Rugby
2023-09-23 - South Africa vs Ireland
A Sports Betting Pick by Stu
Rugby World Cup : France
Saturday 23rd September 2023 - KO 1500 AEST
South Africa
South Africa have opened their campaign with 2 victories over Romania and Scotland. The Romanian match result was never a concern and helped the Springboks with an easy hit out 76-0.
The Scotland match provided more questions than answers as the Scottish really pushed South Africa in an extremely tight first half 6-3 at the break. Two second half tries, the second off an immaculate kick provided South Africa some breathing room, going on to win 18-3.
Much has been talked about the bench selection coined “the Bomb squad” with the 7-1 forward to back selection. This is what was thrown at the All Blacks at Twickenham in their last match before the Cup, winning handsomely 35-7.
The Springboks defended like men possessed and really punched through the New Zealand middle and tired out the opposition forwards like never before. Ireland will have it all to do if the same team turns up for SA.
Ireland
Ireland are also two matches in and as with South Africa remain undefeated to this point in the tournament. Their matches to date were against Romania first up, again a big victory expected and that’s exactly what we got, 82-8.
Tonga were expected to provide better opposition, however Ireland were dominant after a tight start where the score was just 3-3 after 20 minutes. By time the HT whistle blew, Ireland leading 24-6. Apart from conceding a second half try, Ireland were easily the better team, winning comfortably 59-16.
Ireland will know a victory here will almost certainly see them face the All Blacks in the quarters and a loss against the hosts France. I suspect they would not like to play either of these teams that early in the tournament but that is the luck of the draw, along with SA, only 2 of the 4 will get through to the Semis.
Odds
South Africa start slight favourites $1.72 to $2.25, the line 2.5 points
The Betting Verdict
Pool B comes alive this Saturday when South Africa and Ireland meet for the very first time at a world cup. Ireland are the number one ranked team leading into this world cup thanks largely by winning a series away to the All Blacks 1-2 and late season victories over the Springboks, Fiji and Australia and of course going unbeaten in last seasons 6 nations.
While South Africa are ranked second with excellent recent wins over Argentina, Wales and New Zealand to lead into the cup, South Africa last lost to England by 1 point in November 2022.
The last match these two teams played was in Dublin on the 5th of November 2022. A very tight encounter saw the score line locked at 6-6 at the break courtesy of 2 penalties kicked for each side. Two tries in the second half brought the match to life and allowed the home side Ireland increase the lead to 10, 16-6.
South Africa piled on the pressure and scored two tries but were unable to wrestle the lead back, on top of a particularly average night with the boot for South Africa costing them the victory.
This test match has the makings of a classic, 1 v 2 and plenty to play for and some extra confidence as the teams head into the Quarter Finals. As mentioned above this is the first time these teams are meeting at a world cup and also the first time meeting at a neutral venue.
Overall record H2H is in favour of South Africa 18-1-9, all but one of Irelands victories coming at home. Both teams are all but assured of playing in the quarters but someone has to top the pool, for me, the South Africans looked scarily good when beating NZ just weeks ago and I suspect the A game will return here to smother Ireland.
For that reason I am suggesting to take the -2.5 point handicap in favour of South Africa as I expect the Africans to win by around a converted try or more.
The Pick :
South Africa 23-15 Ireland
