For the first time in the history of betting on rugby union Sporting Index are offering a Player Performance market ahead of the 2023 Six Nations championship.

Player Performance points will be awarded and subtracted across a number of criteria, from receiving 10 points for a try assist to minus 10 points for a red card. Four Player Performance points will be racked up for any individual points scored in the game, so a try, for example, will see the player dotting down under the sticks rewarded with 20 points (4×5).

Punters will have to decide whether to buy or sell a player’s predicted make-up depending on if they think that player will exceed or fall short of the firm’s expectations.

In England’s opener against Scotland, Owen Farrell’s Player Performance spread, for example is priced at 58-61. So, punters thinking he’ll have a stormer and rack up points should buy, while those who think he’ll struggle to tick the Player Performance boxes can sell.

Sporting Index’s other spreads on the Six Nations predict there will be a total of 686 points scored in the tournament, including 80 tries, while the firm expect there to be 16 players sent to the sin bin.

Neville Burdock, Head of Sportsbook at Sporting Index, said: “For a long time punters have enjoyed betting on player performance markets in football, so we’re excited to take the next step and make that available on rugby union, particularly with the Six Nations kicking off this weekend.

“To be the first bookmaker out with this is a credit to our traders who work tirelessly to crunch the numbers, and we look forward to seeing the uptake from punters over the course of what is a massive 2023 for rugby union.

“With player performance points awarded for the likes of try assists, metres run, line breaks, tackles and points scored, and then subtracted for missed tackles, sin bins and red cards, punters will need to decide whether we’ve gone too high or low on each player’s spread.”

Sporting Index:

Player Performance points system:

10 points per try assist

5 points per line break

4 points per point scored

1 point per 10 metres run (rounded down to nearest 10)

-1 point per missed tackle

-5 points per yellow card

-10 points per red card

England v Scotland Player Performances:

Selected Six Nations Totals: