Ireland are well fancied to go deep in the Rugby World Cup and they open their campaign with a Pool B clash with rank outsiders Romania in Bordeaux on Saturday.
Ireland v Romania, Saturday 9th September, Bordeaux, KO 15:30 (South African time)
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
Assistant Referees: Wayne Barnes (RFU), Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZR)
Weather Forecast - Bordeaux
Ireland:
Ireland's first warm up match delivered a 33-17 win over Italy in Dublin and they followed up with further wins over England (29-10) and Samoa (17-13).
Earlier this year Ireland pulled off a Six Nations Grand Slam and they haven't lost a game since the opening match of a three game tour of New Zealand in July 2022 and they hit back to win that series 2-1.
Ireland have never been beyond the quarter finals in the RWC. In 2019 they finished as runners up to host nation Japan in their pool and they were thrashed 46-14 by New Zealand in the quarter finals.
South Africa, Scotland and Tonga will also contest Pool B along with these two nations and in the RWC outright betting Ireland are trading at around 44/10 to win the tournament with @Olimp_SA. The same bookmaker prices the Irish at 23/20 to finish top of this pool with the Springboks favourites at 8/10. Get a 100% Match up to R3000 on your first deposit
Romania:
Romania lost their most recent warm up match in Italy 57-7 last month and prior to that they went down 31-17 at home to USA and they were thrashed 56-6 in Georgia.
Romania have not been beyond the pool stage in the RWC and they did not qualify for the 2019 finals. In 2015 they won 1 (Canada 1715) and lost 3 of their matches which included a 44-10 defeat to Ireland.
As far as the RWC outright betting is concerned you can write your own ticket about Romania.
Team News
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Peter O’Mahony, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Robbie Henshaw
Romania: 15 Marius Simionescu, 14 Nicolas Onutu, 13 Fonovai Tangimana, 12 Jason Tomane, 11 Tevita Manumua, 10 Hinckley Vaovasa, 9 Gabriel Rupanu, 8 Cristian Chirica (captain), 7 Vlad Neculau, 6 Florian Rosu, 5 Stefan Iancu, 4 Adrian Motoc, 3 Alexandru Gordas, 2 Ovidiu Cojocaru, 1 Iulian Hartig
Replacements: 16 Florin Bardasu, 17 Alexandru Savin, 18 Gheorghe Gajion, 19 Marius Iftimiciuc, 20 Dragos Ser, 21 Alin Conache, 22 Tudor Boldor, 23 Taylor Gontineac
The Betting
09h20 8 Sep
Ireland -62.5 points at 9/10
Romania +62.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
There was -51.5 Ireland on offer a month ago but following Romania’s poor form that line has ballooned out to the current -63.5 where I think it is well placed.
Ireland will hammer Romania but man 64 points is big and I just have to look elsewhere in a game I am battling a bit for inspiration.
My Irish mate Mr Hoban received an SOS WhatsApp as he sat sipping his Friday morning beer and eating his baked beans on toast at the Plett Country Club and he didn’t let me down confidently selecting Rob Herring (who may or may not be South African born) as the 1st try scorer even detailing how he would score it:
“I feel the first try will come from a forward. Will be very early in the game. A quick penalty will be won, mid field. Sexton kick for the corner. Simple line out. Maul and a push over with Rob Herring sealing the try. BOOM.”
Say no more, another man who enjoys his hookers – I have my bet
BET: 1 unit Rob Herring FTS at 13/2 at WSB
I will post any points or try’s bets in the forum and as the FTS market should be done and dusted early there could also be in-running options.
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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