Will Rusty Jake follow his brother into Round 2?
Is a brother duo shaking up the darts scene? The two Austrians Rowby John and Rusty Jake Rodriguez are represented together at the World Championship in London and hold up together with Mensur Suljovic the national flag of the Federal Republic. While his older brother already made it into the second round on Saturday, 20-year-old Rusty Jake (nicknamed RJR3) wants to follow suit on Monday.
In his opening match he will meet New Zealander Ben Robb, who is one of the best darts players in Oceania. However, he is rarely seen at the oche outside of his home continent, which is why he travels to the Ally Pally as a bit of a surprise package.
The best bookmakers rate the Austrian as favourite in the run-up to this match. Between Rusty Jake Rodriguez and Ben Robb, the odds for a tip on the world number 91 are 1.50, while Robb, who is 13 years older, owns a 2.75. The match will take place as the second encounter on Monday night and will start at around 21:00 German time.
Rusty Jake Rodriguez – Statistics & current form
It could be the week of his life. Christmas is always special for the man from Vienna anyway, as he also celebrates his birthday on the same day. This year the celebration could be even bigger as he will be taking part in the World Championship for the first time at the darts temple Alexandra Palace.
Is Rusty Jake following his older brother?
Whether this will still be the case over the holidays will possibly be decided as early as Monday evening. Should the opening hurdle of Ben Robb be jumped, the duel with Chris Dobey would await on 23 December. The youngster will certainly enter the big stage with some nervousness, although after a strong year in 2021 he can actually enter with a broad chest and a lot of self-confidence.
Five Development Tour titles and a quarter-final finish at the recent World Junior Championships are on his record. He easily qualified for the World Championships on the Pro Tour and has also had a taste of the big events. At the Grand Slam of Darts for example he lost all three of his group matches despite a good performance.
First win at a Major event?
At the Players Championship Finals, the dress rehearsal for the World Championship, Ross Smith proved to be too strong on his debut. Now, however, RJR3 goes into his match on Monday night as the favourite and if a tip-off works between Rusty Jake Rodriguez and Ben Robb on Austria, the latter would be celebrating the biggest success of his career to date.
Last matches of Rusty-Jake Rodriguez:
Players Championship Finals
11/26 2021 – Ross Smith 6 – 2 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Grand Slam of Darts Group B
11/15 2021 – Bradley Brooks 5 – 3 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
11/14 2021 – Mervyn King 5 – 4 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
11/13 2021 – Jonny Clayton 5 – 3 Rusty-Jake Rodriguez
Players Championship 29
11/03 2021 – Rusty-Jake Rodriguez 3 – 6 Ryan de Vreede
Ben Robb – stats & recent form
As mentioned earlier, Ben Robb is a bit of a wonderkid in the British capital. The Christchurch-born New Zealander is one of the best players in his home country and has enjoyed some success there. In 2018 he reached the final of two tournaments organised by the World Darts Federation in Canterbury. In 2019 the big highlight was the Brisbane Darts Masters for which he qualified after some successes on the DPA Tour.
First set win for Robb in second World Championship attempt?
However, the 33-year-old paid a lot of dues against Michael van Gerwen and got a “white wash”. But in the same year “Big Rig” beat Simon Whitlock in the first edition of the NZ Darts Masters and took part for the first time in the PDC World Championship. Though he once caught the big fish (170 finish) there was nothing to win against Ron Meulenkamp (0:3).
The New Zealander will have his next attempt this year and his condition is very difficult to assess. The underdog can at least be expected to win the first set. But his level of play will hardly be sufficient against the European professionals and the next first-round defeat at Alexandra Palace is looming.
In the pairing of Rusty Jake Rodriguez vs. Ben Robb, a prediction can therefore only be made in one direction. The underdog will probably have to pull out early and can head home before the holidays
Last games of Ben Robb:
Australian Pro Tour 6
03/08 2020 – Gordon Glen Mathers 2 – 0 Ben Robb
03/08 2020 – Ben Robb 2 – 0 Bill Aitken
Australian Pro Tour 5
03/07 2020 – Ben Robb 5 – 2 Haupai Puha
03/07 2020 – Ben Robb 5 – 2 Brandon Weening
03/07 2020 – Ben Robb 5 – 3 Jamie Rundle
Rusty Jake Rodriguez – Ben Robb Direct comparison / H2H record
The direct comparison obviously doesn’t help between Rusty Jake Rodriguez and Ben Robb for a prediction. The two players have never met before, which is not particularly surprising.
The youngster from Austria only really appeared in PDC events this year while the New Zealander is almost exclusively active on his home continent. So the ways of the two opponents could not cross so far and the first duel will take place directly on the biggest darts stage of the world.
Rusty Jake Rodriguez – Ben Robb Tip
Even the bookmakers find it difficult to assess a player who in recent years has almost exclusively been on the road in domestic tournaments and never made his calling card at the PDC. But in the odds comparison of Wettbasis it is clear to see that the bookmakers see the young star from Austria clearly in front.
The odds between Rusty Jake Rodriguez and Ben Robb are 1.50 on the 20-year-old and a success of the world number 91 is to be expected. Rodriguez could make the final breakthrough in 2021 and now he is looking to reward himself by reaching the second round of the World Cup.
The underdog can possibly benefit from the fact that the quarter-finalist at the World Youth Championship will be a little nervous and still lacks the necessary consistency. A set win for the man from Oceania is therefore clearly possible and a 3:1 victory for the Austrian is the most likely outcome. For this reason, a stake of four units is placed on the odds for this bet on the match Rusty Jake Rodriguez vs Ben Robb.
