Rugby Tips: Selections & Odds For The Weeknight Games At The Rugby World Cup
Round Five Midweek Tips:
- Uruguay +65.5 points - 2.0 With bet365
- Anton Lienert-Brown to score a try - 2.0 With BetVictor
- France -26.5 points - 1.9 With William Hill
- Péato Mauvaka to score a try - 2.5 With bet365
The final round of pool stage games is upon us, which means the 2023 Rugby World Cup (RWC) is about to be cut down from 16 to eight nations.
Pool A will come to a close with the last two midweek matches of the tournament and rugby betting sites are expecting New Zealand and France to book their quarter-finals places at the expense of respective opponents Uruguay and Italy.
But with all four nations still mathematically in contention to go through to next week, it makes for two fascinating clashes.
Here are our four best 2023 Rugby World Cup betting predictions for the last two Pool A games to take place in Lyon.
All Blacks To Drop Down A Gear
Perhaps even the most optimistic All Blacks fan (or pessimistic supporter from Italy) would not have imagined last week’s score coming.
New Zealand piled on almost 100 points against an Italian side that had previously covered the spread in 10 of 11 games in 2023 in a further sign they’re looking to follow the path of South Africa in 2019, who grew wings after their first week loss to win the title.
All they need this week is to match the output of Italy in terms of pool stage points won, so a simple bonus point win and nothing more will get the job done.
Whilst the All Blacks sent out a Rugby World Cup message last weekend about the ruthlessness that they can be capable of, they could now already have one eye on next week and therefore half a mind to conserve their energy and intensity.
Coupled with a Uruguayan opposition that has been impressive throughout much (but not all) of this tournament, we’ve settled on +65.5 line with betting sites as a comfortable handicap to take here.
The South Americans had some high intensity training during the week with an aim of keeping it up for a full 80 minutes and their first aim will be to start off better than they did against the Namibians. Now on a seven-game streak without going for 50+ points, they should be able to go home with a bit of pride.
Anton Lienert-Brown scored tries in their games against Namibia and Italy, and with the All Blacks scoring quite a few tries close to rucks and mauls against the Italians last week, he’s an appealing price to go over once again.
Best Bet: Uruguay +65.5 points - 2.0 With bet365
Player Prop: Anton Lienert-Brown To Score A Try - 2.0 With BetVictor
France To Dominate Broken Opposition
The Azzurri looked bruised and deflated heading into the dressing room at half-time against New Zealand last week, and after the break could not stem the bleeding, conceding a second half deficit greater than the full match spread that rugby betting apps set for them.
Now they’ve got a similar line (+26.5 at time of writing) against New Zealand’s only conquerors of the tournament so far.
It’s almost certain that France are going to send out a rotated squad for this one, but much like the All Blacks, they don’t suffer a significant loss of class or talent when doing so.
Italy are going to have a hell of a time trying to pick themselves up mentally for this one based on their poor performance last week, but fullback Tommaso Allan insisted during the week that still being in with a chance to get into the knockouts is keeping them going.
Whether they can learn from the tactical mistakes both last week and in their Six Nations home loss to France earlier this year is the question to be answered.
A repeat of France’s home Six Nations match against Italy (37-10) would just be enough to get the job done for us here, and we’re hoping Péato Mauvaka can find the line for a third time in six games!
Best Bet: France -26.5 points- 1.9 With William Hill
Player Prop: Péato Mauvaka to score a try - 2.5 With bet365
