South Africa play their final Rugby World Cup warm up on Friday when they take on hosts Japan in Kumagaya at 12h15 South Africa time.

Up front we must caution that these warm up games can be dangerous from a betting perspective as sides often look in to getting different things out of the match. That being said Rassie Erasmus has selected a very strong Boks side and we can assume that they are going to go hard at the Japanese at least for the first 60 minutes or so.

For Japan this year has been all about the Rugby World Cup build up and their top players were spared Super Rugby action with the Sunwolves. They have named a strong team, have an excellent coaching structure and have looked good in the build-up matches. They are massive favourites to beat Russia in their opening Rugby World Cup game, getting back from (-19) on the handicap to current levels around (-35) points.

As mentioned above Rassie has picked a strong side and having shown his hand he will be eager for his charges to deliver. These sides have only met once before and that was the famous victory for Japan in Rugby World Cup 2015 in the Group Stages where they won 34-32 in Brighton, a game in which the Boks started 33 point favourites.

I have no doubt that many punters, such as myself, will have a close look at conditions to see how that may impact the points market as we head into Rugby World Cup. There is talk of lots of humidity and we know from games down in Durban that this could really be a spoiler.

Betting

The handicap opened Japan +17.5 and there is now +20.5 on offer

Betting Angle

I think Japan are going to be a force to be reckoned with in their home World Cup and while not in with a chance of winning the Tournament, they may well be quarter-final candidates with the clash against Scotland looming up as key.

The Boks should win this, but even if they get quite well clear I am expecting them to perhaps step off the gas at some point and allow the home team in. The handicap looks fairly well set and I will look to the try scorer markets for an early interest keep an eye on the forum for more bets from me and others when the points lines are out)

BET: 0.5 unit Marx 1^st try scorer at 10/1 and 3 units Marx anytime try scorer at 21/20 at WSB

The driving maul is going to be a massive weapon at RWC and I suspect Rassie will be looking to fine tune the Bok maul. We know Marx scores a lot of tries and also has the ability to score from general play and I fancy his chances of scoring and am hoping it is also the opening try.

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