The second of Thursday's 2019 Rugby World Cup matches comes from Pool C where England bid to make it two wins from two games when they take on USA at the Misaki Stadium in Kobe City.
England v USA, Thursday 26th September, Kobe, KO 12:45 (South African time)
Weather Forecast – Kobe Misaki Stadium
Referee: Nic Berry
Assistant Referees: Paul Williams, Federico Anselmi
TMO: Ben Skeen
England
England began their campaign against Tonga in the Sapporo Dome on Sunday, a game they won 35-3. Owen Farrell kicked 15 points and a brace of tries from Manu Tuilagi helped secure a bonus point with Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie the other try scorers. England led Tonga 18-3 at half time but a number of handling errors sunk any chance of them covering the pre-match handicap line which had been set at 40 points and went off nearer 43 as punters came in for the minus quote.
With France and Argentina to come stiffer tests lie ahead and England's price to win the tournament is largely unchanged at around 9/2 and they are 7/20 to top this pool.
USA
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 25 matches. They have landed in a tough grouping here with England, France and Argentina to face before they come up against Tonga. 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.
Odds of around 100/1 for USA to make it out of this pool illustrate the size of the task they face. The recent Pacific Nations Cup was the main part of USA's preparations where they beat Canada (47-19) and Samoa (13-10) before losing 34-20 to Japan.
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Line Ups
England: 15-Elliot Daly, 14-Ruaridh McConnochie, 13-Jonathan Joseph, 12-Piers Francis, 11-Joe Cokanasiga, 10-George Ford, 9-Willi Heinz, 8-Billy Vunipola, 7-Lewis Ludlam, 6-Tom Curry, 5- George Kruis, 4-Joe Launchbury, 3-Dan Cole, 2-Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1-Joe Marler
Replacements: 16-Jack Singleton, 17-Ellis Genge, 18-Kyle Sinckler, 19-Courtney Lawes, 20-Mark Wilson, 21-Ben Youngs, 22-Owen Farrell, 23-Anthony Watson.
USA: 15-Will Hooley, 14-Blaine Scully (captain), 13-Marcel Brache, 12-Paul Lasike, 11-Martin Iosefo, 10-AJ MacGinty, 9-Shaun Davies, 8-Cam Dolan, 7-John Quill, 6-Tony Lamborn, 5-Nick Civetta, 4-Ben Landry, 3-Titi Lamositele, 2-Joe Taufete'e, 1-David Ainuu
Replacements: 16-Dylan Fawsitt, 17-Olive Kilifi, 18-Paul Mullen, 19-Greg Peterson, 20-Hanco Germishuys, 21-Ruben de Haas, 22-Bryce Campbell, 23-Mike Te’o
Head to Head
England have won all 5 of the previous head to heads against USA.
The most recent clash came in France in RWC 2007 and England came out on top 28-10.
Betting - Handicap
England -37.5 points at 9/10
USA +37.5 points at 9/10
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Quotes are an average of what was on offer from a selection of bookmakers at the time of writing and are subject to change.
Betting Angle
England didn’t impress in their opener against Tonga but there is little doubt they were holding back knowing there are crunch matches against Argentina and France to come. I am expecting another workmanlike performance against the USA and agree with the punters that have forced the line in from +38.5 to +34.5. England to win but the USA to beat the handicap.
Bet: 2 units USA +34.5 at 9/10 WSB
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