measure.

Harlequins are once again rock-solid additions to the accumulator at home to London Irish.

Quins have now won their last five games in the Premiership and face a London Irish side struggling at the bottom of the table.

Harlequins start the game with a -12 handicap, however I think there is more value elsewhere. They are prolific in the first 40 minutes in all of their fixtures this season, scoring more points than all but one of their Premiership rivals.

Therefore, the first-half handicap of -6 on Harlequins at 10/11 looks much more interesting than the full-time handicap.

Going by the same logic, it's also worth placing a side bet on the first half being the highest scoring half at 10/11.

Languishing near the foot of the table along with London Irish are their Welsh namesakes. They face Wasps at home and rightly go into the game as outsiders.

The -3 on London Wasps looks too generous to me and I can see a comfortable win for them at the Kassam Stadium.

Wasps may not have not won on the road since October 2011 but, with Tom Varndell returning to the side, I can see that miserable record being put to bed.

The winger has scored nine times already this season with three of those coming on the road.

Wasps have named Nicky Robinson at fly-half and with his creativity they'll be getting plenty of ball out wide. If Varndell can carry on where he left off, his 10/1 price at first-try scorer is very lucrative.

If you place your bet on that, then it is worth adding the 'First Scoring Play' as a Wasps try at 11/2 to your bet slip.

With Robinson in and Stephen Jones out, the away side are less likely to kick at goal, meaning going for the line will be more appealing to them.

Finally, I am going to add the team who helped us out last week, Leicester.

The Tigers enjoyed a comfortable win last week over London Irish and are boosted by the return of lock Geoff Parling.

When he is in the line-up Leicester have won an impressive 71.9% of their games and his experience could be key to help pull clear of fourth-placed Gloucester.

While the Tigers are welcoming back important first-team members, Gloucester have lost their first choice full-back, Rob Cook, who is replaced by Martyn Thomas.

This will be a huge loss for Gloucester and makes the Tigers worth backing to cover their -7 handicap.

In fact, I'm going a bit more specific this week and going for Leicester to win by 11-20 points at 3/1.

In four of their seven wins this season, they have won by this margin so 3/1 fingers crossed that the form book will pave the way for profits.

A word from the Sky Bet trading room...

"The punters have been lumping on Wasps and Leicester this weekend.

"As expected, the returning Tom Varndell is very popular as first try-scorer but we've also taken money on Manu Tuilagi to score first for Leicester.

"Bath seem to have lost the faith of the Sky Bet customers after they failed to score a point last week, so Exeter have taken a fair bit of money too."