The 2023 Rugby World Cup host nation France made an impressive start to the tournament and on Thursday they are overwhelming favourites for their Pool A clash with Uruguay in Lille.
France v Uruguay, Thursday 14th September, Paris, KO 21:00 (South African time)
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Paul Williams (NZR), James Doleman (NZR)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Weather Forecast – Lille
France:
France took on New Zealand in the opening match of the tournament in Paris last Friday. It was billed as the pivotal game of this pool and was priced up as near enough “choice” by the bookmakers but Les Bleus delighted the home crowd with a well deserved 27-13 victory.
They conceded the first try after just 91 seconds but 3 of the 5 successful penalties from Ramos saw them go into the break 9-8 in front. The All Blacks regained the lead with their second try early doors in the second half but France had the upper hand for the most of the remainder of the match and tries from Penaud and then Jaminet (who went over just before the end of the game saw them home with daylight.
France have yet to win an RWC title but they have finished as runners up 3 times including in 2011 when they lost the final to the All Blacks in New Zealand.
In the latest RWC outright betting France are trading at around 3/1 second favourites to win the tournament with Betway who have the Boks priced up at 11/4. Given Uruguay, Italy and Namibia are the other sides in Pool A Les Bleus are un-backable to finish top of the pool.
Back the Boks risk-free
Claim the offer and place a R25 or more outright bet on South Africa to win the Cup by 28 October and get it risk-free up to R1,000. T&C's apply.
Click here to open your Betway Account – use the Promo Code “GFTG”
Uruguay:
At 1000/1 Uruguay are one of the rank outsiders in the tournament. They were not in action last weekend and their warm up results included a 26-18 home win over Namibia, they also beat Chile (26-25)and a 33-13 home win over an Argentinian XV.
In RWC 2019 in Japan Uruguay pulled off a surprise win over Fiji (30-37) in their first pool match but were then beaten by Georgia (33-7), Australia (45-10) and Wales (35-13)
As far as the RWC outright betting Uruguay are 2/1 with Betway to finish bottom of this pool with Namibia fav's for the Pool A wooden spoon at around 7/20.
Team News
France: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 13 Arthur Vincent, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Gabin Villière, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Maxime Lucu, 8 Anthony Jelonch (captain), 7 Sekou Macalou, 6 Paul Boudehent, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros.
Replacements:16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Sipili Falatea, 19 Bastien Chalureau, 20 Thibaud Flament, 21 Francois Cros, 22 Baptiste Couilloud, 23 Thomas Ramos.
Uruguay: 15 Baltazar Amaya, 14 Bautista Basso, 13 Tomas Inciarte, 12 Andres Vilaseca (captain), 11 Nicolas Freitas, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 9 Santiago Arata, 8 Manuel Diana, 7 Santiago Civetta, 6 Manuel Ardao, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 2 Guillermo Pujadas, 1 Mateo Sanguinetti.
Replacements: 16 Facundo Gattas, 17 Matias Benitez, 18 Reinaldo Piussi, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Lucas Bianchi, 21 Carlos Deus, 22 Agustin Ormaechea, 23 Felipe Berchesi
The Betting -
13 Sep 11h50
France -52.5 at 1/1
Uruguay +54.5 at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
This handicap has come in from an opening call of -58.5 France to as low as -52.5 France depending on where you hold your account. This was largely on the back of team news with France rotating their squad.
Uruguay are a side capable of punching above their weight and in the 2019 RWC they shocked Fiji with a 30-27 win and their biggest loss was 35 points against Australia.
France should be too strong but I think the money for Uruguay is spot on and I am going to take a bit of the +54.5 on offer.
Stay close to our forum thread where I will post any more bets
BET: 3 units Uruguay +54.5 at 9/10 at Hollywood*
*If you are not signed up yet, please use this link to open your account at Hollywood
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Join @BrentGraham and the panel live for “The Handicap” powered by BetXchange. Subscribe to the channel and set a reminder for the next show here.
More tips, news and views are available on the weekly rugby thread on our discussion forum. If you are new to our community you can open an account here.
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
