Monday's action in the Rugby World Cup comes from Pool D where Wales open their campaign against Georgia at the at the Vity of Toyota Stadium
Wales v Georgia, Monday 23rd September, City of Toyota, KO 12:15 (South African time)
Weather Forecast – City of Toyota Stadium
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Matthew Carley (England)
Television match official: Rowan Kitt (England)
Wales are trading at around 12/1 in the outright betting markets to clinch a first RWC title, a slight drift in price which may be down to disruptions to their final preparations with backs coach Rob Howley sent home following allegations of betting infringements. At the time of writing Wales were still 8/11 favourites to top this group although the picture may change depending on how the Wallabies get on in the opening Pool D match against Fiji over the weekend.
A third place finish back in 1987 is the closest Wales have come to the world title but they arrive in these finals on the back of lifting the Six Nations crown. Wales completed the grand slam in the 6N earlier this year and they have made a habit of edging tight games. Their warm up results weren't quite as impressive. They did beat England in Cardiff a week after losing to the same opposition at Twickenham but they subsequently lost home and away to Ireland.
In RWC 2015 Wales were also paired with Australia. They finished as runners up to the Wallabies but a win over host nation England effectively sealed their spot in the quarter finals where they were edged out by the Springboks. After this game Wales will clash with the Wallabies at the weekend.
Georgia have made 4 previous appearances in RWC finals and they have yet to make it beyond the pool stage. They are ranked 12th in the world and qualified for the finals automatically. In RWC 2015 Georgia finished third in their pool. They beat Tonga (17-10) and Namibia (17-16) but lost to Argentina (54-9) and New Zealand (43-10).
Scotland were the opposition in Georgia's more recent warm up matches and they lost both those games by some distance (30-9 and 44-10).
If you fancy Georgia can upset either Australia or Wales and make it through to the knockout rounds they can be backed at around 20/1 to qualify from this pool.
Line Ups
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Josh Navidi, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Tom Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Aaron Shingler, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Leigh Halfpenny
Georgia: 15 Soso Matiashvili, 14 Miriani Modebadze, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Tamaz Mchedlidze, 11 Giorgi Kveseladze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Giorgi Nemsadze, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili (c)
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Shalva Sutiashvili, 20 Beka Saginadze, 21 Otari Giorgadze, 22 Gela Aprasidze, 23 Lasha Khmaladze
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Head to Head
The teams have met just the once and that came in Cardiff in November 2017 when a much changed Wales side laboured to a 13-6 victory.
Betting - Handicap
Wales -27.5 points at 9/10
Georgia +27.5 points at 9/10
Quotes are an average of what was on offer from a selection of bookmakers at the time of writing and are subject to change.
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Betting Angle
Georgia are a side capable of troubling Wales early but I expect them to fall away as the game goes deep. Couch Critic a regular guest and host on our You Tube channel has done well with his 2nd half handicap plays and I am going to try and do likewise here and will back the Welsh to win the 2nd half by 15 points or more.
Bet: 3 units Wales -14.5 2nd half handicap at 19/20 at Sunbet
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