The 2019 World Cup will kick off on Friday the 20th of September. Darry Worthington looks for some early value on the betting front.
With just over two months to go until the Rugby World Cup kicks-off, rugby punters will be hard at work taking a look at where the value lies for the global showpiece. Our rugby pundit is no different and he has spent the last fortnight going through the permutations, our latest odds as well as the statistics.
He reckons he’s found a bit of early value and recommends getting on a few of these markets before the Rugby Championship and July Internationals start to affect the prices.
Pool C Winner – Argentina 9/2
There’s no denying it, Argentina are a massive threat at this year’s World Cup. The majority of their squad have just come off the back of a superb Super Rugby season, while they are able to call on overseas players for the first time since the inception of the Jaguares.
Pool C may feature both England and France but these two Northern Hemisphere sides haven’t been at their best in the past 18 months with the English struggling for consistency and the French at six and sevens when it comes to squad selection.
At 9/2, Mario Ledesma’s men represent excellent value to finish top of the pops in Pool C.
World Cup Winner’s Pool – Pool B @ 7/10
Southern-Hemisphere heavyweights South Africa and New Zealand both feature in Pool B. The two sides have claimed five of the eight World Cup titles between.
The side that losses the Pool clash between them will face an awkward road to the final with a likely quarter-final clash with Ireland and semi-final date with possibly the Australians or English. Despite these two tough knock-out games, you wouldn’t put it past either South Africa or New Zealand making it through those two games to the final.
The team who wins the blockbuster Pool B encounter will face a much easier journey to the final. With Scotland and Argentina or Wales likely to be their opponents in the two knock-out games. And while the Argentines, ‘Scots and Welsh have made great strides in the recent past, you can’t really see them beating the All Blacks or the ‘Boks in a Rugby World Cup knock-out.
Best Bet
To Finish Third – Argentina 25/1
I really like this bet. Yes, Argentina could phase a tough quarter-final but with the form they are in they have every chance of coming through that.
As I noted earlier, they have a quality squad with the core of it having played a lot of rugby together.
While I think the showpiece final is a bridge too far for Los Puma – especially if they top their group as they’d likely meet New Zealand in the semis – they could easily find themselves in the third/fourth place play-off come the final weekend of the World Cup.
