We take a look at the 3 Rugby World Cup matches taking place on Saturday and suggest a bet in each game.
At the time of writing South Africa are the 28/10 favourites to win the Rugby World Cup ahead of France at 3/1, New Zealand 4/1 and Ireland 5/1. You can get 12/1 and better the balance.
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Samoa v Chile – Click here to bet
Samoa make their Tournament debut and bookmakers fancy them to get a big win in their opening game. Samoa pushed Ireland in Dublin in their last start going down 17-13 and prior to that had beaten Tonga by 25 points, Japan by 2 points and they lost to Fiji by 14 points.
Samoa have been a regular at World Cups and their best results have been quarter-finals in 1991 and 1995.
Chile went down 42-12 to Japan in their opening game with a last minute Japanese try ruining many a Chili +25.5 point bet. Chili started the game strong, but seemed to fade in the second-half. Their warm-up games included a 26-28 loss to Namibia and a 25-26 loss to Uruguay.
Handicap: Samoa -33.5
Chile won lots of praise from neutrals for their RWC debut performance but we believe Samoa, who ought to be targeting a bonus point will cover this handicap
Suggested Bet: Samoa -33.5 points at 9/10
Get a refund if the Springboks lose the RWC Final
Place an outright bet on the Springboks to win the Rugby World Cup get your stake back in Free Bets if they get beaten in the final.
*Pre-Match events only. Single bets only.
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Simply email promotions@wsb.co.za with Subject ‘Back the Boks’
Wales v Portugal – Click here to bet
Wales came through a stern test in Pool C last week because they were pushed hard by Fiji. The final result was Wales 32, Fiji 26, but Fiji knocked the ball on in the dying seconds and had that pass gone to hand Fiji would likely have won the match. That game showed that Pool C is going to be more competitive than some might have expected and Wales cannot afford any slip-ups. They can certainly take a lot out of the match especially their defence as they were called on to make three times the amount of tackles their opponents had to.
Portugal’s most recent warm-up game was a 46-20 victory over the USA and this will be their first match of the Tournament. Portugal have only played in the Rugby World Cup once in its history and that was in 2007 when they lost all their games and conceded 108 points to New Zealand.
Handicap: Wales -31.5
It’s our first look at Portugal but it would be a surprise if they could lay anything other than a glancing blow on Wales.
Suggested Bet: Wales -31.5 points at 9/10
Ireland v Tonga –Click here to bet
Ireland started 62 point favourites in their opening game against Romania last week and although it was the Romanians who scored first it was the Irish that ran away 82-8 winners to beat the handicap by more than a score. They played a number of warm-up games leading up to the World Cup with a narrow win over Samoa, a 19 point win over England and a 16 point win over Italy. All of those games at home.
Tonga played Canada in 2 warm-up matches beating them 36-12 and 28-3. They played the Pacific Nations Series against Fiji, Japan and Samoa losing by 25 points to Samoa, 5 points to Japan and 16 points to Fiji. Tonga have never made it through the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup and the best they have done is 2 victories in 2007 and 2011.
Handicap: Ireland -35.5
Tonga should provide a better test than Romania did for the Irish but its still hard to see anything than another wide margin win. Ireland might just have an eye on the tough games against the Boks and Scotland to come though and we go with Tonga to stay in the handicap, but only just !!
Suggested Bet: Tonga +35.5 points at 9/10
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
