South Africa and Ireland meet in a Pool B Rugby World Cup clash in Paris on Saturday night with the winner of this game more than likely going to top the pool.
South Africa currently top the betting boards at 28/10 to defend their World Cup, France are 3/1 and New Zealand and Ireland are currently priced at 4/1. England are next best at 12/1 and you can get 33/1 and better the balance.
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Some of the long-term prices involving these teams or their players include Top Tournament Point Scorer where Jonny Sexton is a 22/10 favourite and Top Tournament Try Scorer where Bundee Aki is trading at 10/1 and Makazole Mapimpi at 14/1. Mapimpi will of course be watching this game from the stands as South Africa have selected a 7-1 bench.
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SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa opened their campaign with a dominant 18-3 win over Scotland, a game which many thought might be a “banana peel” for the World Champions. They started 10 point favourites and ground the Scots down for a convincing win.
Plenty of changes were made ahead of the match against Romania and despite heavy rain South Africa reached 76 points without conceding anything to the Romanian side.
In pre-World Cup prep South Africa hammered New Zealand 35-7 at Twickenham and they finished runners-up to New Zealand in the Rugby Championships.
South Africa Squad
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Kwagga Smith, 23 Cobus Reinach
IRELAND
Ireland have had two easy victories to start off their World Cup campaign, beating Romania 82-8 and then seeing off Tonga 59-16. In both cases their victories were by enough points to beat the handicap the bookmakers had set for the game.
They had a trouble free warm-up although they were pushed hard by Samoa in their final match, winning 17-13, but they beat England and Italy comfortably.
Ireland Squad
15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 David Kilcoyne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Robbie Henshaw
HEAD-TO-HEAD
These sides have played 27 Test Matches with South Africa winning 18, Ireland 8 and there was 1 draw. Ireland beat South Africa 19-16 in Dublin in November of 2022 and the teams had met 5 years earlier also in Dublin where Ireland won 38-3 and the Irish have won 4 out of their last 6 matches against South Africa.
Ireland and South Africa have never met in a Rugby World Cup.
BETTING – Click here to bet
South Africa 15/20
Draw 20/1
Ireland 13/10
Handicap: South Africa -2.5
The Boks will have to be at their best to end Ireland’s winning streak and this will be a cracking contest. It should be as close as the betting suggests and we go with the Springboks to edge it. Take a look at the Promo for this match down below where you can get your money back if the Boks suffer a narrow loss.
Suggested Bet: South Africa to win at 15/20
Get your money back if SA loses by 3 points or less
Place a win bet on South Africa to beat Ireland, and if the Boks lose by 3 points or less, we will refund your stake in Free Bet vouchers
T’s & C’s apply. Refund/Payout limited to R2000.
Valid for bets taken before the start of the match on Sat 23rd Sep
Simply email promotions@wsb.co.za with Subject ‘SA v IRE’
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
