The first action in Pool C of the Rugby World Cup comes from the Stade de France, Paris on Saturday evening when Australia open their campaign against Georgia.
Australia v Georgia, Saturday 9th September, Paris, KO 18:00 (South African time)
Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistant Referees: James Doleman (NZR), Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU)
Weather Forecast - Paris
Australia:
The Wallabies went down 41-17 to France in their final warm up match, extending a sequence that sees Eddie Jones still looking for a first win since returning as coach.
The closest they came to victory in recent times was a 23-20 defeat to New Zealand in Dunedin. That result came on the back of a disappointing Rugby Championship campaign which delivered defeats in all 3 matches, 43-12 in South Africa, 34-31 at home to Argentina and 38-7 at home to the All Blacks.
In RWC 2019 in Japan the Wallabies finished as runners up to Wales in their pool, winning 3 matches and losing to the Welsh. They were matched with England in the quarter finals and bowed out 40-16.
The most recent of Australia's 2 RWC titles came back in 1999. As far as the RWC 2023 outright betting is concerned Australia are trading at around 14/1 to win the tournament with @WorldSportsBet. The betting to top Pool C sees Australia 40/85, Wales are 12/5, Fiji 7/1 Georgia 80/1 and Portugal 500/1.
Georgia:
Georgia have not mate it beyond the RWC pool stage in 5 attempts. Warm up results in August saw Georgia beat Romania 56-6 and the USA 22-7 before they went down 33-6 in Scotland.
In RWC 2019 Georgia were also drawn in the same pool as the Wallabies, Wales and Fiji. They lost 43-14 to Wales, 45-10 to Fiji and 27-8 to Australia and their only win came against Uruguay (33-7).
As far as the RWC outright betting is concerned Georgia are 6/1 to finish bottom of this pool with @WorldSportsBet.
Team News
Australia: 15 Ben Donaldson, 14 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 13 Jordan Petaia, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Carter Gordon, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton (captain), 4 Richie Arnold, 3 Taniela Tupou, 1 Angus Bell.
Replacements: 16 Matt Faessler, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Rob Leota, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Nic White, 22 Lalakai Foketi, 23 Suliasi Vunivalu.
Georgia: 15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze (c), 11 Miriani Modebadze, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Luka Ivanishvili, 6 Tornike Jalagonia, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Nodar Cheishvili, 3 Guram Papidze, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Nika Abuladze
Replacements: 16 Tengizi Zamtaradze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Lasha Jaiani, 20 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Giorgi Kveseladze
The Betting
Australia -22.5 points at 9/10
Georgia +22.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This handicap has been stable for the last month and I must say it is a tough one to call. There are many writing Australia off and predicting a group exit but I am expecting them to win the group and make the last 4 where they have the potential to upset.
I reckon Georgia give them some problems early though and I am not confident in the cap.
The points line is 53.5 which looks about right and I am going to take a small lay here that the winning margin will be 21-30 points inclusive for Australia.
BET: 2 units winning margin 21-30 points incl. at 2.65/1 at Betxchange
I will post any points or try’s bets in the forum should inspiration hit.
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Join @BrentGraham and the panel live for “The Handicap”. Subscribe to the channel and set a reminder for the next show here.
More tips, news and views are available on the weekly rugby thread on our discussion forum. If you are new to our community you can open an account here.
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
