Rugby
2011-09-18 - England vs Georgia
A Sports Betting Pick by Mike
Rugby : Rugby World Cup 2011 : Pool B
Sunday, 18th September 2011 - Kickoff 18:00 (local)
It's time for England to rev up their RWC campaign.
England
Are England on form? England's hard-fought 13-9 win over Argentina on Saturday highlighted a few areas that need improvement if they are to be taken as a serious RWC contender.
During the week Martin Johnson, has been hyping up the "giant-killing potential of rugby's so-called 'minnows". And yes, there has been good improvement in the play of all of the teams with "less rugby in their blood", but I don't think Georgia will overly tax a determined, and a little embarrassed, England.
Team and Tactics
For this match England has made 10 changes to the team that took on Argentina. Lewis Moody returns as captain and the front row of Matt Stevens, Dylan Hartley and Dan Cole have started only one test together.
England Starting lineup: Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, Manu Tuilagi, Shontayne Hape, Delon Armitage, Toby Flood, Ben Youngs, Nick Easter, Lewis Moody (c), Tom Wood, Tom Palmer, Simon Shaw, Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley, Matt Stevens.
Reserves: Steve Thompson, Alex Corbisiero, Tom Croft, James Haskell, Joe Simpson, Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Banahan.
Georgia
Georgia are the reigning European Nations Cup champions and no rugby fools. They'd like nothing more that to build on England's gaps highlighted during the Argentina game.
Georgia's first RWC match against Scotland on Wednesday was a tryless forward battle, with Scotland eventually winning 15 - 6. The majority of play was in Georgian territory and the Leos conceded 14 penalties. The Scots dominated territory (59 per cent to 41 per cent) but the possession tally was much closer (51 per cent to 49 per cent).
Team and Tactics
I'm hopeful that Lelos coach Richie Dixon will have had time to review the game video to learn from their mistakes. Poor kicking and issues at the breakdowns should be the major focus for improvement.
Other Variables
The referee: Jonathan Kaplan (RSA)
The venue: The all-covered Dunedin stadium means this match - unlike many this weekend - will not be effected by the weather. No excuses for those handling errors :-)
The Verdict
An easy win for England. I'm picking a scoreline of around 41-6
The Pick :
England 41 - 6 Georgia
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
There's no money to be made on an England outright win at any bookie, they're all sitting at 1.00 or 1.01.
