Fair play to the legend that took a punt on this.
CJ Stander has now got a .50 strike-rate when it comes to scoring Test tries. Six scores in 12 games for the Munster back-row and you get the feeling he is only getting started.
Stander had an absolute stormer today and you could tell he was switched on from the get-go:
CJ Stander after 20 minutes
10 carries
1 clean break
1 defender beaten
1 tackle
1 TRY!!! pic.twitter.com/FCwUxk10Bc— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 11, 2017
By full-time, Stander had amassed 62 metres gained off 22 carries that included two clean breaks, two offloads and 10 defenders beaten. He led Ireland’s successful tackle count on 10. Oh, and he scored a hat-trick.
Following the game, Joe Schmidt gushed about Stander after his latest man-of-the-match performance. He said:
“He’s a really positive contributor, a really willing contributor. The one thing I would say is we have a back-row with big engines.
“They put themselves about and the amount of involvements they have in games is really high. It definitely helps us negotiate our way around the pitch.”
Stander is always a try-scoring threat and he is one of Ireland’s main attacking weapons. It was somewhat odd, then, that he was out as far as 50/1 to be the tournament’s top try-scorer going into the game.
Hayley O’Connor from Ladbrokes tells SportsJOE that one genius punter has backed Stander just before midnight, last night, at 50/1. Were Stander to finish atop the charts, there could be over €1,000 richer.
We’ve yet to hear if anyone took a punt on Craig Gilroy ahead of the game.
Some @SixNationsRugby comeback for @cgilroy14
6 carries
81 metres gained
3 clean breaks
5 defenders beaten
3 TRIES! pic.twitter.com/M0c2pVw8vq— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) February 11, 2017
The Ulster winger, who also scored a hat-trick, was available at a severely generous 200/1.
If you want to bet on these lads now, here are the latest odds:
- Keith Earls 2/1
- CJ Stander 3/1
- Craig Gilroy 6/1
