Having already banked two wins from two matches England are overwhelming favourites for Saturday's Rugby World Cup Pool D clash with Chile in Lille
England v Chile, Saturday 23rd September, Lille, KO 17:45 (South African time)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU)
Assistant Referees: Pierre Brousset (FFR), Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
Weather Forecast – Lille
England:
England (-22.5 points on the main handicap line) made it back to back wins when they came through their clash with Japan with a 35-12 victory (13-9 half time). They scored 4 tries, Ludlam in the first half, then Lawes and Steward and when Marchant went over at the death a bonus point was secured.
George Ford converted all 4 tries against Japan and he was responsible for all of England's points (6 penalties and 3 drop goals) in their opening round 27-10 victory over Argentina. That game that was priced up as “choice” and England played all bar the opening few minutes with 14 men after Tom Curry was red carded.
England finished the second round with 9 log points in total with this game and a clash Samoa to come.
England are trading at around 11/1 to win the tournament with BoyleSports and they are 14/10 to reach the semi finals. Boyle Sports: 20% stake refund if the Boks lose against Ireland (T&C's apply)
Chile:
Chile have lost both their matches so far, most recently going down 43-10 to Samoa. Given 33.5 points start on the handicap Mattias Dittus scored their only try to give them an early lead but they were 19-10 down by half time and they conceded 5 tries in total.
Chile had made their RWC finals debut against Japan in Toulouse in the opening round. The main handicap line settled in the mid 20's with Chile being the outsiders and although they were beaten 42-12, conceding 6 tries, they gave a decent enough account. Rodrigo Fernandez scored the opening try of the game for Chile and Escobar also went over.
Chile remain the rank outsiders in this years tournament and defeat here will confirm their elimination ahead of their final pool match against Argentina.
Team News
England: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Henry Arundell, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ollie Lawrence, 11 Max Malins, 10 Owen Farrell (captain), 9 Danny Care, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jack Willis, 6 Lewis Ludlam, 5 George Martin, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 George Ford, 23 Joe Marchant
Chile: 15 Francisco Urroz; 14 Cristobal Game, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 12 Matias Garafulic, 11 Franco Velarde; 10 Rodrigo Fernandez, 9 Benjamin Videla; 8 Alfonso Escobar, 7 Ignacio Silva, 6 Martin Sigren (captain); 5 Javier Eismann, 4 Clemente Saavedra; 3 Matias Dittus, 2 Augusto Bohme, 1 Salvador Lues
Replacements: 16 Tomas Dussaillant, 17 Vittorio Lastra, 18 Inaki Gurruchaga, 19 Pablo Huete, 20 Thomas Orchard, 21 Raimundo Martinez, 22 Lukas Carvallo, 23 Inaki Ayarza
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The Betting
21h10 22 September
England -49.5 points at 9/10
Chile +49.5 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 quite stable all week which is unusual given how big a handicap it is, there is normally a lot more volatility. Chile have looked good in patches in this World Cup and while England are capable of beating this handicap I can also see them stepping off the gas at some point and I am hoping that Chile can score a try and land a penalty.
Stay close to our forum thread where I will post any additional plays on this game and other punters share their bets
BET: 4 Units Chile over 7.5 points at 0.86/1 at Betway*
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Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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