Who's Going To Win Out Of The 49ers And Rams In Australia?

A week from today, we'll be two games into the 2026 NFL season. We'll know the outcomes of the opener between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots as well as the first-ever NFL regular season fixture to be played in Australia.

I've been keen to see how both the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams approach both sides of their Melbourne clash. 

Going in, I feel the 49ers have the pre-preparation locked down contrasted to their opponents'. That's because Kyle Shanahan and his team have already landed Down Under. The Rams, according to speculation, could be making their journey a day before the game kicks off.

What are the current lines for the 49ers versus Rams?

With the 49ers already becoming acclimatised to Australia, I have considered backing them against the spread. As of the time of writing, they're underdogs with an appealing +3.5 I especially like seeing the hook.

The lines have changed since earlier this year. And not in the direction I envisioned.

The Rams started out as -2.5 favourites. The consensus is seemingly going with the team that should have travel working against them next Friday morning (Aussie time!).

To close out this post, I'd like to share with you everything I wrote about the game in this year's edition of Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual. 

Here's what you'll find in the section about the showdown in Oz.

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San Francisco 49ers versus Los Angeles Rams Betting Insight

The opening International Series game of the 2026 season will be a first experience for NFL followers when the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams meet on the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.

With an approximate local kick off time of 10:35am on Friday 11^th September, the fixture will be beamed to the US at around 8:35pm ET and 5:35pm PT on Thursday night which is 1:35am Friday to those in the United Kingdom & Ireland.

With this being a neutral game for both teams, despite the Rams being designated as the home side, the only head-to-head table worth looking at is the overall record since the mid-90s.

How the 49ers .vs. Rams Games Have Gone Since the 1990s

The 49ers have strong numbers from these meetings with their NFC West division rivals. They’ve accumulated an overall straight up record of 38-24-1 (60%) and one of 38-23-2 (62%) against the spread.

As you’ll see in the table, the 49ers’ ATS edge is from covering 21-11-2 (66%) as underdogs but also recording a 17-11 (61%) win-loss as favourites.

The Over-Under is 30-33 (52% to the Under) overall from the Rams versus 49ers meetings in the period between ’95 and last season.

The 49ers and Rams International Series Records

The 49ers and Rams have played a combined nine games as part of the NFL’s expansion into foreign markets.

San Francisco have so far recorded four regular season fixtures outside of the USA. Two more will be added by season’s end because, as well as this trip to Australia, the 49ers will travel to a country they’ve played a couple of times before.

The first foreign game on the list isn’t regarded as an official ‘NFL International Series’ contest. However, the 49ers played a Week 4 game – of the 2005 regular season – from Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca in front of a then-record 103,467 spectators.

San Francisco lost 14-31 to the three-point favourite Arizona Cardinals in what was the NFL’s first regular season game played outside of the United States.

It was the 49ers’ only loss - and failed cover - so far from their regular season journeys to far-off places.

In 2010, they met the Denver Broncos for a Week 8 battle from Wembley Stadium. The final score was 24-16. The spread was -2.5.

Three years later, in another Week 8 Wembley fixture, San Francisco obliterated the Jacksonville Jaguars 42-10 as -15.5 favourites.

Another 49ers versus Arizona game from Mexico City bookends the list.

Officially considered part of the ‘International Series’, a Monday Night Football game from Estadio Azteca, in Week 11 of the 2022 regular season, saw the 49ers win 38-10 as -10.5 favourites.

San Francisco are 3-1 (75%) straight up and 3-1 (75%) against the spread from the results of the four games.

The Over-Under record is also 3-1 (75% to the Over).

The Rams are 3-2 (60%) both straight up and against the spread from five International Series meetings.

With Wembley Stadium as the setting, a Week 8 2012 meeting between the Rams and Patriots concluded 45-7 in favour of the latter.

The Rams also lost and failed to cover in their next trip to London.

The New York Giants won by a touchdown in a 17-10 Twickenham Stadium clash during Week 7 of the 2016 season.

Twickenham was the venue of the Rams’ first regular season overseas victory when they shutout the Cardinals 33-0, as three-point favourites, a year later.

Two further wins have piled on in the years following the dominant performance from 2017.

First, there was a 24-10 score against the Bengals at Wembley Stadium in 2019 followed by a 35-7 rout of the Jags, also at Wembley, last season.

Los Angeles were -12 and -3 favourites for the two respective Wembley winners.

The Over-Under leans towards the Under with a record of 1-4 (80% to the Under). The only Over, from those four games, occurred from the result of the first trip - the Patriots’ 45-7 score exceeded a totals line of 46.

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That's just one example of the 272 game breakdowns found in Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2026.

You can order a copy online from Amazon or Other Booksellers.

Listening To Hacked Scammers

I'm currently listening to a YouTube livestream of a hacked scam call centre in India.

The person who owns the channel is able to listen to both caller and recipient. The scammers are falsely representing themselves as being from BT.

It's fascinating because this guy doesn't seem to be having any luck with his attempts to con his marks. Not one person believes in the facade. I've heard some hang up immediately, but there others who strings him along for a while before revealing they are aware of the scam.

With all that said, all the conman needs is for one person to be tricked. I don't know how I'll feel about listening to something like that play out in real time. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point.

For now, I'll simply enjoy the ride listening to this idiot constantly failing.

Just as I was about to press 'Publish' on this post, I heard a Welshman hang up. Get in!

Snow Joke

I came across the same witty remark on TAFKA Twitter yesterday. Upon first seeing it, I thought 'that's funny', However, by the day's end, I was thinking along the lines of 'not again!?'

The comments were in relation to the BBC deciding to cancel its Ski Sunday programme after forty-eight years. The mentions stated 'Ski Sunday has been going downhill for quite some time'.

As mentioned, it was funny to read it at first. It had lost its flavour by the third, fourth or fifth read.

What was Ski Sunday?

Ski Sunday aired on BBC 2. It covered winter sports and ran for forty-seven series' between January 15 1978 and February 16 2025. 

The BBC has opted not to continue with the programme after carefully considering its decision.

Keffe D Guilty Of Murdering 2Pac

It seemed somewhat fitting that Duane 'Keffe D' Davis was found guilty of killing Tupac Shakur yesterday.

That's because it was one week shy of the thirtieth anniversary of the shooting which ultimately ended 2Pac's life.

I watched almost all of the trial across the past fortnight and a bit. It was obviously something that has been of interest to me seeing as I was, and still am, a fan of 2Pac.

With all that said, I watched the entire trial suspecting Davis would walk. The case was built around his mouth. Davis went on record countless times over the years to brag about being in the car which shot at Shakur that fateful Las Vegas night of September '96.

Not only did Keffe D claim to be a passenger in the vehicle. He boasted about handing the gun to his nephew - Orlando Anderson - who fired at the rap star. 

Davis' defence argued that the words, both verbal and in his own book, were lies. They pointed out the lack of evidence pointing to Davis being in Las Vegas on the night. 

The jury didn't buy it.

By the law of Nevada, Davis' actions were enough to convict him of first-degree murder. He's the sole survivor from the gang which made up the crew which killed Shakur. Anderson was killed in an unrelated gunfight a couple of years after firing at Tupac.

Davis made it clear of his intention to appeal the verdict. He'll be sentenced next month.

When Is A Violation Not A Violation? Ask X!

A little over a week ago, I came across a person on TAFKA Twitter who was having some sort of trouble with their Royal Mail delivery. I cannot recall the full details. However, that isn't the story. What I was stunned by was the gall of someone to impersonate Royal Mail by asking the complainant to message them the details.

It was a blatant scam, or an attempt at one, so I reported the account to the people at X.

I thought that was it. I had saved the day. Kind of. But, no. That's not how this story ends.

A day or so later, I noticed an email from X. It was about my report.

The account masquerading as a person manning a Royal Mail helpdesk was not in violation of any rules according to the automated systems at X.

<Head Shake>

I checked in with the username before publishing this post. It appears as though it's not longer around. Maybe someone else reported the account and a stricter automated system bot popped them.

Why Hulk Hogan Matters By David Shoemaker

When it comes to book covers, David Shoemaker's 'Why Hulk Hogan Matters' has possibly one of the best to come along in quite some time. After all, it has the Hulkster in all his red and yellow glory from back in the day.

That, unfortunately, is where my praise ends. Never judge a book by its cover. And all that.

I was aware of David Shoemaker before I picked up a Kindle copy of 'Why Hulk Hogan Matters'. I've found his writing style to be slick, words flow superbly. Just a few important things, though: Shoemaker's research and knowledge of wrestling history is lacking. Terribly.

There are countless inaccuracies in this work. I genuinely don't know where to begin. I've read other readers claim 'Why Hulk Hogan Matters' could have been written with the use of Artificial Intelligence. Going by how I noticed errors with AI when I used it to fact check some research I did for Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annuals (cheap plug!), I can understand that suggestion.

Giving Shoemaker the benefit of the AI doubt would mean he's a dreadful researcher and wrestling historian.

If your task is to write about Hulk Hogan's career, you should know Hogan's last major match, before heading to WCW the following year, was a losing effort to Yokozuna in Dayton, Ohio at WWF King of the Ring 1993.

Shoemaker informs his readers the loss occurred in an untelevised bout in Japan. Completely untrue. 

Then there are blips stating Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior had their  first altercation - to set up their WrestleMania bout - at the 1992 Royal Rumble. That was off by two years because WrestleMania VI occurred in 1990.

Anyone who follows the 'sport' at Shoemaker's level should know that.

Then there's little things like stating Bob Backlund returned to the WWF as a heel in the 1990s. He didn't. Backlund's 1992 comeback was as a babyface before turning heel a couple of years into that run. There's a claim 'Macho Man' Randy Savage joined World Championship Wrestling before Hulk Hogan's arrival. That's false as well - Savage's WCW debut came in late 1994. The Macho Man's opening angle for the company was whether he would slap Hogan's face or shake the WCW Champion's hand at Starrcade 1994.

The following note was equally annoying.

As you can see, it claimed Hulk Hogan returned to WWE in 2002 after the company was forced to change its name, from the WWF, following a legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund. 

That isn't how it went. Hogan arrived back in the WWF during February of 2002. The WWF changed its moniker to WWE in May of that very same year. Not 2001.

I could go on. 

A concerning thing about such a book being out there on shelves is that it creates a false history of Hulk Hogan. Newcomers aren't going to get the accurate story. Ironically, Hogan himself would distort his own history with tall tales about himself. Shoemaker fails to sieve truth from Hogan's fiction. He piles on more through inept research and knowledge.

⭐/5

Week Zero 2026

My evening of American college football will look like this:

North Carolina versus TCU from 5pm BST followed by NC State's visit to Virginia from 8:30pm.

The former will be played at Dublin's Aviva Stadium as part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.

In a follow up to Tuesday's Post, I came across some good news when I was looking for the list of games for Disney Plus' coverage of college football.

We're currently in 'Week Zero' of the season. The full schedule of games will kick off next week. The streaming platform has some of next week's fixtures on the menu and - lo and behold - there it was. 

Disney+ is planning to air the Texas Longhorns' home opener against Texas State. This game will kick off at 8:30pm a week from tonight.

I was worried I wouldn't catch any of the Longhorns' matches in 2026. I gave out a legit yip of joy upon seeing the game 

Looks like I have to make sure the Texas t-shirt is ready for Saturday.