The 2023 Rugby World Cup gets under way in Paris on Friday when host nation France take on New Zealand in Pool A and the pre-match betting suggests we are in for a close contest.
France v New Zealand, Friday 8th September, Paris, KO 21:15 (South African time)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Christophe Ridley (RFU)
TMO: Tom Foley (RFU)
Weather Forecast - Paris
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France:
France started their warm ups with a double header against Scotland. They were far from full strength when losing 25-21 at Murrayfield and when the teams met in Saint-Etienne a late penalty gave Les Bleus a 30-27 victory. Fly-half Romain Ntamack picked up an injury against the Scots which rules him out of the tournament. Other subsequent warm up saw France beat Fiji 34-17 and their final prep delivered a 41-17 victory over the Wallabies in Paris.
France finished as runners up to Ireland in the 6 Nations earlier this year. They won 4 and lost 1 of their 6N matches with that sole loss coming to the Irish in Dublin.
In RWC 2019 (in Japan) France were runners up to England in the pool stage before losing narrowly to Wales in the quarter finals. France have yet to win an RWC title but they have finished as runners up 3 times including in 2011 when they lost the final to the All Blacks in New Zealand.
In the RWC outright betting France are trading at around 3/1 second favourites to win the tournament with Betway. Aside from New Zealand, Italy, Uruguay and Namibia will contest Pool A and Les Bleus are 0.92/1 to finish top of the pool.
New Zealand:
The All Blacks final prep brought a serious jolt to the system. They were thrashed 35-7 by South Africa at Twickenham with their sole score coming inside the final 10 minutes of a game which saw Scott Barrett sent off for 2 yellow cards in the first half.
Earlier form this year saw came in the shortened Rugby Championship New Zealand beat Argentina in Mendoza (41-12), South Africa in Auckland (35-20) and the Wallabies in Melbourne (38-7) to win the title. NZ also edged a subsequent tight contest with the Wallabies in Dunedin 23-20.
In RWC 2019 in Japan the All Blacks were eliminated at the semi final stage after losing to England and they beat Wales in the 3rd / 4th place play off. The All Blacks were RWC champions in 2015 (in England) and 2011 as hosts and the first of their titles came as co-hosts in 1987.
As far as the RWC outright betting is concerned New Zealand are currently trading as 11/4 favourites to win the tournament with Betway. They are 0.87/1 to finish top of Pool A
Team News
France: 15 Thomas Ramos; 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Gabin Villiere; 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Antoine Dupont; 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Charles Ollivon, 6 Francois Cros; 5 Thibaud Flament, 4 Cameron Woki; 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Reda Wardi
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Romain Taofifienua, 20 Paul Boudehent, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Arthur Vincent, 23 Melvyn Jaminet
New Zealand: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Mark Telea, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane (c), 6 Dalton Papali’i, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Sam Whitelock, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Tupou Vaa’i, 20 Luke Jacobson 21 Finlay Christie, 22 David Havili, 23 Leicester Fainga’nuku
Recent Head to Head
The most recent meeting came in Paris in November 2021 and France won it 40-25.
Prior to that the All Blacks had won each of the previous 14 head to heads
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The Betting
16h55 6 September
France 1/1
Draw 25/1
New Zealand 21/20
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Favouritism for this match has bounced between the teams over the last few weeks as warm up results and team news have been absorbed by an excited betting public.
I think this game is going to be as close as the betting suggests and I can’t resist a small play on the draw at 25/1.
I am also going to have a go at the “Tribet” option at WSB and specifically “any other result” which means that neither team can win by 7 points or more.
The points line is set at 47.5 and if pushed I would go unders but I am going to take a watching brief for now and will post any points or try’s bets in the forum
BET: 1 unit the draw at 25/1 at Betxchange
BET: 2 units Tribet “any other result” at 15/10 at WSB
Update: I posted a You Tube Preview on this game and found some value I could not resist
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Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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