The first action in the Rugby World Cup on Wednesday comes from Pool C where France clash with USA at the Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium.
France v USA, Wednesday 2nd October, Fukuoka, KO 09:45 (South African time)
Weather Forecast – Fukuoka
Referee: Ben O Keeffe
Assistant Referees: Wayne Barnes, Shuhei Kubo
TMO: Rowan Kitt
France
France are in a good position in this pool having edged out Argentina 23-21 in their opening game back on the 21st September. They started as narrow favourites for that game and at half time Les Bleus held a commanding 20-3 lead. Argentina's fightback saw them take a 21-20 before a Lopez drop goal on 70 minutes put France back in front. There was more drama to come in the shape of a long range Argentine penalty attempt at the death which failed to land. Dupont and Fickou were the French try scorers.
France are generally a 22/1 chance to win the tournament and to top this pool they are second favourites at around 3/1. After this France take on Tonga before they clash with England, a game which looks likely to decide who tops the pool.
USA
USA's opening game ended in a 45-7 defeat to England. They were 19-0 down at half time and their only points came at the death thanks to a converted try from Campbell which brought the margin of defeat in line with where the bookmakers had set the pre-match handicap.
USA are regular fixtures in RWC finals but they have yet to make it beyond the pool stage and their overall record comprises of just 3 wins from 26 matches. Their only recent win over a tier 1 nation came against Scotland in Houston in June 2018.
In RWC 2015 the USA lost all 4 of their matches, going down to South Africa, Scotland, Japan and Samoa to finish bottom of their pool and they scored a total of just 50 points across those 4 games.
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Line Ups
France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Alivereti Raka, 13 Sofiane Guitoune, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles (c), 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Arthur Iturria, 5 Paul Gabrillagues, 4 Bernard Le Roux, 3 Emerick Setiano, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jefferson Poirot, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Gregory Alldritt, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Romain Ntamack, 23 Maxime Medard
USA: 15 Mike Teo, 14 Blaine Scully (c), 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Bryce Campbell, 11 Martin Iosefo, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 6 Tony Lamborn, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufetee, 1 Eric Fry
Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Paul Mullen, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Ben Pinkelman, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Will Magie, 23 Thretton Palamo
Head to Head
Meetings have been few and far between with France winning 6 to USA's 2 although the USA victories came back in the 1920's.
The last head to head came in 2004 in Connecticut and France won 39-31.
The only RWC clash came in 2003 in Wollongong and France won 41-14
Betting – Handicap
France -24.5 points at 9/10
USA +24.5 points at 9/10
Quotes are an average of what was on offer from a selection of bookmakers at the time of writing and are subject to change.
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Betting Angle
The USA were well beaten by England but they would likely have had their eye on the French for a possible upset. I think a USA win is very unlikely but do agree with punters that have backed the USA handicap in from +28.5 to current levels averaging around +22.5.
The French only need to win this game and if they do get well ahead I would expect them to step off the gas. I am taking the +24.5 still on offer with WSB.
Bet: 3 units USA +24.5 at 9/10 at WSB
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