We take a look at 3 of the Rugby World Cup fixtures taking place on Saturday and suggest a bet in each game.
Let’s start with a quick look at the latest Outright Betting where New Zealand are trading as 3/1 favourites ahead of France and South Africa both priced at 33/10.
Click here for the Outright Betting on all of the Long-Term Markets
For this preview I am going to have a look at 3 of the matches taking place on Saturday and the England v Argentina match will have its own preview.
ITALY v NAMIBIA – Click here to bet
Italy’s last match was a 42-21 win over Japan and the week before that they hammered Romania 57-7. In two other warm-up games they lost by 16 points to Ireland away and by 12 points to Scotland also on the road.
Italy have never qualified for the quarter-finals of a Rugby World Cup.
Namibia’s last game was against Chilli and they won it 28-26 and the week before that they went down to Uruguay 26-18.
Namibia have yet to win a match in a Rugby World Cup
Handicap: Italy -33.5
When these teams met in the RWC pool stage Italy won 47-22 and the Italian squad looks to have more talent this time around. We take the view they can beat their points line here.
Suggested Bet: Italy Totals, Over 43.5 points at 17/20
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IRELAND v ROMANIA – Click here to bet
Ireland are the current Six Nations champions and 11/2 4th favourites to win the World Cup. Their most recent warm-up game saw them been pushed hard by Samoa winning 17-13 at home and the week before that they comfortably disposed of England 29-10 in Dublin. Two weeks prior to that they had beaten Italy 33-17 also at home.
Ireland have never made it through the quarter-finals of a World Cup.
Romania look to be in all sorts of trouble heading into this Tournament having lost by 50 points to Italy and Georgia in successive weeks. They also played against the USA (who didn’t qualify for the World Cup in early August) losing by 14 points.
Romania have never made it through the pool stages of the World Cup.
Handicap: Ireland -63.5
There is nothing in Romania warm up results to suggest they are in for anything other than a hiding here. The handicap line at the time of writing was a whopping 61.5 points but we venture into the position of 1st try scorer market and take our chances with No’s 9 , 10 , 12 Or 13.
Suggested Bet: Position To Score First Try, Number 9 , 10 , 12 Or 13 at 16/10
AUSTRALIA v GEORGIA – Click here to bet
Australia got rid of their Head Coach, Dave Rennie at the end of last year’s November Tour and Eddie Jones stepped in to the pressure cooker. Things haven’t gone well with Australia who lost all 3 of their Rugby Championship matches although in the Bledisloe Cup 2 match they put up a brave front against New Zealand eventually going down by 23-20 in New Zealand. Their only warm-up game since was a 41-17 defeat to France two weeks ago.
Australia won the Rugby World Cup World Cup in 1991 and 1999.
Georgia are the sentimental favourite for many in this World Cup as they get limited opportunity to play against the best teams in the World. In their warm-ups they lost by 27 points away at Scotland, but beat the USA by 15 and Romania by a massive 50 points.
Georgia played in the last five World Cups, but have failed to get through the pool stages.
Handicap: Australia -21.5
The Wallabies could use a fast start to settle any nerves after their poor run of results but Georgia look capable of offering plenty of resistance. In the belief the game could open up as it goes on we go with the second half to produce more points than the first.
Suggested Bet: Highest Scoring Half, 2nd Half at 17/20
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
