The All Blacks and the Springboks meet in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham on Friday night and we take a look at the game from a betting angle.
Let’s start with a look at the latest Rugby World Cup Betting where New Zealand are currently trading as 5/2 favourites ahead of France at 33/10, South Africa and Ireland are 9/2 and you can get 12/1 and better the balance.
New Zealand are 8/10 to win Group A which includes France and South Africa are 21/20 to win Group B which includes Ireland and Scotland.
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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand return to the field for the first time since they came from behind to beat Australia 23/20 in Dunedin. It was a game where they started 22 point favourites, but trailed 7/3 at half-time and had to pull out all the stops to get the win. That was the second Bledisloe Cup match and prior to that they had won the Rugby Championships, beating Argentina by 29 on the road, South Africa by 15 in Auckland and Australia by 31 points in Melbourne.
New Zealand play France in the first game of the Rugby World Cup in two weeks time and from the side they have selected they are clearly keen to give their starting team a final run.
New Zealand Squad:
15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Reiko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Mark Telea, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane (Captain), 6 Luke Jacobson, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Scott Barrett, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Ethan de Groot.
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Tupou Vaa’i, 20 Josh Lord, 21 Dalton Papali’i, 22 Cam Roigard, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown
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SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa are coming off a 36 point win in Cardiff against was what was admittedly a weakened Wales side. There was plenty to like about the way the Boks controlled the game and at the end of the day it was important that they managed to put away a Wales team that was missing many of their stars.
A couple of weeks before that South Africa had beaten Argentina by 11 points away from home having been down at the break before taking control of the game in the second-half.
The Boks hammered Australia in the Rugby Championships, but they were well beaten by New Zealand in Auckland, only scraping past Argentina at home by a single point. The Boks have also named a strong line-up with their first Rugby World Cup match against Scotland looming on the horizon.
South Africa Squad:
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Willie le Roux
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Prior to the 35-20 by New Zealand in Auckland in the Rugby Championships, the sides had last met in 2022 with New Zealand winning 35-23 in Johannesburg and South African 26-10 in Nelspruit. The last time these sides met on neutral territory was the first round of the Rugby World Cup in 2019 when New Zealand came out on top 23-13 in Japan.
BETTING – Click here to bet
New Zealand 40/85
Draw 25/1
South Africa 85/40
Although both of these sides face tough opening games in the Rugby World Cup, New Zealand will know that after the France game they can pretty much cruise through to the quarter-finals whereas South Africa will have a tough match against Ireland still to come. I have a feeling that New Zealand are going to start strongly again and will back them to lead by 3 points or more at the break.
Suggested Bet: New Zealand -2.5 Half-Time Handicap at 9/10
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Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
